3 so Notes on Sp07't and Travel m 



allowing his brain to fill itself with blue blood, and 

 sink into the weird old musings of the Tohunga, 

 muttering dull vengeful war songs ; and then again 

 letting in the red blood with a deep gasp, — starting 

 up with the grace and activity of eighteen, to show 

 how the old fencing of the spear was played, man 

 to man, breast to breast ; and how, when the sharp, 

 harsh grating of the parrying spears was broken by 

 the great cry, Kai au te motaiki ! — the cry of the 

 conqueror at the first blood drawn — and the last 

 rally ot the vanquished had failed, the swiftest- 

 footed warriors raced through the flying foe, never 

 stopping for a moment, to give the deadly stab in 

 the ham, which checked the speed of the lost one 

 just enough to permit their comrades to gain upon 

 them, and give the deadly upward tap of the sharp- 

 edged nieri ponamu on the thin temple-bone! Ah! 

 that was a thing to hear and see, a thing never to 

 be forgotten by a man so long as there is a drop of 

 red blood in his heart or brain. Aye di mi ! those 

 were pleasant times, and pleasant glimpsings of the 

 Maori mind and meanings of the Maori actions. Pity 

 that one did not take more advantage of them ; but 

 in those days we fancied that our brains were strong 

 enough to produce an unlimited number of plates on 

 the dry process, to be developed at home, — a grave 

 mistake for a traveller ; the rudest sketch has more 

 local colour than that form of photography, or, for 

 that matter, any other. 



I am loth to part with my j\Iaori, more so, I 



