matakite

As a noun, the word matakite designates a clairvoyant, any person supposed to possess second sight, a person who practices divination; also any act of divination, or any utterance that embodies a prophecy or augury. The terms mata and kite are also used separately to designate such an utterance, while matatuhi is used like ma takite, to define a seer. It is also used in an adjectival sense, as in he tangata matauhi (an oracular person, one who practices divination). Such a diviner is also called tangata titiro mata or tohunga titiro mata; in some cases the tirotiro mata form is used; matamata aitu also designates a seer. The word mata, in everyday language, designates the eye; kite means “to see, discover, perceive”; while tiro and titiro mean "to watch".

The Maori had, and have, a very strong faith in signs and omens. He likes to see meaning in dreams, in certain manifestations of nature, in the actions of animals, in everything his strange mentality could derive meaning from. To his oddly constituted mind, virtually every activity had a hidden meaning. Thus, to meet a felt need, and no doubt to enhance their own importance, some people set themselves up as seers, and their task was to explain all the signs and omens, also to practice divination by consulting the gods, and by other means to predict the future. There were certainly different grades of these seers. Some were just low-status tricksters, shamanic jugglers who performed sleight of hand and, by similar means, gained influence over superstitious spirits. Others, like the high-level tohunga, apparently despised the trading tricks of the tohunga kehua class and confined themselves to more reputable functions. These may also have been imposters, but at least their activities were more dignified than those of the ordinary necromancer. Some Europeans claim that some of the ancient tohunga possessed extraordinary powers – that they employed both ventriloquism and hypnotism in their performances; but these things are not susceptible of proof.

In his remarks on the native seers, the Reverend R. Taylor wrote: "The matakites, or seers, claim to do many supernatural things and conjure up their gods at will, but from my personal knowledge of many I am persuaded that they are ventriloquists. , and thus deceive the people; though in some cases they may deceive themselves with the idea that the god is within them; usually, however, they are gross impostors who only seek gain or influence through their supposed powers. However, it would be unwise to include all Tohunga Maori among the pranksters, and it is worth bearing in mind that the missionaries never acquired any knowledge of the higher phases of native beliefs and rituals.

Thomson, in his history of New Zealand, takes a different view and writes: “The New Zealand priests were not thugs; they had a superstitious belief in their own powers, combined with a healthy dose of cunning, and ventriloquism was practiced by them. for professional purposes. When asked to predict whether an expedition would be successful, they generally awarded victory to the strongest battalions. In these remarks, Thomson was obviously not referring to the lower class shaman, but to the upper class tohunga.

The oracular sayings made by the mediums of the spirit gods were treated with great respect by the Maori and were firmly believed in them. They were so believed in because they were believed to emanate from the gods, who granted these warnings to man through their human mediums. . It can therefore be said that divination was essentially part of the Maori religion. In some divinatory acts performed by these mediums, the outcome was as much a matter of chance as that of tossing a coin, but they contained no element of chance in native belief; they were manifestations of the gods who live forever. We will thus see that what would appear to us as a childish act would be of very great importance for a native. Survivals of these ancient pagan beliefs and customs are found in the highest forms of religion today.

Warning light Maori of good reputation was obliged to be extremely circumspect in his behavior. Since he was the human medium of an atua, he had to be very careful about his own status as a tapu. Any violation of the laws of tapu simply meant removal from the favor of the gods, in which two misfortunes would befall the unfortunate seer. First, he would be deprived of the power of second sight; he would also be reduced to a totally defenseless condition in what may be called a spiritual sense. His spiritual and even physical well-being was exposed to all sorts of dangers and, having lost the protective power of the gods, he feared that Whiro might strike him down at any moment, which means death. The first thought of a person thus placed was therefore to regain the favor of the gods, and this was effected by means of a conciliation called whakaepa. He made an offering to the offended atua, accompanied by a karakia, or ritual formula, a form of charm said to possess the power to appease the distant being. As an illustration of this kind of dilemma, we can cite the case of a seer who had the imprudence to lie down on the part of a house occupied by women, or to use a woman's garment as a pillow. The consequence of such acts is that the seer's tapu becomes polluted, and he is afflicted with the condition called kahupo (syn. hinapo) – that is, he becomes blind. Not blind as far as ordinary sight is concerned – this is expressed by matapo and kapo; but spiritually blind, meaning he is no longer able to see the warning signs of the gods and has lost his powers as a medium.

The explanation given above shows that divination was very important in Māori life and faith in omens was also strong. When a people believe that most trivial and natural activities are the result of superior intelligence, then apparently nothing is too absurd to inspire faith in the omens derived therefrom. The underlying belief in faith in insignificant actions indicating the tendency of future events, etc., is that the gods send warnings of future events to man in innumerable ways, and seers have the task of interpret the meaning of these warnings. The media used by the gods are somewhat surprising in their wide range and diversity, ranging from the appearance of stars to the muscular contractions of the human body; from thunder crashing through the skies to the appearance of a lizard in its path.

In many cases, the oracular words believed to emanate from the gods were revealed by the mediumistic seer in the form of a song. This applies to the most important subjects, and a number of these songs are now recorded. Such a song would be sung by the seer to the people, and accompanied by explanations of its meanings. In the event of an expected fight, the kite or mata – that is, the song of prophecy – was often adopted as the battle song for that particular expedition or engagement. It would be chanted like a peruperu or a ngeri, pronounced aloud, with vehement emphasis, and accompanied by the fierce, rhythmic gestures so dear to the Maori.

Another special feature of some of these prophetic statements regarding war is that of the daddy. This term designates an object that, according to the prophecy, must be seen, captured or killed in order to ensure a victory. This singular injunction of the gods sometimes led, as one can well imagine, to very extraordinary actions committed by an armed force. In order to illustrate this custom, we can cite the case of the prophetic song relating to an expedition of the Tuhoe tribe against the Taupo natives, a raid which occurred more than a century ago. This song was made known by an Uhia, medium of the god of war Te Rehu-o-Tainui, a famous seer from Tuhoe. The song was used as a war song by the warriors of this historic raid. It goes like this:—

Ko wai te waka…e?
Ko Te Hiahia te wak…e
Me he peke mai at Te Kiore
Ki runga ki nga taumata or Uru-kapua ra
Ki reira tirotiro ai. E… ha!

(Which canoe is this? The canoe is "Te Hiahia". If Te Kiore was just jumping towards the ridges of Uru-kapua, then we would see.)

