CoLENSO. — On the Maori Baces of New Zealand. 365 



not apparent, they repeatedly exorcised, to tlie double misery and expense of 

 the sufferer. Eecent wounds were generally left to themselves, and, like 

 their fractures, they mostly healed quickly and well ; owing, no doubt, to 

 their non-stimulating diet, temperate living, and low pulse. Old obstinate 

 ulcers (often arising from scrofula, or from some fragment of bone or foreign 

 substance remaining in the flesh, or from fungoid flesh) they sometimes 

 adroitly managed, by weaving a little wicker boss, or shield, which they 

 strapped on to protect the sore. They were also clever at boils, in courage- 

 ously bearing the extraction of the core by pressure, only they did it too 

 early. Painful excoriations of the hands by poling or paddling, they eased 

 by the actual cautery, burning the same with live embers. In midwifery 

 cases they were also very expert, in severe cases extracting the foetus piece- 

 meal, when the husband was generally the operator. They were always 

 extraordinarily solicitous about the retention of the afterbirth. In cases of 

 children being poisoned by eating the seeds of the tiipaliilii or tutii, (Coriaria 

 ruscifoUa),thej generally smoked them over a heap of green bushes, having a 

 little fire underneath, shaking them about at the same time ; sometimes they 

 also ducked them roughly in the sea or river. In cases of poisoning through 

 eating the unprepared kernels of the Jcaraka (JJorynocarpus Icevigata), they 

 dug a deep pit as fast as possible, in which they placed the unhappy sufferer 

 standing, with his arms lashed to his sides, his legs tied together, and a gag in 

 his mouth, filling in the earth or sand to his neck. If this treatment was well 

 and expeditiously performed, the patient not only recovered, but had again 

 the proper use of his limbs. The convulsions and rigidities during the action 

 of the poison were dreadfully severe. 



22. They had several acquired habits, some of which were notably good, 

 others peculiar. Their great industry has been already mentioned. They 

 usually carried their heavy loads strapped on their backs, where they also 

 carried their children. They were fond of sitting squatting on their haunches, 

 both on land and in their canoes. They often used their toes to pick up any 

 small article with. They endured their smoky houses without inconvenience, 

 and always ate their food out of doors in all weathers. They saluted each 

 other on meeting by placing their noses in contact, rubbing and pressing 

 them ; in this way chiefs saluted chiefs and slaves slaves. They often signi- 

 fied their assent to anything by a slight elevation of the head or of the 

 eyebrows. Silence was the understood sign of dissent. They measured 

 length, especially cordage, &c., with expanded arms, or by stretching them- 

 selves on the ground or surface to be measured. Lice of two kinds {Pedicu- 

 lus hum. capitis, and P. hum. corporis), with which their heads and clothing 

 formerly abounded, they uniformly caught and cracked with their teeth. 

 They had a pecuHar gait, turning in their toeu, and planting, the sole flat on 



