108 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



charge was false, but fortunately was able to do so. The Maoris 

 were never quite satisfied, however, that the head had not been 

 stolen from the cave. 



The motives which induced the Maoris to go to all the trouble 

 of preserving the heads of dead chiefs in this way would appear 

 to have been much the same as lead us to preserve with jealous 

 care the revered ashes of the good and great amongst our fellow 

 men, and to erect stately monuments to their memory. The 

 Maoris were eminently a people of legends and traditions, 

 taking great pride in the glory of departed ancestors, and in 

 handing down the story of their valorous deeds. The doings 

 of the chiefs for many generations past were religiously kept in 

 remembrance and recounted by father to son, and so handed 

 down as a legacy, just as were the folk-lore and unwritten history 

 of the people of the old world. 



The tattooing, or moko, on the face of a chief was pregnant 

 with meaning, it was no idle or whimsical pattern, but to the 

 expert interpreter each turn and line had its appropriate signi- 

 ficance, tliere being very distinct differences in the moko on the 

 faces of different individuals. The wish to keep some tangible 

 memorial of a deceased person of distinction would very 

 naturally lead to the preservation of the head bearing the revered 

 moko. 



Very curious and interesting were the customs of the Maoris 

 at the meetings held for the purpose of lamenting over the past. 

 Everything of moment amongst savage races is celebrated by 

 feasting and ceremony. At the Maori tangi mournings for the 

 past were indulged in — the friends who had died were brought to 

 remembrance amid much wailing and crying ; and no one who 

 has not heard the Maori tangi knows what a weird, melancholy 

 sound it is. 



The hahunga was a feast celebrated with the object of recount- 

 ing the past glories of deceased chiefs, and inciting the warriors to 

 emulate their greatness or to revenge their death. At these times 

 the deeds of valour and of wisdom of the dead were recounted 

 with all the glowing oratory so natural to the Maori : 



" With weeping and with laughter 

 Still is the story told, 

 How well Horatius kept the bridge 

 In the brave days of old. 

 * * * * 



" And wives still pray to Juno 

 For boys with hearts as bold 

 As his who kept the bridge so well 

 In the brave days of old." 



— Macaulay, ^'' Lays of Ancient Rome.''' 



In concluding, I wish to mention what appears to be a curious 

 phenomenon about the preserved head in my possession. Before 



I 



