306 
The N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology. 
[Jan. 
TI RAKAU, AN OLD MAORI PASTIME. 
By Elsdon Best. 
With illustration by J. McDonald. 
This game was also known as poi rakau and titito uretua ; the sticks employed 
being termed titi and toi. The performers either kneel or sit down. Perhaps 
this amusement should be classified as a game rather than a mere pastime, 
inasmuch as the element of contest enters into it. Some differences in the 
method of playing the game seem to have obtained, as in different districts. 
Thus it was played by four, six, or more persons, and each player was 
provided with one or two sticks (titi). These sticks are about 2 ft. in length, 
Ti rakau , as played at Rotorua. 
and, in former times, were in some cases adorned with carved designs. 
The players arrange themselves in a circle, and the movements of the 
exercise are made to conform to a time song, a simple formula. The 
players hold the sticks upright in front of them, and, when they commence 
to sing, they move the sticks up and down with an easy rhythmic swing. 
At certain words of the time song the sticks are thrown from hand to hand—- 
thrown across the circle and dexterously caught. In this simultaneous 
throwing care is necessary to prevent the sticks striking each other in 
transit. At certain times the sticks are thrown from hand to hand round 
the circle instead of across it. The players do not sit close together. 
There are several such variations, and when the players are expert the 
game is quite an interesting one to watch. Of late years the natives of 