The explanation was that there were two dads connected to this act of divination. First, a canoe named "Te Hiahia" must be seen, and a man named Te Kiore, dressed in a red garment, must be found and killed, before victory can be won. To pursue any other course would ensure disaster for the expedition. No serious attack could be launched until the two dads were safe. Quoth Uhia: “Do the commandments of the atua [god], and nothing will remain but the birds that ever drift on the waters of Taupo-moana. Even so, the raiders marched to Taupo to avenge an ancient raid on their own tribal district and reached Orona, where the fortified village of Uru-kapua overlooked the lake. The group was under the command of Uhia, who, as Te Rehu-o-Tainui's medium, directed their actions. So for two days he did not allow any attacks, but simply ordered his warriors to repel the attacks of the local natives. On the third day, the raiders saw a canoe approaching the shore, and on board was a man wearing a red cape. Here at last were the two daddies of the prophecy, and, excitedly, the savage bushmen of Tuhoe leaped into ranks and thundered the roaring war-song of Te Rehu. As the echo of it echoed from the cliffs above the calm waters of Taupo, the dinghy ran aground, the raiders rushed into the fray, Te Kiore was. killed, and the canoe was secured. Knowing full well that victory was assured, our raiders then attacked and took Uru-kapua, then surveyed the trail back to their rugged mountain home. Wild-hearted joy was theirs, for Taihakoa's raid on Ruatahuna was avenged and, in the exaggerated parlance of the Maori, "only the drifting waters of Taupo-moana remained."

When the Wairoa people attacked Tuhoe of Ruatahuna, a Mohaka was their prophet, and in his explanation of the saying of the gods, he said that there were two daddies of the matakite, a lonely tree and a person with fair hair (urukehu) . these were to be seen, and the second captured, but not killed. During the first village attacked, a man named Matangaua was chased and caught near a lone tree on the Manawaru Range. As he was blond, the prophecy was well on its way to fulfillment, but the greedy raiders killed their captive, breaking the orders of the god of war under whose sway and tapu they were. Only disaster could result from such an act, and disaster soon followed offense, with Mohaka and his merry men being pursued to the Huiarau Range. Other examples of such prophetic visions and oracular words, with their accompanying papa, could be given, but the foregoing will suffice. It will be noted that all the commands contained in these oracles must be completely and literally obeyed, otherwise failure is assured.

It sometimes happened that a seer advised the people that victory was assured to him as long as he obeyed the instructions of the atua, but that he, seeing it himself, would perish. When Ngapuhi, during one of their southern forays, attacked Ngati-Awa at Okahu-kura, the latter's seer, a Tama-a-rangi, prophesied that the raiders would be driven back and that he alone would be slain. This, we are told, was the actual result of the fight. Colonel Gudgeon recorded another instance in which a Titau, a seer attached to the Whanganui native contingent, predicted his own death during the operations around Opotiki. When, with the fighting over, Titau was still very much alive and the force was due to return home the next day, his tribesmen looked askance at him. As the Colonel said, "We were to embark the next day, and if he was planning to die, time was very short, he would have to be smart about it – and he was." We are told that the worthy Titau set off in a canoe towards the ship which was to take the contingent home; that the canoe capsized in the waves, and those on board reached the shore safely – save and except the dignified Titau, who raised his arms and descended to Rarohenga in Hine-moana's cold embrace, proving thus the accuracy of its matakite. It was a case of death before dishonor.

When an ill-mannered seer or shaman became obnoxious in Maoriland, there was always an element of danger attached to the profession. Colonel McDonnell tells us of a Pero, who predicted, with great accuracy, the deaths of various people. Having been detected in an attempt to poison the Colonel himself, by means of strychnine, his oracular efforts were discouraged and he himself died shortly afterwards. This happened in 1860; and a few years later my very worthy old friend Himiona Titiku of Ngati-Awa shot a tribesman whom he suspected of criminal witchcraft designs against his child. Tikitu sought refuge among the bush people of Urewera, where he remained for some time, until he was handed over to Captain Preece. He wasn't hanged, which I'm really grateful for, because some three decades later he provided me with a tremendous amount of tribal and racial lore.

Polack and other writers have drawn attention to the trickery and deceit practiced by Maori seers, and no doubt much of this sort of thing was done. The upper class of the priesthood certainly included men whose activities were of a more genuine nature and who believed in certain things which we regard as nonsense. As to how far these men practiced deceit, it is impossible to say.

The art of seer was not reserved for the male sex, but the women who practiced this pseudo-science seem to have confined themselves to the lower branches of the art. Judge Wilson tells us that Chief Waikato Waharoa had a private priestess who dealt with the art of divination in connection with his man-murdering activities. Other authors mention having seen clairvoyants. In 1865, Maraea of Tuhoe acted as seer for the party of this tribe which fought Ngati-Manawa at Te Tapiri. No women, however, were admitted into the upper class of Tohunga Maori.

The Māori seer claimed in many cases that when he appealed to the gods in cases of divination, their response was communicated to him during the hours of sleep. At such a time, any dream would be taken very seriously, and meanings of grave importance would be derived from it. In some cases, a seer would become "possessed" by an atua during their waking hours and would frantically detail the result of such possession to people in the form of an oracular utterance. As observed, many of these were in the form of songs, which were often extremely vague in any hints made about the call. The gods were said to communicate with their human mediums in a whistling tone, which may be why the natives never whistled and disliked hearing Europeans whistle. Oddly enough, it was once an article of faith along the Scottish border that the word of spirits is a kind of hissing.

Any tohunga about to perform a divination rite would certainly fast until the end of the ceremony, and this was probably an important cause for such ceremonies to be performed early in the morning. A seer about to go into a trance state could fast for a much longer period. Captain Cruise, who sojourned in New Zealand in 1820, made the following remarks in his diary: "An aged woman, or sort of priestess, of the tribe of every warrior who goes to battle, abstains from food for two days , and the third, purified and influenced by the atua, after various ceremonies, utters an incantation for the success and salvation of him whom she is about to send into battle. It is doubtful, however, that there was much of this wartime divination as concerning one person; such acts were performed to determine the fate of the party or force as a whole. Other song illustrations containing oracular expressions can be found in Vol. 11 of the Journal of the Polynesian Society, p. 55 and following.

As to how far the hallucination entered into the incoherent speech and frantic actions of the Maori shaman, we do not know, but no doubt people were able to get themselves into such a condition with relative ease. The writer has seen Negroes from the Southern States acting and talking like madmen at their camp meetings, but not one iota more foolishly than some white people he has heard ranting at Salvation Army meetings.

