E—No. 7

LECTURES ON The fact of shedding blood renders the Maori tapu, and until the tapu is removed by this ceremony, the warriors cannot mix with the others. Before, however, they enter the village, one of the elder chiefs takes up the war-song, all the men repeating it and dancing- weapon in hand with a slow and measured step, till they have sung about half of it; then a kind of fantastic excitement seems to come over them, and they dance furiously and with almost demoniac attitudes and gestures, still keeping perfect time with each other. The words of the song are these: — Yes, yes, it must be, It is Tiki-Bau^kura, Whose left eye we know It is now glaring at all of us, Yes, yes ! at all of us; How red he has turned ! By the heat of the sun, Yes, yes, the sun, Of the hot summer day. We come lastly to the reception of the warriors at home. The dance concluded, they march in silence to the village, where those who remained behind are gathered to receive them, the old warriors standing, the rest sitting, and the younger people only having their heads covered. Some must have fallen, therefore the reception is with a " Tangi," or general chorus of wailing, while the elder women at the same time are clawing the air as a welcome to the gods who reside in it; the warriors from battle, in the mean time, stand leaning upon their spears, and all join the tangi for the space of about an hour ; then all rising up, they rub noses, and the slaves begin to cook; yet not a word has been spoken of the success of the expedition, and above all, not a question has been asked, for such inquisitiveness would be punished with certain death by the war god Tu. After the meal is ended, the best orator who has been in the party rises, unasked, and gives an account of the whole proceedings in the war, and as the cause and manner of the death of each of their own friends or relatives is told, the women recommence the low mournful wailing of the tangi, cutting their hair short off, and cutting and gashing themselves with pieces of Obsidian. The recital over, each chief who has been in the war takes a piece of human flesh, and gives it to his first-born son, as an offering to Tv ; this is to ensure success in after expeditions. The rewards of honour are now given to those whose bravery has been noticed in the figM ; the fattest dogs in the village are killed and cooked with fern-root cakes, and taro. For the kumara being sacred to Tiki and the gods of peace alone, these are distributed in small baskets and presented separately to each one of those whose actions have entitled them to such honour, the warriors' name being pronounced over the basket as it is given ; to touch this uninvited, is the grossest of insults, as it is a mark of the highest favour for him who receives it to ask another to partake it with him. Thus, we have opened another page from the yet unexhausted volume of Maori superstitions, but £S our time is more than gone, we must thus abruptly conclude.