2£4 RITES AND CUSTOMS RELATING TO THE DEAD. 
E Tu, E Kongo, naumai, 
E waha e waha, 
I taku tna no wai 
Te kawe mai, &c. 
0 Tn, 0 Rongo, welcome, 
Bear 0 bear 
Upon my shoulders, 
Of whom is the carrying, &c, 
3. When they have gone and are near to the sacred 
grove, or place, if by the road of the spider,* or if to a cave 
there is a particular karakia for each, but if a lifting up on a 
stage or amongst the branches, there is another ; this is for 
the latter : — • 
Tena te ara te ara ka iri, This is the way, the way, lift 
it up, 
Ko te ara o tenei aitu The way of this calamity, 
Ara ko i runga, &c. The road above. 
4. If water be near the sacred grove, the bearers, though 
they be twenty in number, must dip their bodies in it. This 
is the karakia : — 
Tangaroa mea i rukuhia, Tangaroa says you must dip, 
I oko whatitahuri iho, &c. 
I a Rongo, ka mau te whatu, 
Mai tai i tap a rere, &c. 
5. When they have come out of the water they must 
stand on the side, the twenty in a row, with a branch in 
each of their hands. This is the karakia of the priest : — 
Ka mama te rangi tuatahi, 
Ka mama te rangi tuarua, 
Ka mama te rangi tuatoru, &c. 
Tena te umu te umu ka wan- 
gai, &c. 
Let the ascent to the first heaven 
be easy, 
Let the ascent to the second hea- 
ven be easy, 
This is the oven, the oven to feed 
the spirit. 
The second part — 
After a period of two or three years the hahunga, or 
exhuming of the corpse took place, when the bones were 
scraped, painted, wrapped up in a fine mat, and placed in 
a small canoe upon the top of a pole. 
* A spider’s thread is supposed to be the soul’s road to heaven. 
