KARAKIA

Mo te whakapikinga o te ara o te tupapaku ana ka mate, kia tika ai te haere ki nga mea kua mate atu imua.—vid. p. [pg 44]_.

Tena te ara, ko te ara o Tawhaki,

I piki ai ki te rangi,

I kake ai ki tou tini,

Ki tou mano:

I whano ai koe,

I taemai ai to wairua ora

Ki tou kaupapa.

Tenei hoki ahau

Te mihi atu nei,

Te tangi atu nei

Ki to wairua mate.

Puta purehurehu mai

To putanga mai ki ahau,

Ki to kaupapa,

I piri mai ai koe,

I tangi mai ai koe.

Tena te tiri,

Ko te tiri a o tupuna,

Ko te tiri a nga Pukenga,

A nga Wananga,

Aku, a tenei tauira.

[pg 112]

HE WHAKAMURI-AROHA.—vid. p. [pg 47]_-8.

Aha te hau e maene ki to kiri?

E kore pea koe e ingo mai ki to hoa,

I piri ai korua i to korua moenga,

I awhi ai korua,

I tangi ai korua.

Tena taku aroha

Ma te hau e kawe ki a koe,

Huri mai to aroha,

Tangi mai ki to moenga,

I moe ai korua.

Kia pupuke—a—wai to aroha.

TE POROPORO-AKI A TAMA-TE-KAPUA.—vid. p. [pg 53]_.

E papa nga rakau i runga i a koe,

Mau ake te Whakāro ake. Ae, Ae.

E haere nga taua i te ao nei,

Mau e patu. Ae, Ae.

