324 AUSTRALASIAN AND POLYNESIAN 
god, Utakea, Teipe, or Tangiia, which would almost certainly 
insure its destruction in after years. It was done as a point of 
honour; besides, the child might zo¢ be required for sacrifice, 
although eligible. The bamboo-knife would be taken to the 
“marae” of the god specified, and thrown on the ground to rot. 
If a second god’s name were pronounced over the child, the 
bamboo-knife would go to one “marae” and the name of the 
babe only be pronounced over the second “marae.” The removal 
of the coagulated blood was believed to be highly conducive to 
health, all impurities being thus removed out of the system. 
An analogy was believed to exist between the pith of a tree 
and the umbilical cord at birth. Hence the expressions “ara io” 
z.¢., “ pathway of the pith,” or simply “io” z.e., “ pith,” are still 
used for ‘ God.” 
On the island of Rarotonga, when a boy was born, a collection 
of spears, clubs, and slinging stones was made. When the sun 
was setting, a leaf of that gigantic aroid, A/ocasia indica, filled 
with water, was held over these warlike weapons, and the umbilical 
cord treated as above described. The idea was that the child 
should grow up to be a famous warrior. 
The wife is, as arule, isolated from her husband ten nights only. 
Infanticide was rarely practised in the Hervey Group, excepting 
at Rarotonga, where it was common. 
In six out of of seven islands of the Hervey Group cannibalism 
ceased only with the introduction of Christianity. It is worthy 
of note that on the remaining island—Mangaia—this revolting 
practice ceased defore the introduction of Christianity, a cireum- 
stance unparalleled in Polynesia. It was in this wise: About a 
century before the Gospel was conveyed to those islands, the 
famous priest-chief, Mautara, had, by craft and force, crushed out 
all his foes, and seized the reins of government. There was not a 
person living on the island but was connected with him or his by 
worship, blood, or marriage. When this far-seeing man acquired 
absolute power, he wisely forbade cannibalism, through fear of 
perpetuating the anarchy which for generations had existed. Still 
the old habit showed itself again, even in Mautara; and solitary 
instances of cannibalism are known to have taken place in later 
times by stealth, not openly and constantly as in the early days. 
. of the celebrated priest-chief. 
Old cannibal Hervey Islanders have assured me that human 
flesh is “‘far superior to pig.” My worthy friend and helper, 
Maretu of Rarotonga, was, in early manhood, a cannibal. This 
T learnt from his own lips. But the last generation that practised 
cannibalism has entirely disappeared. Their descendants, in many 
instances, through shame, deny the well-known facts of the past. 
+In Maori “iho” (=io) means the funis umbilicus. See “Myths and Songs” by the 
present writer, page 37. 
