CoLENSO. — On the Maori Races of New Zealand. 383 



taken notice of) as for the violation of the tapu, in failing to carry it out. 

 Again, in case of any infringement of the tapu, or of any error or wrong, 

 real or supjDOsecl, the tau.a would be sure to pay its visit ; such ta^m was not 

 unf requentlj'- a friendly one ! — one quickly made up of the nearest relatives 

 and neighbours to the offender ; for, as he must be stripped and mulcted, 

 they might as well do it as others, and so keep his goods from wholly going 

 to strangers. If a road was tabooed, and any one was foolish or hardy 

 enough to go over it, the taua 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 melee. 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 tapic, 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, 



