NOTES OX MAORI RELIGION. 463 



.lower classes. The tohunga pari is not quite clear to me, but he 

 seems to have been a wizard, if nothing more. 



The principal ariki, or duel', was looked upon as the counterpart 



• of the gods. He was the representative, the resting place of the gods 

 in this world. Also, he was extremely tayu, so much so that he could 

 not keep himself clean. His head could not be washed, or his hair 

 dressed, because of this intense state of tapu. Hence his hair became 

 matted and dirt-laden. The first-bom male or female of such a family 

 was ever in this condition. Only the principal tuliunga taua might cut 

 his, or her, hair, and then the operation made the hapless haircutter 

 so tapu that, for the space of many days, he could do nothing for 

 himself, and approach no one. Indeed, it took three persons to feed 

 him at such a time. One prepared the food, afar off, took it to a 

 certain place, and then retired, whereupon another advanced, took 

 such food away, and carried it to a certain spot, and there left it. The 

 third, and immediate, attendant earned the food to the priest and fed 



-him, he not being able to touch food with his hands. Of a verity it 

 must have been a deplorable thing to have been a bishop of the Maori 

 (Jhurch. 



The priests and shamans were the doctors of neolithic Maoriland. 

 Their methods may be termed empirical, for they relied not on medi- 

 cines; no root nor herb entered into their primitive pharmacy. They 

 relied on thaumaturgics. 



Animism is very noticeable in Maori religion and folklore, as one 

 would expect it to be, while a curious system of pei'sonifications and 

 allegorical myths is also noted. The many mythopoetic tales pre- 

 served from ancient times are of considerable interest to tlie collector 



-of folk tales. 



Of sun worship among the Maori I have nothing to say. inasmuch 

 as I have not collected any notes on the subject. My old tutor knew 

 nothing concerning it, at least he said that he did not. But he gave 

 me some data of great interest anent astrolatiy as practised by the 

 Maori. At the ceremony of the first fruits, as performed in olden 

 times, a long invocation was addressed to the stars by the priest 

 officiating. In this invocation, evidently an ancient composition, each 

 of the principal stains is addressed in turn and asked to cause all food 

 products to be plentiful during the coming season. At the same 

 time the priest laid an offering of the fresh young growth of plants, 



-&c., at the sacred place of the hamlet. This was an offering to the 

 stars that send food to man. 



It would not be safe to say that the Maori possessed any system of 

 phallic worship, but some exceedingly curious items may be noted in 



•old-time customs and beliefs, some of which seem to point toward 

 phallicism, or, at least, to a belief in universal sex in nature. One 

 such item is the extraordinaiy powei-s assigned to the male organs of 



■generation in man. For these held the power of saving man from 

 disaster and death. When repeating a charm to ward off the shafts 



■of magic, a man would place his hand " in the hollow of his thigh," as 

 it is put in the Bible. This act gave the necessary power to his 



•charm. Another item, still more strange, was the rite known as 

 Ngau paepae. A sick person would be taken to the village latrine, 

 ■where, while the priest recited a charm, he would be told to bite the 

 ■Jiorizontal beam of the latrine. This would cure him, at least so 



