776 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F, 
or evil omen, according to the direction in which it darts. The 
rua koha would appear to have been observed in ancient Rome. 
It was the evil omen which portended the defeat of the Roman 
legions under Varus by Arminius, the War-man of the North. 
Puhore.—There are many items which come under this head- 
ing. Pwhore means to be unsuccessful in fishing or hunting, &e. 
One of such items is the tovtoi-okewa. Should a native be about 
to go out hunting, and should he speak of an animal or a bird as 
already secured, that is a tottot-okewa, and the hunter will be 
unsuccessful. Reduced to plain English it means, “ Don’t count 
your chickens before they are hatched,” which is an Anglo-Saxon 
puhore. 
When engaged in digging for the edible root called perez, no 
digger may mention the name. If anyone desires to speak of the 
object of his search, he will term it maukwuwku, for should he 
mention the name peret no roots would be found by the party. 
In the bird-snaring season should a man mention that he is going 
to visit his snares in order to take the birds which have been 
caught, he will not make use of the word wetewete (a plural form 
of wewete, ‘to untie”), for that would be a puhore. He will use, 
in place thereof, the term wherawhera (a plural form of whera, 
“to open”). Or should the snarer be going to look at his waka 
or water troughs, over which pigeon snares are set, he will not 
use the word ¢titiro, ‘to look at,” but substitute that of matat, 
that no pwhore may be incurred. 
Such illustrations as the above might be carried on indefinitely 
by anyone who cares to collect the necessary material from the 
older generations of Maoris now living. From my limited know- 
ledge of the subjects it appears to me that the unhappy Maori of 
pre-pakeha days was simply hedged round by an appalling array 
of evil omens, pahore, laws of tapwu and rahui, with other products 
of superstition and ignorance. Such superstitions and customs 
are, however, extremely interesting, and it is to be hoped that we 
of this generation will endeavour to place on record the customs, 
language, traditions, and mythology of the various Polynesian 
peoples before it is too late. A comparative study of such, 
together with those of the Asiatic and Indonesian races, would 
certainly lead to interesting results, and open up a vast field of 
research for future anthropologists. 
_ With the Maori of New Zealand the time is rapidly approach- 
ing when the men of knowledge will be no more, and. the last 
tohunga shall pass downward ‘through the surging seaweeds of 
Te Reinga to the grim underworld of ‘the Goddess of Night. 