The account given by Maning in ancient New Zealand of the raid of the Ngapuhi on Motiti illustrates well the dubious aspect of certain oracles rendered by native seers. In this case, the prophecy consisted of a brief phrase, namely, "A wasteland!" This was accepted by Ngapuhi as a very favorable omen – obviously the land of the enemy must be desolate; but the result was an absolute disaster for the raiding force, so obviously a misinterpretation had been attributed to matakite. A similar case was that of the Tuhoe contingent at Orakau. Omens favored them as an attacking party, but they made the mistake of holding the hastily built redoubt against an attacking force of Europeans. This mistake was, of course, their downfall. The attacking force certainly won the fight, but the enemy was the attacker.

A native who joined a party of northern natives who harassed Taranaki and the south in 1820 made the following remarks in recounting an account of the raid: "I saw our tohunga performing augury with the niu, and I so I approached. He taught the people the meaning of the signs of the niu. Then I saw the furrows dug in the earth by the stalks of ferns (niu), and learned their meaning, and the names of the hapu (clans) that would fall in battle after At the end, the priest spoke of in a frantic manner, and told the people how to behave, and talked about the countries we were to pass through. It was during the night, however, that the priest spoke with a particularly ghostly accent, but, as his voice was incoherent, I couldn't quite understand it all, nor did I know if our party should win. or die in the battles that were to follow. This account, from Maori Wars of the Nineteenth Century, by S. Percy Smith, shows that the questionable words of some seers were extremely confusing and difficult to understand. The niu referred to was a method of divination by means of casting sticks or short rods. The omens came from the way these sticks fell. There were several different ways to handle the sticks. The name niu applied to the sticks and the ceremony is interesting, as it seems to have been introduced from Polynesia, where the coconut is so named. In these islands, this nut was much used in divination ceremonies, as described in Mariner's account of the Tonga Islands. (See also Journal of the Polynesian Society vol. 1, p. 47.) In New Zealand, the word is used to mean "divination", as well as a specific term for the staffs referred to.

The following explanations of several methods of handling the niu have been taken from the writings and unpublished notes of the late Mr John White, author of The Ancient History of the Maori:

The expert planted two sticks in the ground in a vertical position and attached another stick to them in a horizontal position. He then took a koromiko (Veronica) wand to which was attached a lock of hair from the head of a tapu priest or chief, and repeatedly waved it over the sticks, while reciting a charm. Augurs were drawn from the movements of the hair, and as to whether or not it hit the horizontal stick. This was used to determine the fate of a proposed attacking party in wartime. One might assume that the result was entirely in the hands of the operator, but we are told that his every move was controlled by the gods; and who will say that it was not so?

Mr. John White told us that the sticks used in the niu were named by the tohunga who handled them, and that among these names were those of Te Ata-mounu, Te Manu-i-te-ra and Tongohiti. The atua, or supernatural being presiding over this divinatory practice, was a Korohahatu. The priestly adept, by means of a certain charm, caused this being to become a spirit dwelling in the staffs used, for the duration of the ceremony.

In a method adopted by these experts, the procedure was of the simplest nature. Two pieces of staff were purchased, one of which represented an enemy force, the other that of his own people, and over these he recited a brief charm, such as the following:

Kiamana and Korohaha do you
Korohaha-to, Korohaha-rere
Korohaha matai taua
Mana Kia.

(This expresses the desire that the divinatory act be carried out by Korohahatu, the critical observer of the armed forces.) The manipulator then throws the two sticks on the ground. If one of them is then lying across the other, then the group represented by the highest stick will win the upcoming battle.

An even simpler method adopted in lesser cases was simply to clap the open hands together. Good or bad omens were drawn from the position of the fingers, whether they struck or interlocked. On this occasion, the following charm was repeated:

Tenei you nui ka rere
He niu na paki
Ko te he kia puta.*

(This outpouring proclaims that the niu instituted by Paki is about to be wrought, and asks that bad luck be clarified, or abolished.) This charm was also employed in cases where sticks were thrown, as described above . In the clapping of the hands, it was considered a good omen if the fingers interlocked, a bad one if they did not. People about to travel would perform this simple act to determine whether or not danger or trouble awaited them.

Another method, practiced by the Ngai-Tahu people of the South Island, was as follows: Three small branches were driven lightly into the ground at the sacred place of the village. One of them represented an armed force about to attack an enemy pa (fortified village), another represented this pa itself and a third the inhabitants of this place. The experts then waited for a bird to land on one of the twigs by chance. If one thus settles on the branch representing the war party, and if it falls by chance, the fact of its fall is taken to mean that the party will be defeated. If the branch does not fall, the party will be successful. Similar omens have been derived from the effect of a bird landing on one of the other twigs.

Here is another specimen of the charms used by niu augurs:—

Moko torotoro, moko torotoro
murare, murare
Kei haramai koe
Kei whakawareware i taku niu
Toa Kia.

The following is the most elaborate style of niu divination. This method was adopted in important cases, such as sending an armed force to attack an enemy.

At dawn, before any cooking fires are lit, the Priestly Expert goes to a small, crude shed located at the hamlet's garbage dump or heap, a shed erected by men who have killed enemies. There he spreads a mat on the ground and sits beside it so as to face the east. He has with him a number of pieces of the stem of the rarauhe (Pteris aquilina), each about 6 in. long, one for each leader of the party about to depart, and also one for each leader of the enemy about to be attacked. These sticks he holds in his right hand, then, with his left hand, he takes them one by one and lays them on the mat in front of him, naming each as he does after one of the chiefs above mentioned, until all are in a row in front of him. He then takes an equal number of such sticks and fixes them in the ground in an upright position, driving them through the mat, leaving gaps of space between them. These are given the same names as the corresponding sticks. He then takes the stick at the right end (#1 of the bottom row) and places it on the palm of his hand, which is open and with the fingers straightened, so that it rests in the middle of the hand , parallel with the fingers. He then extends that hand to stick number 1 in the standing row, which bears the same name, then withdraws it, extends it again, withdraws it again. He then raises this hand as high as he can, and repeats:

Ko Papa you have nuku
Ko Dad you tidied up
Ko Papa tu a whenua
Haere ki te riri mau.

He then lowers his hand and, with a quick jerk forward, throws the stick from his hand towards the No. 1 of the vertical sticks. If he passes to the right of No. 1, he is said to be outside and unprotected, which is a bad omen. If it passes between the vertical sticks 1 and 2, it is a good omen. All other sticks are tossed in the same way, and if the last toss goes left of #6, it is a bad omen. After completing this performance, the tohunga or expert throws the sticks into the dump.