Footnotes

[1]La Cité Antique par De Coulange.
[2]Juventus mundi, p. 203.
[3]Max Müller, “Science of Language.” Farrar, “Chapters on Language,” p. 6.
[4]Hom. Il., 2-484. Invocat. to Muses:— Tell me now, O Muses, ye who dwell in Olympus; For ye are goddesses, and are present, and know all things, But we hear only rumour, and know not anything.
[5]Hecuba, l. 533-9.
[6]Whose wife was Hine-titamauri de quâ infra.
[7]Whose wife was Puhaorangi de quâ infra.
[8]Tamatea was settled at Muriwhenua, and his son Kahuhunu was born there. The latter went on a journey to Nukutauraua near the Mahia, and there married Rongomai-wahine, having got rid of her husband Tamatakutai by craft. Tamatea went to bring him home, but on their return their canoe was upset in a rapid, near where the river Waikato flows out of the lake Taupo, and Tamatea was drowned.
[9]This karakia is the most antient example of the kind. It is now applied as suggestive of a peaceable settlement of a quarrel.
[10]Ha=kaha.
[11]([1], [2], [3]) Quaedam partes corporis genitales.
[12]Katahi ka tohungia e Tane ki tona ure.
[13]These were all ancestors of the race of Powers of Night.
[14]He oti, ka rere te wahine: ka anga ko te pane ki raro, tuwhera tonu nga kuwha, hamama tonu te puapua.
[15]“Heikona, e Tane, hei kukume ake i a taua hua ki te Ao; kia haere au ki raro hei kukume iho i a taua hua ki te Po.”
[16]Vid. Genealogical Table.
[17]It is observable that Homer attributes special honor to a few of his heroes, who appear to have been the male representatives of their race,—as to Agamemnon of the race of Pelops, and to Aeneas of the race of Assaracus. With respect to each of them, it is mentioned that he was honored as a God by his people. “Θεὸς δ’ ὣς τίετο δήμῳ.” Among the Maori these chiefs would have been distinguished by the title of Ariki. Homer gives them the title “ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν,” the old meaning of which words has been a matter of much inquiry. Mr Gladstone (Homer and Homeric Age, vol. I. p. 456) says, “It seems to me that this restraint in the use of the name ‘ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν’ was not unconnected with a sense of reverence towards it;” and he suggests the word chieftain as its fit representative. Might not its original meaning have been similar to that of Ariki?
[18]Hæc ad effusionem aquarum sub tempus partûs spectant.
[19]The name of a powerful karakia.
[20]Turuturu, a sharp pointed prop, two of which are fixed in the floor to serve as a frame for weaving mats—also used by women in child-birth to hold by.
[21]([1], [2]) Names of lower parts of abdomen.
[22]Rupe or Maui-mua, brother-in-law of Hine-teiwaiwa.
[23]Addressed to the unborn child.
[24]The old lady referred to was Hine-nui-te-po, the mother of the female ancestress of mankind.
[25]([1], [2], [3]) Names of different parts of the decidua.
[*]For tradition as to Tuhuruhuru and other names here mentioned vid. Sir Geo. Grey’s “Mythology and Traditions of New Zealand,” p. 39 et seq.
[26]In the Maori MS., of which the above is a translation, the names of the ancestors of the chief of the tribe referred to are given in genealogical order, but are omitted here. Unravel the tangle, unravel the crime, Untie manuka, let it be loosed. Distant though Rangi, He is reached.
[27]A karakia so called.
[28]The severing of umbilical cord is here referred to.
[29]([1], [2]) The female Ariki at these words steps over the child, and then takes it in her arms.
[30]As to the custom of raising aloft the hands while praying to the Gods, compare Hom: Il. Lib. 3 273, and other numerous examples.
[31]Spirits on their way to the N. Cape are said to be clothed in the leaves of the wharangi, makuku, and oropito.
[32]Vid. similar account. “Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders,” p. 150, et seq.
[33]With kokowai, or red-ochre.
[34]([1], [2], [3], [4]) Names of the Fairy chiefs.
[35]Point of junction of the spine and skull.
[36]Lower extremity of the spine.
[37]Omens were gathered from the movement of the dead body. The word fish or canoe is often used symbolically for a man.
[38]The perineum and head are considered the most sacred parts of the human body.
[39]The ueta is a whisp of weeds or grass used to wipe the anus of the corpse. It is afterwards bound to a stick, and is carried as a talisman.
[40]The hair of the head, in this ceremony, was made fast to a stone, and the sacredness of the hair was supposed to be transferred to this stone, which represented some ancestor. The stone and hair were then carried to the sacred place belonging to the Pa.
[41]Uwha, the bivalve shell used for cutting the hair.
[42]Kohukohu, the plant chick-weed, in the leaves of which the sacred kumara was wrapped.
[43]Hence the term horohoronga (=swallowing) given to the ceremony. It is to be remarked that the distinguishing name given to various ceremonies was taken from some striking circumstances connected with it,—thus, a sacred oven is named kohukohu from the leaves of the plant in which the kumara was wrapt: &c.
[44]Kearoa and Whaka-oti-rangi being both sacred female ancestors—wives of Ngatoro and Tama, represented the Ruahine, the swallowing of this food by whom was requisite in removing the tapu. The tapu, or sacredness of Kahu, was supposed to be transferred to the kohukohu, and when this was eat by the ancestral spirits, the tapu was deposited with them.
[45]Maihi are the two boards placed at an angle at front gable of a house. If the wood of a sacred house were to be accidentally used as firewood for cooking purposes, anyone who ate the food thus cooked would be guilty of a crime, to be punished by the Atua with disease or death.
[46]Turakanga (=throwing down) was a ceremony in which a stick set up to represent the path of death was thrown down. A form of karakia was, at the same time, used.
[47]Vid. Sir G. Grey’s “Mythology and Traditions,” p. 63.
[48]Ngakoa were offerings to the Atua of fish and other kinds of food.
[49]([1], [2], [3]) Different kinds of wind instruments resembling the flute, only varying in their length.
[50]Vide “Traditions and Superstitions,” p. 68.
[51]Porohi, a small fish of the lake.
[52]Tama-te-kapua.
[53]Toheroa, a species of bivalve.
[54]Hinau, berry of Elœocarpus dentatus.
[55]Hue, a small gourd.
[56]Para, a species of fern having a tuberous root.
[57]Aua, a fish resembling the herring.
[58]P. [pg 75]_.
[59]“Te rakau e takoto nei, tungou, tungou” are the Maori words. Tungou=ἀνανεύω—a sign of dissent with the Greeks, but the common sign of assent with the Maori.
[60]The islands Hen and Chickens.
[61]The Little Barrier island.
[62]P. [pg 5]_.
[63]([1], [2]) Vid. ch. [v.]
[64]Latterly a practice has been adopted of handing over the mana of their land to Matutaera, the Maori king, or to some influential chief in whom they have trust, the object being to protect it from clandestine sales, which have become frequent through the action of speculators in land. The agents who act for men of capital who enter into such speculations are always ready to offer an advance of money as a deposit on land, and when a Maori, especially a careless young man, visits our towns he is too often unable to resist the temptation of gold to be had for the mere signature of his name. When, however, such a transaction becomes known to the tribe it gives rise to much heart burning and trouble; but the thin end of the wedge being thus introduced ere long others follow the example, till at length a sort of forced consent is obtained to pass the land, to use the common phrase, through the Government Land Court. It is therefore not to be wondered at that this Court is not in good repute among them, more especially since they have discovered that a large share of the purchase money is swallowed up by costs for survey, costs of the Court, and lawyers’ fees.
[65]This proverb was also applied in case of a war as a sufficient reason for not sparing such relation.
[66]Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders. Edit. 2, p. 271.
[67]Paora Te Ahuru.
[68]“Hei whakahe mo Wiremu Kingi” was the expression used.

Transcription note

The following typographical errors (or presumed such) have been corrected:

The [Errata] of the book has been transcribed faithfully, and its corrections have been carried into the text. However, on p. [pg 21]_, the word to be corrected is apparently harekeke and not [Herekeke]. The entry is even misplaced in the list, which is sorted in order of appearance.

Diacritics of Greek have been normalized:

In the second part of the Karakia of Hineteiwaiwa, on page [pg 29]_, all letters i are dotless [ı]. The same also for the second part of the Karakia on page [pg 33]_, and most of the i in the lines of text immediately below. All those have been restored as normal i’s.

In doubt, all hyphenized and non-hyphenized versions of the names and compound words have been retained as printed. Thus e.g.: [Rangi-potiki] as well as [Rangipotiki], Ngatoro-i-rangi / Ngatoro-irangi / Ngatoroirangi, [Te Ika-roa] / [Te Ikaroa], [Rerenga-wairua], [Te Whare-pakau-awe], water side / water-side.

Antiquate spellings like antient, muscle [for mussel] have also been preserved.

Footnotes have been renumbered progressively throughout the book.

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAORI RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY ***