The following quotations and illustrations are taken from Dr. Ferdinand von Hochstetter’s New Zealand, before cited. That author says on page 437 et seq.:
The carved Maori-figures, which are met with on the road, are the memorials of chiefs, who, while journeying to the restorative baths of Rotorua, succumbed to their ills on the road. Some of the figures are decked out with pieces of clothing or kerchiefs; and the most remarkable feature in them is the close imitation of the tattooing of the deceased, by which the Maoris are able to recognize for whom the monument has been erected. Certain lines are peculiar to the tribe, others to the family, and again others to the individual. A close imitation of the tattooing of the face, therefore, is to the Maori the same as to us a photographic likeness; it does not require any description of name.
A representation of one of these carved posts is given in Figure 116.
Fig. 116.—New Zealand grave effigy.
Another carved post of like character is represented in Figure 117, concerning which the same author says, page 338:
Fig. 117.—New Zealand grave-post.
“Beside my tent, at Tahuahu, on the right bank of the Mangapu, there stood an odd half decomposed figure carved of wood; it was designated to me by the natives as a Tiki, marking the tomb of a chief.”