Niu tuaumu. — Our expert then proceeds to the second part of his interpretation, known as the niu tuaumu. He procures a piece of staff for each leader who must remain in the village while the warriors are away on their raid, and an equal number to form a standing row. All these are named as before, and the same operation is performed, but the words repeated by the expert are these: "Tahuri ki muri, haere ki pa ka hurihia" ("Turn backwards, go to a fallen fort”). It also repeats the names of any tribes or clans that might possibly attack the home village during the war party's absence. As each stick leaves his hand, he repeats, "He aha tau, e te wahine?" (“What is yours, O woman?”), and also mentions the names of any tribes from whom help could possibly be received. In this case, the omens apply to an enemy attacking the home village. The word tuaumu seems to imply the weakening or deprivation of power. It applies to a charm to weaken an adversary or an enemy, as well as to the "kerchief" in the felling of trees.

The expert then raises the tapu, and the people can then prepare the morning meal. In this tapu removal ceremony, the expert draws a line on the ground, between himself and the mat, with his thumb, and also spits on or on the sticks, but we do not know exactly what these actions meant.

This final act of enemy-related ceremonial is known as niu tuaumu. The expert explains the result of his divinatory acts to people, and they are careful to keep all the instructions in mind, so as not to bring misfortune or disaster on themselves.

The sticks that are thrown are known as kaupapa, and to each is attached a small strip of Phormium leaf arranged so that a loop protrudes. When thrown, if this loop lands on the corresponding vertical stick, it is considered a lucky sign for the person or clan represented by that stick. If the thrown stick is likely to hit the straight one and fall with the loop down, this is a sign that the depicted person will die a natural death.

Niu kowhatu.—Another mode of divination, known as niu kowhatu, was practiced on the bank of a river, pond, or lake. Before surveying the warpath, the warriors accompanied their tohunga to the edge of the water. Each provided himself with three stones, one of which he threw into the water, one behind him and one above his head. As each man threw his stones, the expert would proclaim the announced omen. Augurs were derived from the noise caused by stones thrown into water: the louder the noise, the better the omen. Among the stones thrown backwards, those which tilted towards the left of the thrower announced bad luck, those which deviated towards his right were signs of good fortune. Those thrown up that fell in front of the thrower were lucky, those that fell behind him were unlucky. When all had thrown their stones, then the expert made a general decision, according to the total number of lucky and unlucky throws.

In his work Te Ika a Main the Reverend R. Taylor tells us that "In consulting the niu each had his staff, to which his own name was given, and in throwing the staff, if the one representing the consultant fell under the other, it was a sign of his death. »

Mr. Yate, a missionary who stayed in New Zealand in the "thirties" of the last century, gave the following account of a performance of niu, probably as practiced in the Far North. The interpreter cleared a small space, about 6 square feet, in a sheltered area. He procured a number of staves of equal size to represent the clans of both sides that would be engaged in combat. He planted the sticks upright in the earth, in two rows, and apparently but loosely, not firmly, inserted into the ground. He would then recite a charm on the sticks and wait for a wind to knock them down, or some of them. According to the way in which they fell, he drew his omens as to the fate which awaited the various clans represented. Any stick that fell backwards announced a clan in disarray. If one fell obliquely, then those clans would be "partially routed", as the writer puts it. Those who fell ahead represented the clans that would be victorious. Another method practiced, according to the same author, consisted in appealing to another person, ignorant of the arrangement of the sticks attributed to the different clans, and this person reversed the sticks at random. It is marvelous to see men believe in such a childish ruse, and this can only be explained by the fact that they firmly believed that their gods were behind all these functions; that the so-called oracles were manifestations of supernormal beings who controlled the destiny of man.

In November 1833, the Reverend AN Brown wrote the following: “Titore sat on a bank, recounting his exploits. …To their right were fourteen human heads, stuck on short poles…. Tohitapu… after addressing Tu (one of their gods) in a singsong tone, threw a piece of stick he had in his hand towards three heads of their friends, which Titore had brought from the south. The chiefs interrupted their conversation to see if the stick, around which he had tied a piece of linen, fell with the knot up or down. It was upwards, which they took for a good sign in case they returned south to do battle with their enemies.

In April 1831, Reverend R. Davis reported on another form of niu he witnessed. Two seers took part in this performance, which seems to have begun with the recitation of a ritual formula. Each then procured a cockle shell and they cut their hair, an act which entered into many native ceremonies. In a remote, well-sheltered place, they planted a stick and balanced two others on it. They then withdrew and were to return later to see if the balanced sticks had fallen off. If such sticks fall on the east side of the right stick, success is assured; if on the west side, defeat will be suffered.

The Reverend J. Buller, in his forty years in New Zealand, mentions a mode of niu which was possibly the same as that described by Mr. Yate: “Division was used to predict the results of impending action. No food was consumed. while these were being performed. Early dawn was Orthodox time. The chiefs on both sides were represented by as many stalks of ferns, and these were called by their names. Each rod had a strip of linen attached to it, while another set was prepared without the linen. They were all fixed in the ground. A stick was thrown across them, and depending on how the fern stalks fell were the odds of the fight.

In his history of Te Waharoa, MJA Wilson describes a mode of niu employed by a force about to attack a pa, or fortified village: "This ceremony was performed by taking a number of small sticks, each representing in the 'spirit of the tohunga a clan, and throwing them at random towards a small outlined space on the ground, which indicated the pa. The tohunga were able, by the way they fell to the ground and the directions they pointed, to predict whether an attack would succeed, and, if so, to allocate to the various clans the shares they should. take in the intended assault. »

The late Colonel McDonnell gave the following description of a niu performance: "If a tribe went to war, they would make gifts to appease themselves with the gods, through the priests, who would place a number of reeds in the ground, then, withdrawing a short distance, utter an incantation, then whirl short clubs among the reeds, and judge by the manner in which they have fallen whether the gods will crown the expedition with victory. »

In yet another method of this niu performance, the sticks appear to have been thrown all together. If they fell sparsely, the omen was good; if they are together, then trouble is ahead.

Tylor was of the opinion that ancient and barbaric divinatory functions could survive as games in civilized communities, which seems likely. Some of the forms of niu described above could certainly degenerate into a form of darts. It is a certain fact that many of our modern sports and pastimes are survivals of exercises and rituals from the past. Originally, they had a meaning and were held not only for useful activities, but also essential to the well-being of populations.

