94 
CUKSTNG. 
In some places, the hair is cut only in the morning; in 
Taupo, it is done in the evening. The hair in other parts 
was laid upon the tuahu, or altar, whilst the karakia was 
uttered, and left there, the tuahu being in the wahi tapu, or 
sacred grove. 
Another way of obtaining revenge, was by cursing. To call 
any object by the name of a chief, and then strike or insult 
it, was regarded as a curse; this was tapatapa, or tukutuku. 
To curse, or kangci, was to apply any word to another which 
had reference to food; to say, you be eaten, or be cooked, 
would be considered in that light. The following is an ex¬ 
ample :—To bid you go and cook your father would be a great 
curse, but to tell a person to go and cook his great grandfather 
would be a far greater one, because it included every indivi¬ 
dual who has sprung from him. This would have been quite 
sufficient in former days to cause a war; it could not have 
been overlooked. 
Tenei tou roro, ko te kowhatu e tu ki te alii kai, kia reka iho 
ai taku kainga iho —e. If this were your brain, this stone 
which stands by the'food fire, i.e. the kitchen hearth stone, 
how very sweet would be my eating of it. 
Jpiti is also a term for cursing ; any one who used a word, 
however unintentionally, which is regarded as a curse, would 
be exposed to extreme danger ; a young man, who saw a 
chief running in a great heat, and the perspiration flowing 
down his cheeks, remarked, that the vapour rose from his head 
like the steam of an oven ; this expression was regarded as a 
great curse, and caused a war, which did not terminate until 
the entire tribe of the person who uttered it was destroyed.* 
* He kai mau te tang at a 
Makutu mai, 
Maliara mai, 
Kei reira to hara 
Harahara aitua, 
Harahara atai 
Ipakia ai koe, 
Irahau ai koe, 
Niniho koi, tara koe 
Kei te tai timu, 
Kei te tai pari, 
Food for thee, O fish, is the man whom 
thus I curse, who by his witchcraft and 
wishing me ill luck, is the real cause 
that none of you will take my bait. 
What have you done that they should 
thus bewitch, and with their ill omens 
and curses, reach you; you have been 
by witchcraft touched, by curses smit¬ 
ten. Those teeth of yours, so keen 
and sharply pointed. At the ebb tide, 
you are best caught or at the flood. 
