THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 27 



This was done by women as well as by men, and even children 

 were taught to club the bodies of the slain foes. 



Chiefs frequently reserved entire bodies of rival chiefs for their 

 own private consumption, and not unfrequently prided themselves 

 on the number of whole bodies which they had eaten in this way, 

 The eyes and the brain were especially prized as possessing 

 particular virtues, and it was the sweetest revenge to swallow the 

 brain and eyes of an enemy. The souls of those eaten were 

 supposed to wander about in a disembodied state, and never 

 to reach the Maori heaven. 



It might frequently happen that blood relations were members 

 of tribes at enmity with one another, but such were never eaten. 

 It would have been considered in the highest degree disgraceful 

 for a man to eat of one related to him, though he might kill him 

 without any compunction. 



Unlike the Fijians, it was not customary amongst the Maoris to 

 take the bodies to their villages, as doing so would have rendered 

 the place as well as the people tapu. The feasts were celebrated 

 either on the field of battle or outside the villages, and as touching 

 or partaking of a human body rendered a person very highly tajiu, 

 the ceremony of removing the iapu was performed by the priests 

 after the close of the feast. 



The Maori cannibal ovens, called kafura or umu, and the 

 mode of preparing and cooking the bodies, were practically 

 identical with those of the Fijians. The curious custom of eating 

 different sorts of food in an advanced state of decay was followed 

 by the Maori. I have already referred to the Fijians being 

 addicted to eating bodies in this condition. The Fijians also 

 make a sort of pudding by placing cooked bread-fruit, bananas, 

 and other ingredients in a large hofe in the earth, and covering 

 up like a silo for some months. When opened the smell is most 

 repulsive to a European, but seems to be highly grateful to Fijian 

 senses, and the pudding is considered a great delicacy and is 

 eagerly devoured. 



Amongst the Maoris the killing of victims for the oven was by 

 no means confined to ordinary enemies, Slaves were killed with 

 little or no compunction when occasion required, and frequently, 

 on very slight grounds of provocation, lower class members of 

 the tribe would be clubbed by a chief for some petty offence, and 

 the body eaten in the usual way, the occasion being made to suit 

 the opportunity. 



Cooked joints, carefully packed in baskets of leaves, were sent 

 as choice presents to friends residing at a distance. 



The Maoris were exceedingly cruel in their treatment of 

 prisoners and adepts at inflicting torture, and they did not hesitate 

 to exert all their ingenuity on their captives. Nothing would 

 induce a Maori to evince any sign of feeling even under the 



