ORNAMENTS OF THE NATIVES. 151 
The ornaments which the natives of these islands 
wear, are by no means connected with any of their 
superstitions ; nor are they, as it has been ima- 
gined, representations of gods whom they might 
be supposed to worship. This latter idea was con- 
ceived from the heitiki being taken off the neck, 
laid down in the presence of a few friends meeting 
together, and then wept and sung over. But this 
is only done to bring more vividly to the recol- 
lection of those present, the person, now dead, to 
whom the heitiki belonged; which is kept and 
worn about the person, as a remembrancer of 
departed friends; not only of him who last de- 
parted, and from whose neck it was taken when 
dead, but in remembrance of others also, by whom 
it was once worn. “ Manatungos’\ or remem- 
brancers, are of various kinds, and are always 
either suspended round the neck or to the ear : 
they are mostly made of the ponamu, the green 
stone found only in the Southern Island ; and, 
when they are keepsakes, they are much valued. 
similarity; and it requires a person to observe them very mi- 
nutely, to detect the difference. At the Southward, when you 
come as far as Waiapu, or the East Cape, you find the cuts 
much deeper on the nose and forehead, and in all parts of the 
face much broader. The reason they assign for this is, that 
theirs are purely native instruments, made of stone ; whilst 
the Bay-of-Islanders have latterl}^ introduced iron, which is 
capable of being made much sharper, and consequently of in- 
flicting a wound without striking so hard a blow, or causing 
so deep or broad a furrow. At the Southward, also, the peo- 
ple submit to this operation at a much earlier age ; and many 
of them are fully tattooed about the face, before they have ar- 
rived near the prime of life. 