Polack tells us how he met a group of six natives about to perform a divinatory ceremony of the niu type. They were all naked, as was customary when performing what might be called a religious rite, and they were greatly relieved to learn that the traveler had not yet eaten. The operators fixed small sticks about 2 feet long in the ground, each representing a person. At the top of each staff was carefully balanced a small stone. After a while, the place would be revisited, and if all the stones were still in place, then the journey ahead would be accomplished safely. If, however, any of the stones had fallen from the sticks, then the people represented by those sticks would perish on the journey. On another occasion, this writer saw the same performance occur in order to determine the fortunes of war. In this case, twenty sticks were erected in two rows, one row for each tribe about to fight.

Missionary H. Williams tells us how, in 1832, he encountered natives handling niu sticks to find out the fortune of a canoe expedition. All the pundits engaged in the performance were in a state of nudity, and a stick about 1 foot long was erected for each canoe in the fleet.

Dr. Thomson, in his history of New Zealand, the best of earlier works on these islands, wrote the following: "Before the army took the field, the chiefs of the army, in order to instill confidence, asked the gods to say whether the expedition would be successful. This divine opinion was obtained through the priests in various ways. Sometimes sticks representing the fighters were planted in the ground, on which the priests performed certain ceremonies. Then the food was cooked for the gods and the army. from this the priests returned with the people to the place where the staffs were placed; and if the sticks representing the enemy had fallen, the gods were supposed to announce success; if not, defeat; in which case the expedition was postponed to a future occasion. »

In an article by Reverend TG Hammond published in Vol. 10 of the Journal of the Polynesisn Society, the author in mentioning the Mangaroa Stream, near Turanga-rere, says: "Where this stream turns in its course, the tohunga divined the omens by observing the course which the sticks would follow in the current, and advised the warriors accordingly, in regard to impending conflicts. However, this mode of divination by means of floating sticks was also practiced during the baptism of a child of rank, at least among the Kahungunu. This was for the purpose of determining the child's future fortune. Polack mentions that a person skilled in ariolation was sometimes employed to determine the sex and qualities of an unborn child.

Indigenous treatment of disease was empirical with a vengeance. Even herbal remedies were not used by the Maori practitioner, as he was the village priest, the shaman, and thus taught that all forms of sickness and disease emanated from the gods. Such afflictions were seen as punishments inflicted by the gods for offenses contrary to the laws of tapu, or were the result of black magic. Even in the latter case, the powers of magic that caused the affliction came from the gods. Thus, divination entered largely into the activities of the tohunga in the face of illness. His first objective was to determine either the cause of the attack, the victim's particular offense against the gods, or the name of the atua who so afflicts him, or that of the sorcerer whose knowledge of the black art was responsible for the affliction. Into the charm recited by the shaman priest would probably be inserted the names of certain atua, of certain offences, or of certain sorcerers, or a combination of these. If the patient gasped, or made an involuntary movement, or exhaled, during the repetition of the spell, then the person named or the offense mentioned at that precise moment was considered to be the cause of the person's illness. Thus the words "house", "bed", "clothing" would probably appear in the karakia hirihiri, or divinatory charm, diagnostic ritual. If the word "house" was indicated in the above manner, then the patient was known to have violated the laws of tapu with respect to a tapu house, and so on. The names of known wizards were mentioned and seen in the same way. In some cases, this ceremony was performed at the edge of a stream, and if the diviner found out that a certain sorcerer had caused the trouble, he would say, “That's…, I see him standing next to you.

In some cases, the tohunga attendant prepared a small umu, or steam oven, in which he cooked a small portion of food, over which he recited a charm that falls under the generic term of hoa. This charm had the effect of giving food (or ceremony) the power to manifest the death or healing of the patient. When the oven was opened, then, if the particular food on which the spell was repeated was found to be well cooked, the cure of the patient was assured. If, on the other hand, it turned out to be insufficient, then the victim would surely die. In the first case, that of a favorable omen, if the disease of the patient resulted from witchcraft, then the death of the sorcerer was considered as certain.

Another method, and apparently more frequently adopted, was as follows: the tohunga, or expert, sought out a flax plant (Phormium) and seized one of the young, undeveloped inner leaves. In doing so, he repeated the following spell:

A search, a search,
Search where?
Search the earth, search the origin,
Seek the base, seek the unknown,
Look for the atua.
May it be effective!

He then removed the young leaf from the leaf fan. If the act was accompanied by a peculiar shrill sound which it sometimes causes, then one would know that the patient would recover. It should be understood that the charm has the effect of making this leaf a medium of the gods, so to speak, through which they made known their fiat to man.

The following illustration is of an East Coast method similar to the one above, but a small shrub has taken the place of the Phormium leaf. A curious form of divination was practiced within the Ngati-Porou tribe. It was used in case of illness, although its use was not limited to such cases. The method adopted was as follows: If a person suffered from disease, then someone would go and pass the mariunga to the priestly follower, who would go to the forest and look for a small shrub of karangu (Coprosma robusta) to use as a medium for ceremonial charm. Once found, he repeated these words over it:

Reveal the sign of death;
Reveal the sign of life.

He then gripped the stem of the shrub firmly with both hands and repeated another charm, after which he pulled the shrub up by the roots. If the roots came back intact, without breaking, it was a sign that the patient would recover; but if they broke and remained in the ground, then the victim would not survive.

What the mariunga may be is not known, but it was probably an object to represent the invalid's personality. The following is the original, as given by Tuta Nihoniho:

Me, he mea e pangia ana e te mate tetahi tangata, ka haere tetahi tangata ki te kawe i te mariunga ki te tohunga. Ka haere ia ki te rapa i tetahi rakau hei whakaari, ka kite ia i te karangu ririki e tipu ana, ka takutaku atu ia ki taua rakau, ara:—

“Tohungia te tohu o te mate;
Tohungia te tohu o te ora. »

I konei pupuri nga ringa ki taua rakau, ka karakia ano :—

“He unuhanga a nuku, he unuhanga a rangi
Ka unu i to peke mua, ka unu i to peke roto
Ka unu i to peke waimarie. »

Hei konei ka unuhia taua rakau; ki te riro katoa ake nga paiaka, ka ora te turoro; ki te motu atu nga paiaka ki ro oneone, kaore e ora taua-turoro.

