364 KEPORT — 1891. 



The dead of common people were tied tightly in a rough 

 mat and placed in a sitting posture. The priest put a taro- 

 bulb into each hand, and chanted, — 



There is the seed, 



The seed lifted up ; 



The seed by which you go 



To your many, 



To your thousands. 



To your sole lord. 



Clear the path 



To Pae-rau. 



This was supposed to aid the soul in its descent to the Po 

 (shades) . 



The departing spirit was supposed to see the spirits of the 

 dead below, and, on its arrival at the Uranga-o-te-ra, to be 

 asked where it came from and what work it had done ; to 

 which it replied by giving a history of its life. 



In the first Po was a river called Karokaro-pounamu, where 

 was a ferry woman named Eohe. All who required her services 

 went down to annihilation. All who recovered from insensi- 

 bility caused by a blow, or fit, or trance, were supposed to be 

 refused a passage by Eohe and sent back to life. 



They appear to have believed also in regions for the spirits 

 of dogs, rats, and other animals ; also one for fish. They had 

 gods of light and beneficence, and gods of darkness and male- 

 volence, and of both there were many. 



4. A Song from Mangaia, Hcrvey Group, South Pacific. 

 By the Eev. William Wyatt Gill, LL.D. 

 In the early part of the year 1815, Enuataurere, the eldest 

 daughter of the warrior chief Eakoia, was accidentally 

 drowned at Tamarua, on the southern part of the island of 

 Mangaia, in the Hervey group. A few months afterwards 

 my worthy old friend — according to the custom of the ruling 

 families — solaced himself by chanting her praises in a song 

 composed by himself at a grand /t'te in honour of the deceased. 

 Enuataurere was at the time of her death about fifteen years 

 of age. 



Long years afterwards Eakoia named my only daughter 

 Enuataurere, after his own lost child. On this occasion the 

 venerable chief chanted this song in the presence of the elders 

 of the clan, as a formal adoption of the child. At various 

 times Eakoia crossed the island, spear in hand (not for battle, 

 but as a support to his failing limbs), to bring presents of food 

 to his adopted daughter, invariably chanting this song in praise 

 of Enuataurere. 



