184 
INFANT BAPTISM. 
a peal of thunder — a whirlwind — the flying of a bird — even 
the buzz of an insect — or anything which might occur, after 
uttering the karakia, would be regarded as an answer, and 
favorable or otherwise according to circumstances. 
Dreams are very common vehicles of communication, the 
spirit being supposed then to visit the realms of Po, and 
hold communication with the inhabitants of the other world. 
They also consulted the Niu for such purposes (see Niu).* 
The priest was the usual companion of the chiefs, and he 
generally managed to make the responses of the god to suit 
their wishes, if his own feelings were the same ; but at 
times, when the chief undertook any expedition which was 
not agreeable to his followers and the priest, it generally 
happened that the god also was adverse to the undertaking. 
The natives had a kind of baptism, He Told , for their 
children : when the iho, navel string, came off, the child 
was carried to the priest ; the ceremony commenced by the 
former being buried in a sacred place, over which a young 
sapling, either a ngaio, karaka, or kahikatea was planted, 
which, as it grew, was a tohu oranga, sign of life, for the 
child ; the end of the waha jpakolto radian, idol, was placed 
in the child^s ear, that the mana , virtue of the god, might 
be transferred to him, and the following karakia was re- 
peated : — 
Taria kia ahuatia to ingoa, 
Ko wai to ingoa, 
Ko rongo to ingoa, 
Tenei to ingoa, 
Wai kni maneane. 
Wait till I pronounce your name. 
What is your name ? 
Listen to your name. 
This is your name, 
Wai kui maneane. 
The priest repeated a long list of names, and when the 
child sneezed, that which was then being uttered was the 
one selected, those repeated were of ancestors ; the priest, 
as he pronounced the name for the child, sprinkled it 
with a small branch of the kokomiko or karamu ; this 
act, he tohinga Id te ivai, was their baptism ; the naming 
* Page 178. 
