^'OTES ON MAORI RELIGION. 459- 



usage was carried v.as truly amazing. There were also different grades 

 of tapu, some of which were most virulent, and disregard of such spelt 

 death or disaster to man. Other forms again were much milder, and a 

 transgressor of the rules of such did not endanger his life. The tapu 

 peitaining to the dead, to burial places or mortuaiy caverns, to the 

 god of war (as laid upon the members of a war party bent on blood 

 vengeance), were of the strongest form. Also any spot where religious 

 rites were performed was intensely sacred, and any ordinary person 

 trespassing on such a spot was supposed to diei, being slain by the 

 gods. Another foi-m of tajju, as that pertaining to a woman during 

 the period of childbirth (and the period of segTCgation attendant 

 tliereon), and to those who handled bodies of the dead, may be likened 

 to the " unclean " state of certain persons as mentioned in the Bible. 



Many persons were extremely tajou, such as priests, important 

 chiefs, and the firstborn male of a family of rank. Again, any places 

 or object, might be rendered tajni, if considered advisable. Birds, fish, 

 fruits, crops, trees, &c., could be so treated, the result being that no 

 one could touch them until they were made free and common again. 

 Any road could be closed by being made tapu. A battle ground, or 

 any place where human blood had been shed, was tapu for years. But 

 a hundred pages would not detail all the aspects, causes, and effects 

 of this strange system. One thing may be said of the system: The 

 laws of tapu were respected, obeyed, upheld, as no other rules were in 

 Maoriland. The cause of tliis reverence was a simple one. It was 

 fear. 



Ancestor worship, or rather the deification of ancestors, was 

 essentially a Maori cult. It was a form of necrolatry, or hero worship. 

 A man would placate the spirit of his father, grandfather, or ancestor, 

 and make offerings to the same, that such spirit might protect his life 

 p} iiiciple, warn him of approaching danger, and give force or effective- 

 ness to his rites and charms of black or white magic. 



Another peculiar custom practised by the Maori was that by 

 wliich the life principle of persons, lands, village homes, and forests 

 was protected. Some object was selected, often a stone, and over it 

 certain incantations were recited by a priest. This ceremony had the 

 effect of imbuing such object with the sacred life principle of the 

 person, persons, land, hamlet, or forest that it represented. This 

 object was tenne<l a MAURI. It was carefully concealed, its hiding 

 place being known to very few persons. So long as the tapu of this 

 object was preserved, no arts or spells of black magic could affect the 

 ]>ersons, land, or whatever it represented. It presei-ved, or protected, 

 the HAU of such persons or lands, that is to say, the sacred life 

 principle, the physical, intellectual, and spiritual vigour and well- 

 being. This is a subject that might be described at great length. We 

 give a few illustrations here. For instance, if the concealed mauri of 

 a village conmiunity were found by an enemy, he would at once 

 pollute its sacredness, destroy its tapu, whereupon it would no longer 

 possess any power to protect the folk of the hamlet, and they would be 

 open to the attacks of the magic arts of such enemy. Again, when 

 travelling through the country of a hostile tribe, it is well to keep 

 away from paths, and safer still to walk along the bed of a stream, 

 so as to leave no footprint. Because to every footprint you leave there 

 clings a certain amount of MANE A, which is the HAU of the human 



