TIHE MAORI — SNEEZING. 
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especially in the Wanganui River. In poling up the stream, 
Mr. Booth frequently noticed it, particularly in one spot 
about half-a-mile before he reached Pipiriki ; the phos- 
phorescence seemed to come up with the pole. I noticed 
that the rocks at the bottom of the river were covered with 
a gelatinous vegetable substance, of a dark green color, and 
globular form, some an inch-and-a-half in circumference, 
these are luminous and detached by the pole, this is the more 
probable as the light seemed to proceed from detached points. 
In a small lake on the north shore at Auckland, there 
are pure white gelatinous substances, about half-an-inch in 
diameter, which are also luminous, as well as a small slug 
which abounds in the same lake. 
Tihe Maori — Sneezing. 
Maori ora } an exclamation used when any one sneezes, 
meaning, good health to you. It is remarkable how many 
nations have similar expressions. Sneezing appears to have 
been always regarded as a sign of health, even from the 
remotest times, (2 Kings iv. 35.). In the same way we 
say, God bless you, so also the French, Le Dieu vous be- 
nisse, the exclamation of the Italians is felicita, with the 
Romans of old, salvere jusserunt, and with the Greeks, 
fascrocrov, God save you. Tihe mauri, tupu mauri roa ki te 
wai ao, ki te ao marama, Tihe mauri roa, let a natural sneeze 
be natural health and long life in this bright world, therefore, 
sneeze away ; this was used as a spell when a mother heard 
her child sneeze. 
Rain. 
The natives of Wanganui and the interior have an idea 
that if the monoa bushes are used to cook by, it will cause 
rain ; this is an epacris which grows abundantly on the 
central plains, and is said to be the parent of all trees, or 
the first that was formed ; at Pipiriki there is a mountain, 
on the side of which is a remarkable fissure of great length, 
and of two or three feet in width, as though the side of the 
