152 
MYTHOLOGY. 
would not allow his divine relative to escape ; at last, he 
consented to assume the form of a spider, and alight on his 
head ; the European said, if he descended straight upon 
him, he would believe he was actually present ; but if he 
only saw a spider on his side or legs, he should not be satis- 
fied : the old woman then got up, and went to the other 
side of the hut, and fumbled about in the thatch of the house, 
as though she was searching for a spider to act the god, but 
her search was vain, she only found a little beetle, which 
consumes the raupo ; she then came and sat by his side, 
but he narrowly watched her ; the chief reproached the god 
for not descending at once upon his head ; the god replied 
it was from an unwillingness to injure the European ; the 
god demanded a blanket for having spoken to him, and said 
he had seen him before in the Bay of Islands, which was 
false, as he had never been there ; but he assented, to see 
whether the god might not tell some further lies, when he 
found that the first was agreed to ; he then imitated the Nga 
puhi dialect, and said, he had seen such and such chiefs with 
him, and several other things equally untrue, again repeat- 
ing the request for a present; but though urged to render 
himself visible, he obstinately refused, to the great mor- 
tification of the chief, who still believed he actually heard a 
god speak, thus the interview terminated. The two youths 
dared not return to the pa for three days ; 1 asked my 
informant if he did not think the woman was a ventrilo- 
quist ? he said that it had not struck him before, but now 
he felt persuaded she was ; he knew it was a deception, 
but could not * find it out, now all was quite clear. He 
said the calling of the young chief on the god, reminded 
him of the priests of Baal calling on theirs. In the case 
just given, it is evident that there was nothing beyond 
what a cunning old woman might say, nothing to indicate 
any superior intelligence ; generally these ventriloquists are 
distinguished by possessing a greater degree of shrewd- 
ness and acquaintance with what is going on, than their 
neighbours, and thus sometimes draw conclusions, which, 
though natural, being beyond their perception, when time 