Some of these shamanic experts, when called upon to cure a sick person, would first inquire about the affected part, after which they would affect to know the particular atua which afflicted the victim. He would then tear off a stem from the common fern (Pteris) and, if the rhizome of this broke with a clean break, the fact was considered a happy omen: the patient recovered. If, however, the fracture was jagged, then the outlook for the patient was only bleak. As he uprooted the plant, he repeated the words "To ara, to ara" ("Your way, your way"). He then carried the stem of the plant to the patient and, placing one end on the victim's head or body, he repeated "Naumai, haere!" Naumai, tahuti atu! Kua kitea koe! (“Now go! Now run! You are detected!”). The fern stem was believed to provide a path or pathway by which the demon afflicting the patient could leave his body. The wizard then recited another charm:—

Ngau atu ki te rangi
Ki nga poke ao
Ki te rangi tuatahi
Ki te rangi tuarua, &c., &c.,
Ki te rangi tuangahuru
Ki te wai ora to Tane.

(Storm the heavens and the clouds descend on the first heaven, the second heaven, etc., the tenth heaven, the wai ora of Tane.)

We show elsewhere the meaning of the last cryptic sentence.

Our practitioner then left the fern stem in place on the patient and proceeded to light the fire by friction, fire at which he roasted or heated a few leaves of puha, an edible plant. These leaves he brought to the patient and with them touched various parts of his body. Then, holding the leaves in his left hand, he sang:

Ka kai rangi nui, ka kai rangi roa,
Ka kai rangi pouri, ka kai te ao
Ka kai te kapua, ka kai te moana
Ka kai Papa-tuanuku, ka kai te Po
Ka kai nga atua, kakai nga tipua
Ka kai! Ka kai!
Ka kai te ra, ka kai te marama
Ka kai nga whetu, ka kai nga mano tini
Ka kai! Ka kai!

In this curious outpouring, the heavens, the earth, the clouds, the ocean, the underworld, the sun, the moon, the stars, the gods, the demons, etc., are called to eat, while the leaves are lifted. Another portion of food is now cooked, which the shaman takes in his left hand and extends to the east repeating a spell called taumaha, the conclusion of which is as follows:

Motu te upoko or te whaiwhaia
Motu te upoko o te kana kana
E kai hika, e kai ure
E kai te rangi nui e tu nei
E kai te papa and takoto nei.

This seems to denote the thwarting of the powers of evil magic and the participation of male and female elements in the work of restoration.

Part of the cooked food was given to the patient to eat; and cooked foods have a very disturbing effect on these demons and evil spirits, often banishing them.

If a patient appeared to be in extremis, the tohunga could recite a charm on them known as whakanoho manawa, which was believed to have the power to implant the breath of life in an apparently dying person. The restorative powers of this charm were believed to be amazing.

Post-mortem divination was by no means uncommon in Maoriland. It was practiced in order to determine the cause of death, and such ceremonies were often of a very singular nature, not to say absurd, from our point of view.

In yet another method, the divination expert planted a number of small branches in the ground, each representing a certain party, clan, or location. Thus, one can represent an attacking party, and the other the people to be attacked. The expert recited certain charms or incantations over these twigs, and these would have had the effect of causing them to move, or fall, or cause their leaves to fall, from which omens of events were drawn by the expert. Old Hamiora Pio, of Ngati-Awa, told the writer that many years ago he saw this ceremony taking place at Roto-iti, when he saw the leaves falling in numbers from one branch representing a clan defeated in the ensuing battle. The twigs used for the above purpose were called hau. In some cases, they were stuck in small mounds of dirt. A description given to the author is that of a very curious performance, and was as follows: Each clan was represented by a mound, in which a hau was inserted. A small piece of stick lay on the ground in front of each mound and pointed towards it. These sticks represent the attacking party, and the officiating tohunga, or seer, would then recite a form of charm in order to advance the sticks, each on its respective mound, and "attack" the hau thereof. I have collected some of these charms, but I cannot trust myself to translate them, because of the existence of archaic priestly expressions the meaning of which we do not know. (For an attempt to do so, see Journal of the Polynesian Society, vol. 11, p. 39.) We are told that after the seer repeated his magic spell, which prompted the gods to animate the staffs, so to speak, those one would see from the sticks moving towards the mounds. At the same time, as the sticks advanced, twigs of leaves were seen falling at the rate of one leaf for each man who would fall in the coming fight. It was the Raurau rite.

When an enemy force was preparing to attack the fortified position of Rangihoua, at the mouth of the Wairoa River, the local seer, by virtue of his art, advised the occupants of the pa to leave him and retire to Whareokoro, an islet in the Wairoa River. This advice was ignored, with disastrous results. It is unwise to ignore the warnings of the gods.

A very singular mode of divination was practiced occasionally when it was desirable to know whether a defeat or the murder of a single person would be avenged or not. The body of a slain tribesman is laid on the ground in the middle of the village square, the priestly expert rises and performs a certain ritual, and then, if the disaster is to be avenged, the stiffened body will be seen to return slowly. Again, a sinister method is described in vol. 24 of the Journal of the Polynesian Society, p. 70. A captive of war was laid face down, his limbs were tied to stakes driven into the ground, then a spear was driven through his body and into the earth. A seer, reciting his charms, watched the swings of the shaft of the spear as the unfortunate captive writhed in horrible torture. The desired oracle depended on the movement of the spear, which way it ultimately bowed.

It has now been fairly clear that almost any occurrence of doubtful outcome could be employed as a vehicle for an oracle, and thus consulted in matters of divination. No matter what it was, the only thing needed was to induce the gods to use such activity as a means for prophetic manifestation. This mana was transmitted to the medium through the seer's ceremonial performance.

Polack tells us that the seers practiced trickery by manipulating sticks used as mediums or vehicles of divination, and this is probably correct, at least as far as the lower grade of tohunga is concerned.

Colonel Gudgeon tells us of a case in which a weapon possessing mana was used as a vehicle for divination. If the oracle was favorable, the weapon would slowly turn over as it rested on the ground. A common way to predict the outcome of a business was to fall asleep and then note any involuntary arm movements during sleep. This usage was quite a study in itself, and required the knowledge of many curious expressions. Another mode of divination was to fly a kite. In a well-known case, the kite persisted in hovering above a village where certain malefactors resided, whose seer wanted to know where they were. Polack mentions another mode in which a small circle was marked on the ground and a number of sticks thrown into the air, the augurs being derived from the sticks dropped into the circle. The same writer tells us that the Maori cannibals drew omens from the appearance of the intestines of a body being cut up. This recourse to haruspication was probably the most frequent in times of war. He also describes another method, throwing a shell or stick at a number of dried heads of enemies killed in war. The heads were placed in a row and the augury was derived from the position in which the object fell relative to the heads.

In some cases, divination was done by means of fire, that is, by noting the direction the smoke took when a fire was lit. A good illustration of this method is given on p. 38 of vol. 11 of the Journal of the Polynesian Society. To the P. 47 of the same volume appears a description of the ahi mahitihiti, in which it is shown that by leaping his fighters through the flames of a fire, a leader was able to know which men would fall in the coming fight.

