CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS OF THE MAORI. 473 
tree and left there, certain invocations being repeated over them. 
Another form of the mawri was that of a hollow stone in which 
was placed a lock of hair er some other substance. The stone was 
then wrapped up and deposited at the base of a tree or by the 
side of a stream. The term mawri has many shades of meaning 
and different applications. If requested to travel or work imme- 
diately after a meal, a Maori will say, “ Wait until the mauri of 
the food has settled.” 
When the aborigines of New Zealand first obtained the kumara 
(sweet potatoe) eon the Pacific isles about eighteen gener ations 
ago, and the first crop thereof was gathered and placed in a store- 
house, then they slew Taukata, an ancient voyager who first 
made this food known to them, ‘and sprinkled his blood on the 
linte] of the door of the store-house. ‘This was to prevent the 
maurt of the kwmara from returning to Hawaiki, whence the seed 
tubers had been obtained. 
IHO TAMARIKI. 
This is the umbilical cord, severed at the birth of a child, and 
connected with it were some singular customs. The zho of a 
chief's son was often placed under a stone or on a tree at the 
boundary of the tribal lands to maintain and strengthen the 
tribal influence over such boundary. The cho of children of 
many succeeding generations might be placed in the same spot. 
Several such places are known to me here in Tuhoe Land. The 
tho was sometimes placed in a tree, and that place would ever 
after be known as the “The tho of So.and-So.” At Te Ariki is a 
tree in which the cho of a priest’s child was placed, and the hole 
closed with a piece of precious greenstone. This latter addition 
enhanced the mana of the tho. Te Iho-o-kataka is the name of a 
famous hinaw tree which stands in the Upper Whakata Valley, 
near unto Ohaua. It holds an important place in the annals of 
Tuhoe Land, inasmuch as it possesses the singular power of 
rendering barren women fruitful. It came about in this wise :— 
When Kataka, the daughter of Tane-atua, was born some 
seventeen generations ago, Irakewa took the tho of the child 
when severed and placed it on a hinau tree at Ohaua. And it 
chanced that Tane-atua, travelling to the interior, sat him down 
to rest beneath that tree and stretched forth his hand to pluck 
some berries therefrom. What was his surprise to hear a voice 
say, ‘ Do not eat me, for I am the cho of Kataka, your child.” 
So it came about that Tane-atua rendered that tree tapw for all 
time, and also endowed it with strange powers by means of 
suspending thereon the tho of another of his children and uttering 
these words : “I am here suspended that I may cause children to 
be conceived.” And ever since that time has that tree held the 
