Travers.—On the Traditions and Customs of the Mori-oris. 21 
huddled at night. When, however, a permanent settlement was to be 
formed, circular and V shaped huts were built, the former composed, like 
the huts of the Kaffirs, of a circle of poles drawn together at the top, and 
then thatched ; and the latter of similar poles ranged along a ridge, one 
end resting on the ground, and the whole also covered with thatch, in each 
case a trench being dug to carry off the rain water. Their meeting houses 
were occasionally decorated with rude carvings, of which specimens were 
brought over by my son, and placed in the Wellington Museum. These 
carvings are different in character from, and are much ruder than those of 
the Maoris, but were made in the same manner. 
Their clothing was composed chiefly of seal skins and of garments manu- 
factured from the fibre of the Phormium tenaz, much in the same manner as 
those used by the Maoris, but with less elegance in texture or design. 
Before going into battle the chiefs put on a long narrow piece of close 
matting, made from the raw leaves of the Phormium, and wrapped round 
the upper part of the body after the fashion of a Scotch plaid, but with one 
end hanging in front and the other behind. Both sexes wore ornaments 
made from the flax fibre dyed in black, or red and white, the black color 
being produced by steeping the fibre in the juice of some bark containing 
tannin, and then in à swamp, the water of which was impregnated with 
iron ; and the red by wrapping up the fbre with scrapings of the inner 
bark of the Matipo (Myrsine chathamice) and the bruised leaves of the Kawa 
was then steeped in water, where after 
kawa (Piper excelsum), which 
taken out and dried before a fire, then 
remaining for some time it was 
assuming the red color. 
They also used ornaments made from the teeth of the whale, but these 
were by no means common. My son was unable to find any trace of the 
use of ornaments made from any form of stone or mineral. The women 
used combs made from the back-bone of a fish. Stone tools of various 
forms were used, each of which was sacred to its own particular purpose, 
one being used in house building, another in cutting wood, a third in 
carving, and so forth. Some of the axes are peculiar in shape, differing 
from any of those used by the Maoris. My son discovered some singular 
shaped stone clubs, evidently of great antiquity, and made from stone 
different from that used for their ordinary tools. On enquiry he found that 
these were unknown to the present people, who merely conjectured that 
they must have belonged to the earlier people already referred to. These 
clubs are scarce and are usually found buried at some depth in the ground. 
Polygamy was common amongst them, and it was usual for a brother to 
marry a deceased brother's wives. No marriage, however, was originally 
contracted without the consent of the parents of both parties. When a 