In cases where prophetic statements have been falsified by the trend of events, the Maori seer seems to have been extremely resourceful in forming excuses. Blame was often assigned to one or more people who were said to have transgressed a tapu law. There was always some form of excuse at hand; and the credulity of the barbarian man is a very astonishing amount.

When Tutamure attacked the Maunga-a-kahia fort, he told his brother to fill a calabash container with water and throw it over the palisade. The ship did not clear the top of the palisades, it fell outside and broke up. This was accepted as a pledge that the place would not be taken. Colonel McDonnell tells us of a case he witnessed in which a thief was detected by means of a twirled reed in the hands of the operating seer; this being a very widespread device.

Colonel Gudgeon recorded how Tipoki-o-rangi was consulted or manipulated in order to predict the future. This object was a calabash which in some unexplained way became the sanctuary of an atua. A priestly expert, a human medium of the spirit dwelling in the object, invoked the powers of the oracle, with the result that the water in the gourd stirred. Augurs were drawn of the extent of such commotion – whether water flowed sideways or not, whether it flowed over part of the ledge only, or over several, or all around. It seems likely that shamanic fraud intervened in such manifestations. In truth, many of the native methods of divination in ancient times were of an extremely childish nature.

The high-energy saltatory exercise called tutu waewae by the Maori, and "war dance" by us, was practiced as a vehicle of divination. When performed only for this purpose, however, he was referred to as a turanga-a-tohu. Experts watched the performance carefully, to note whether or not any wrong moves were made by the dancers, as such errors presaged misfortune.

We have recorded two remarkable prophecies spoken by natives of past generations concerning the future coming of a foreign people to these islands. One of them was recorded by Colonel Gudgeon in the Journal of the Polynesian Society, vol. 16, p. 65. This was a prophetic statement made by a certain Tiriwa, a warrior-priest of the Ngati-Apakura tribe, and was as follows: “Kei tua i te awe kapara he tangata ke mana e noho te ao nei, he ma” (“Behind the tattooed people stand strange people who will still populate the world; they are white”). If we had the correct knowledge that this was an authentic statement made before the arrival of the captain cooking on these coasts it would be of extreme interest. Here, however, comes into play the question of even earlier European travelers who sailed these seas. The natives of the far north saw the ships of Tasman, like those of other districts, and such an astonishing event would assuredly be preserved in tradition, and might lead to thoughts which apparently elicited the above oracular remark.

The other example was recorded by MS Percy Smith in his Maori Wars of the Nineteenth Century, p. 11, but was, I imagine, collected by the late Mr. John White. It was reported by a Pangari, of Hokianga, around the year 1820. He said the prophecy was uttered by a Maoi of "olden days", but no evidence appears as to the actual period during which he lived. Maoi belonged to the Ngapuhi tribe and when he was near his end he said: "It will not be long before my death, nor long after my death that an atua [supernormal being] will come to the crest of the wave, and kehua [spirits, ghostly apparitions] will be on his back. This atua will resemble a canoe in appearance, but much larger, and will navigate the entire ocean. Nor will he ever make a mistake in his race across the ocean; so it after a long time another atua will appear; it will look like the first, but while the first will move with the help of sails, the second will do so with the help of fire. Now, it is possible that traditional knowledge of foreign ships may have led to the hazard of a statement as to the return of such ships, but the present author draws the line at a Stone Age Maori predicting the arrival of steamships. .

Yet another prophecy recorded by Colonel Gudgeon relates to a Rangi-tauatia, of Ngati-Porou, who is said to have prophesied the coming of the Europeans, as well as the raiding forces of Ngapuhi from the far north who ravaged the district in the early 19th century. century. . A weak point of all these illustrations is that we are not told the period in which the prophets lived, which could be done with approximate accuracy by means of genealogical evidence. Rangi-tauatia's particular utterance was as follows: "Kia toro te pakiaka hinahina i runga i au, ka rongo ake au e mara ana, e kihi and" ("When the roots of the hinahina tree grow on me, I can listen to the mara and the kihi”). Now, the word mara is a form of greeting employed only among the Ngapuhi, while kihi is used to describe whistling English speech. And the time will come when Ngati-Porou will overhear the greeting "E mara!" for their own comfort, and people with wheezy speech have long invaded their district.

The following account is an account of the ceremonial initiation of a matakite, or seer, as practiced by the higher order of the tohunga of old. It was given to the writer by an old man from the Kahungunu tribe: Perhaps a sleeping person dreams that he sees the spirit of his father, or that of his grandfather, or of his own child. If this son, or another relative, was a learned person, and therefore his surviving parents greatly regretted his death, then the person who saw his spirit might desire that he appear to him again, so he would greet him at the tohunga tuahu , or the tohunga ahurewa (the two highest classes of priestly experts), and to none other. The applicant would ask that the spirit of the deceased be brought back to him, that he be protected and helped by it. When he questioned the priest in this way, this person answered his request briefly with “Yes” or “No”. If he consented, he would add: "Go, catch a bird." Now, the bird to be captured must be taken alive and must be either a miromiro (Petroeca toioi) or a tatahore (Certhiparus albicapillus). So the bird seeker would go his way, and if he secured the bird, all would be well; but if he failed to catch one, that is, on the same day, he would not achieve his desire. If he did, he would capture the desired bird and then transport it to the tuahu (sacred place where the rites were performed) before daybreak. The bird was placed in a basket or ceremonial gourd container, and there it departed. The applicant was taken to the edge of the water, where the priest performs the pure rite on him. Both stripped off their clothes and entered the water. The applicant moved towards the right side of the priest, passed behind him and took place on his left side. The priest then asked the querent, "Are you a whiro or an ahurangi?" (i.e. "Are you of bad or good character"), and the asker might respond, "He ahurangi tenei tama nau" ("That man of yours is of good character"). The priest would be a matakite (seer) and would thus know whether this statement was true or not. He then began to chant a certain formula, a formula which had the effect of abolishing all the moral impurities of the petitioner. It purified the petitioner, so to speak – absolved him of all dangers arising from any wrongdoing he might have committed since childhood.

