Walsh. — The Manuaute, or Maori Kite. 



381 



like a giant hawk, it would take all the strength of the men to hold it as 

 they pay out the line, and " as it went up from the hands of the holders," 

 says Te Rangi again, "there was heard the rattling of the young ones" (that 

 were shut up in the head). It was like the letting-go of the anchor of a ship. 



So graphic is the description that we can almost see the body of young 

 athletes jump to their feet with the shout as of one man, " A-hahal Me te 

 kete kainga e ringi ana ki te pari," and join in the maddening haka, as the 

 great bird, with its human head festooned and feathered, sails away with 

 waving antennae and its long streamers floating in the wind. 



But the Maori kite was not always a mere plaything, even though it 

 might be such a magnificent plaything as that described by Te Rangi. Kite- 

 flying in the real old times had often a religious significance. Maui com- 

 pelled the winds with his kite, and in the hands of a powerful tohimga the 

 manuaute could f'o wonderful things. As an instrument of divination it 

 could tell whether it would be wise for a war-party to attack a fortified 

 position. " If the war-party," writes Mr. A. Hamilton in " Maori Art " 

 (p. 377), " got within a reasonable distance of the pa without being molested 



Fig. 2. — Manuautu : Specimen in the British Museum. 



the priest would construct a kite made of toe-toe whatu manu, and fly it in 

 the air ; if the kite should fly lop-sided it is an evil omen, but if it flies well 

 the priest will hold the line in his right hand (to hold it in his left would be 

 an aitua, or unlucky), and, letting it out, he repeats his incantation. Still 

 holding the kite, he sends a ' messenger ' up the string : when it is half-way 

 up he lets go the line, taking care to have the wind so that the kite will fly 

 across the pa. If the kite catch on the palisade it is thought that the in- 

 cantation of the priest, made during the performance, will produce such an 

 overwhelming dread or panic in the inhabitants that they will be easily 

 conquered." That is, of course, provided that a stronger incantation by 

 the tohunga inside the pa is not able to keep the kite from alighting. 



Another use of the kite as an instrument of divination is described in 

 " The Migration of Kaha-hunu," translated by Mr. S. Percy Smith (p. 25). 

 It appears that in very ancient times two twin brothers of high rank had 

 been treacherously murdered by a certain chief, who was jealous of their 

 growing importance in the tribe, and their bodies covered in a deep pit. 

 The story goes on as follows : " Now, the children were absent from the 

 morning even to noon : the morning food was cooked, but they appeared 

 not. Then Kahutapere, their father, went about inquiring for his children 



