106 THE VICTORIAN NATRUALIST. 



a somewhat striking analogy to the Maori head-preserving 

 practices was that of the more civilized races of the Old World, 

 in the exposure at city gates and other public places, of the heads 

 and dismembered bodies of executed persons. 



Of course the preservation of human heads is long since become 

 a thing of the past in New Zealand, but the skill displayed, and 

 the surprisingly permanent results attained by the Maori in this 

 art, have been frequently commented upon. 



The Maori at all times greatly dreaded the falling of the bodies 

 of their compatriots into the hands of their enemies, and particu- 

 larly so in regard to the head. Judge Manning, in " Old New 

 Zealand," illustrates this with the following interesting anecdote : 

 — r" A small party of Maories had been surprised by a hostile 

 tribe. Two brothers were flying for their lives down a hillside; 

 a shot broke the leg of one of them and he fell. The enemy 

 were close at hand. Already the exulting cry, ' Na ! na I mate 

 rawaf was heard. The wounded man cried to the brother, 'Do 

 not leave my head a plaything for the foe.' There was no time 

 for deliberation. The brother did not deliberate. A few slashes 

 with the tomahawk severed his brother's head ; he escaped with 

 it in his hand, diied it, and brought it home." During the Maori 

 war the British forces had numerous illustrations of the same 

 sentiment, the Maoris always, if possible, carrying away their 

 dead, according to their invariable custom. The body was 

 generally dragged by tying a flax rope to the ankle. 



When the body of a chief or other leading man was captured 

 by his enemies, the body was usually eaten, but the head was 

 stuck up in the village of his captors, where it was subjected to 

 insult and contumely ; the women and children would jeer and 

 spit at it, and the captor would address it in taunting language. 



Dr. Thomson, in " The Story of New Zealand," says : — " The 

 heads of fallen chiefs were carefully preserved from decay by an 

 ingenious process, and deposited with their ancestors' bones, to be 

 brought forth on future occasions to excite men to revenge their 

 deaths. The bloody heads of the enemy were stuck round the 

 fences of the village for the purpose of being insulted. ' What,' 

 said a chief to one of these irunkless heads, ' you wanted to run 

 away, did you, but my meri overtook you, and after you were 

 cooked you were made food for my mouth. And where is your 

 father ? He is cooked ! And where is your brother ? He is 

 eaten ! And where is your wife ? There she sits, a wife for me I 

 And where are your children ? Here they are with loads on their 

 backs carrying food as slaves.' " 



Tlie belief was that the head was perfectly sensible of all that 

 transpired, the Maoris believing that the soul remained for some 

 days after death. It was not customary to permanently preserve 

 the heads of slain foes, the operation being only carried out on 