However, if the applicant spoke in a false manner, concealed his crimes, such as theft, or the practice of black magic, the priest would detect the deception. If he was thus concealing a treacherous act of murdering men, the priest would ask, "What was the cause of so-and-so's death?" If it should be seen by the priest that the petitioner was a person of bad habits, not of good character, he would dismiss him in anger. If the person was a man of good life, then he would get his desire. The priest would then extend his left hand towards the querent's right hand, and the right hand towards his left, and chant the following ritual:

He ahurangi, e Io, e!
Tenei ka turuki atu
Kia turuki mai te ata a rangi o….
Kia whakaupa ki tenei tama tamaua take
Nau, e Io-taketake!
Il koronga ka tu ki a koe
He koronga ka whani ki a koe
Kia urutu, kia urutaketake ki tenei tama
He tama ahurangi nau, e Io, e!
Tawhia tamaua takes ki tenei pia,
Ki tenei taura na tenei tama
Kia mohunga ki mohikutu tenei tairae ki marae nui,
Ki marae whakapau tangata ki a koe, e Io, e!

(The phrase ata a rangi is used to refer to the wairua or spirit of man, and the Supreme Being of Maori belief, Io, is asked to cause the spirit of the deceased to dwell with the claimant . The name of the person whose spirit is so desired is inserted in the blank space. Emphasis is placed on the fact that the applicant is an ahurangi, or a person of good moral character. It is a curious fact and very interesting that the absolute ceremony performed on persons about to take part in certain Ritual or religious fulfillment seems to be the first introduction of ethics into the religion of these barbarian peoples.It is one of the illuminating phases of the Maori religious observances and beliefs which throw such light on the study of the development of the religion.The above invocation is a high class formula, as are all such formulas which were addressed to the Supreme Being. The terms pia, taura and tauira refer to three different levels of learners of esoteric knowledge.)

When the priest had finished his story, he told the petitioner to immerse himself in the water, and he still kept his hands. The man then immerses his whole body in the water. Coming out of there, the priest placed his left hand on the petitioner's head, while with his right hand he drew up a little water and sprinkled it on him, repeating the following words:

Tapihai nuku, tapihai rangi
Ki un koe, e Io-matua, e!
No tenei tama.

As he finished repeating the above, the priest said, “Now leave the water, but do not try to remove any water that clings to your head or body. As the man returned to shore, the priest plunged his own body into the stream seven separate times. He then joined the applicant, and both returned to the tuahu. There the priest took the bird from the receptacle in which it had been placed and ordered the man to whakaha the creature's head. (This expression means "inhaling the breath", and such an act in ceremonial performances was a mode of absorbing a person's essence, or tapu, or mana, etc.) This act was performed three times after whereupon the man and the bird were led to a hut by the priest, and the door closed upon them, the bird being allowed its freedom in the hut. So, after locking the man and the bird in the hut, the priest returned to the tuahu.

At daybreak, the man opened the door of the hut and let the bird fly away; he then joined the priest at the tuahu. Now, if the released bird happened to be a miromiro, the priest would ask, "Has Miro gone?" The man answered: “Yes”. Then the priest would say: “Kneel down”; whereupon the man knelt before him and the priest placed his hands on his head and intoned the final karakia, or formula, which endowed the subject with the full powers of the seer and the pseudo-science of oneirology. This invocation had been forgotten by my informant.

All the karakia or invocations related to wairua tangata (the human soul) were addressed to Io, the Supreme Being, and not to the lesser gods, otherwise they would not have the expected effect: this with regard to the priests of the first degree.

The above account is of what might be called a high class performance, conducted by a member of the Higher Order of Priests on a person who wished to become a higher ranking seer. None of these priests would deal with lower class shamanic jugglers, such as tohunga kehua. Another specimen of the formulas sung on the so-called clairvoyants and mediums is given in the addenda.

The next karakia, or ritual chant, is that which has been repeated over a person so that he may be endowed with a clear understanding of spiritual matters, and to induce the gods to regard him favorably, to dwell with him, and to treat as their medium. It is a specimen of what may be called the upper class of ritual, as seen in the invocation of the Supreme Being, Io, and in the phraseology employed. Such a matter was known only to the upper class of priests:-

Tau ake nei au i taku tau Ki nga mareikura, ki nga kahurangi
He tau na nga tuaiho He tahito huru nuku, he tahito huru rangi
He tau na nga whatu kura
He tau na nga tahurangi Awhitia mai, tamaua mai ki tenei tama
Tenei to aro te turuki atu nei Kia aropiri mai ki tenei taura
Tenei to pia te whano atu nei Ki tenei tama … e.
Tenei to taura te whakamau atu nei ki to aro
Tenei au; turuki mai o mahara taiahoaho
Ko to aro, ko taku aro Turuki mai o mahara tipua ki tenei tama
Ko to manawa nguha ko taku manawa Turuki mai o mahara whatu kura ki tenei tama
Ko to manawa pore ko taku manawa
Ko to manawa nui ko taku manawa Turuki mai o mahara apa atua o nga rangi
Ka whakapau ki tenei tama
E Io matua… e… I. Ki au, ki tenei tauira
Turuki mai o mahara poutiriao ki tenei tauira
Tenei au he uriuri no nga tuaiho
Tenei au he hekehekenga iho no nga tawhito Ka ea, ka ea ki tenei tama, ka ea
Tenei au he uru tu, he uru tau
Tenei au he aro no nga tipua He uru matua ki a koe
Tenei au he pia ariki no nga apa rangi E Io matakaka … e … i.
E Ruatau … e … I.
Tamaua je roto o to pia
Tenei au to aro, he aro tawhito Tamaua i roto o tenei tama
He aro no nga apa tahurangi Tamaua i roto i te pu mahara
Il aro no nga apa a rangi Tamaua i te iho tu, i te iho taketake
Ka whakamau atu nei je te iho je te pu, je te weu ki tenei tauira
Ka whakapiri atu nei Tamaua kita, tamaua whita
Ka whakatata atu nei tenei tama ki nga tipua, Whitawhita ki tenei taurira.
Ki nga atua, ki nga whatu kura
In the archaic formula above, the Supreme Being is entreated to endow the subject with clear mental vision, quick understanding, and to favor him in every way. Some of the cryptic expressions employed concern only priestly matters, and their meaning can only be conjectured, hence a translation would be weak.

In his book The Martyrdom of Man, Winwood Reade has the following enlightening passage: "The savage lives in a strange world, a world of special providences and divine interventions, which do not occur at long intervals and for a great end, but every day and almost to A pain, a dream, some sensation, a stroke of luck or bad luck, all that, in short, does not come from man, all that we attribute, for lack of 'a better word, random, is attributed by him to the direct interference of the gods. Here we note the mental attitude of the Maori, and the passage can be applied to him as an explanation of his beliefs in regard to matakite.