CHAP. VIII.] CANNIBALISM. 129 



is often satisfied with the left eye of his enemy, 

 which they consider the seat of the soul. They 

 likewise drink the blood from a similar belief. The 

 dead bodies are " tapu " until the tohunga has taken 

 a part of the flesh, and, with prayers and invocations, 

 has hanged it up on a tree or on a stick, as an offer- 

 ing to the Atuas, or to the wairua of him to re- 

 venge whom the war was undertaken. The heads 

 are stuck up on poles round the village. Women, 

 especially those who plant the kumara, and those 

 who are with child, are not allowed to eat of the 

 flesh, but children are permitted to do so at a certain 

 age, when the priest initiates them into the custom 

 by singing an incantation, which I insert here, 

 although it is too obscure for translation : 



He waka ngungu tamariki tenei Mau nga tua ahu 



karakia Horo nuku 



Ka ngungu te tama nei Horo rangi 



Ka koro te tama nei Horo paratu 



Ka kai te tama nei Horo awa hei kai 



Ka kai tangata te tama nei Mau nga pukenga hei kai 



Ka horo parata te tama nei Mau nga wananga hei kai 



Ka kai hau te tama nei Mau tenei tauira 



Ka kai e tiki ei E kai te tama nei 



Ka kai rangi E horo te tama nei i te tangata 



Ka kai papa hei kai Ka kai akuanei 



Mau nga tua hei kai Kakai apopo 



Mau nga wahi tapu hei kai Heoi katahi kakai te tamaiti. 



Many men too are restricted from eating it. They 

 all agreed, when conversing with me freely upon 

 the subject, that human flesh is well flavoured, 

 especially the palm of the hands and the breast 

 The flesh of Europeans they consider salt and dis- 



VOL. II. K 



