Cotenso.—On the Maori Races of New Zealand. 383 
taken notice of) as for the violation of the /apw, in failing to carry it out. 
Again, in case of any infringement of the tapu, or of any error or wrong, 
real or supposed, the zaua would be sure to pay its visit; such tava was not 
unfrequently a friendly one!—one quickly made up of the nearest relatives 
and neighbours to the offender; for, as he must be stripped and muleted, 
they might as well do it as others, and so keep his goods from wholly going 
to strangers. lf a road was tabooed, and any one was foolish or hardy 
enough to go over it, the zaua would be sure to inflict a very heavy penalty. 
On the completion of a large seine net, it was brought on a set day to some 
beach “to be first wetted,” when not only that beach, but the neighbouring 
ones, and also the whole sea in front, would be rigidly tabooed ; on such an 
occasion, should any unfortunate canoe, however unwittingly, trespass on 
the prohibited waters, it, and all its contents, would be immediately con- 
fiscated, and loss of life might very probably take place in the mélée. Their 
strange custom, also, which obtained in the upsetting of friendly canoes, or 
their drifting on to their shores, has been already mentioned (par. 20, 
sec. vi.) ; also that respecting a chief who had been made captive (par. 19, 
sec. 2). Several others, equally unreasonable, might also be adduced. As 
there was not a family or individual among them who were exempt from 
the influence and operation of the zapu,'and as there was no such thing 
known as a standing or selected party to act as a taua, so those who 
suffered through it to-day were enabled to retaliate, with true New Zealand- 
zest, upon those who might be sufferers to-morrow, especially if they had 
been engaged in paying them a visit yesterday ; and this, no doubt, always: 
had a tendency both to equalize the inflictions and temper the operations of 
the taua. 
37. Their credulity was very great, and sometimes accompanied with a 
large amount of superstitious dread, which cannot well be defined. They 
believed in the truth of dreams, of which they had many kinds, both good 
and bad. To dream of a nice house was indicative of great good; of 
wounds, or of death, or of eating bad food, indicated great evil, perhaps 
death. All were alike firmly believed to be remembrances of what they had 
seen in the reinga, or unseen world, or place of the departed, whither the 
spirit (wairua) was supposed to have been during the sleep of the body. 
They also put great faith in convulsive startings in sleep, especially of their 
chiefs—whether such were directed to the right or to the left, from or to; 
a start forward or outward was a prognostic of good; in the contrary 
direction, of evil. Their omens were many; among them were the catching 
or tripping of the toe or foot on beginning a journey, which would some. 
times cause them to return. An ember bouncing from the fire towards 
any one, a singing noise or gaseous flame issuing from firewood burning, 
