92 CONSULTING THE ORACLE. 
such a direction as to cause the sticks represent- 
ing the enemy to fall backwards, or in a re- 
treating form, their destruction is certain : should 
they fall in an oblique direction, they will only 
be partly routed : but should they fall in a for- 
ward position, so as thereby to be drawn nearer 
the other party, then, instead of being routed or 
destroyed, they will become the victors. The same 
with respect to the position in which the sticks 
happen to fall, representing their own tribes.-^ 
There is another method of doing it ; which is, 
that when the sticks are all erected, a person, who 
knows nothing as to which party either side is to 
represent, throws them down at random; and 
the position in which they fall is considered 
as decisive of the events of the subsequent 
battle. Of course, this is open to much juggling 
and tricking. The person performing can gene- 
rally suit his answers to the disposition of the 
party on one side concerned : he generally knows 
with absolute certainty from which quarter the 
wind will come, and he can suit his arrangements 
accordingly^; or he can give a private intimation 
to the person whom he intends to call in, to be 
careful where he lets fall his hands, and as to 
whom he pronounces to be the conqueror. 
The most implicit confidence is sometimes 
placed in this experiment ; but some have found, 
* The New Zealanders are close observers of the appearances 
of the heavens, and are seldom deceived in their prognostica- 
tions. 
