74 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. IV. 
Several of us landed at a large village opposite our 
anchorage, and witnessed the ceremony of crying over 
JE Rangiy whom many of her numerous relations had 
not seen for five years. The village lay, as its maori 
name (Pitone, or " End of the Sand ") implied, at the 
western end of the sandy beach, which is about two 
miles long. The main river falls into the sea at the 
eastern end, about a quarter of a mile from the hills 
which bound the valley to the east, and is called the 
Heretaonga. A merry brawling stream, called the 
KorokorOy or " throat," flows between the village and 
the western hills. The valley seems to preserve an 
average width of two miles to a considerable distance, 
bounded on either side by wooded hills from 300 to 
400 feet in height. It was covered with high forest 
to within a mile and a half of the beach, when 
swamps full of flax, and a belt of sand-hummocks, 
intervened. 
The tangi, or crying, continued for a long period. 
The resident natives raised the most discordant whining 
lamentations, streaming at the eyes, nose, and mouth, 
and lacerating every part of their bodies with sharp 
cockle-shells until the blood flowed. This was done, 
however, with considerable regularity and attention, so 
as to leave scars rather ornamental than otherwise after 
the affair was over. Those who wish to commemorate 
one of these scenes of mourning or rejoicing (for the 
ceremonies and native word are precisely the same in 
both cases), apply a black dye to the scar, and thus retain 
a sort of slight tatu. 
The native visitors from Te-awa-iti, who had acquired 
to a considerable degree civilized ways of greeting one 
another, seemed anything but comfortable while the 
ceremony lasted. ITiey had forgotten the art of pro- 
ducing tears at will, and had a decided objection to 
