CoLENSO. — On a better Knowledge of the Mao7-i Race. I3f 



151. I paia koia te reinga ? 



Is the enti'aiice to tile lower world barred {or closed) ?* 

 Said to one desixous of war. 



152. He iti tangata e tupu ; he iti toki, e iti tonu iho. 



A little human-being will grow ; a little stone-axe always continues 

 little. 

 N.B. — An axe (though only of stone) was formerly among the most 

 valuable of their goods. Cook says,f he could not get the New Zealanders 

 to sell him any of their stone axes, not for anything he had in his ship. 

 Meaning : A man is of more value than any property. 



XII. CONCEENING CoNDUCT IN TIME OF WaE, ETC. 



153. I nga ra o te pai, hei pai ; i nga ra o te kino, hei kino. 



In times of peace dwell peacefully ; in times of war be brave. 

 Or, In the good days be good ; in the evil days be evil. 

 Here, again, is a double play on words which possess much meaning. 

 " In peace he was the gale of spring. 

 In war the mountain storm." 



154. Paiia taitea, kia tu ko taikaka anake. 



Shake off the sap-wood, and let the hard heart-wood only stand. 



In a totara tree [Podocmpus totara) the taitea is the outer, white or sap- 

 wood, which soon decays, and near the centre is the taikaka or hardest 

 wood. 



Meaning : Let the common people and children stay at home, and the 

 warriors only go to fight. 



155. Rangitihi upoko i takaia ki te akatea, 



Eangitihi's head was bound up with the white-flowering creeper 

 [Metrosideros albiflora) . 

 This hero of old, when his skull was spUt with his enemy's club, had it 

 bound up with this creeping shrub, and, although his men had retreated, 

 led them on again to battle, and gained the day. 

 Meaning : The truly brave man never despairs. 



156. Ko te upoko i takaia ki te akatea. 



The head which was bound with the white-flowering creeper. 

 Used for a brave warrior : — He binds up his head, or wounds, and fights 

 away. 



A proverb similar to the last, and from the same incident. 



* So Virgil : 



" facilis descensus Averno ; 



Noctes atque dies patet atri janua Ditis." — ^n., lib. vi. 



t First Voyage, Vol. III., p. 464. 



11 



