E—No. 7

MAORI CUSTOMS. have occasion to wash his head or comb his hair while on a journey, he claims a right in the district which this operation has made sacred. But it was not permitted to a chief to do this upon land belonging to other tribes on an insufficient pretence : the sickness or sudden death of a relative while on a journey is allowed to be a sufficient cause, but not the mere whim of a chief to beautify himself by washing or combing while on a friendly visit to another tribe. If a child be born in the course of a journey, the child has a claim to the district. This claim is derived from what is called the " kawa" of the child ; that is, at the birth of a child, a branch of certain trees, the " ake," " karamu," or "hatu" is taken, part of which is tied to the child and part set in the ground ; this ceremony is called " te arawa;" if the portion planted grows, it is said the child will be a warrior. There are also other grounds by which claims to lands are allowed. If a chief be killed by a tribe on the lands of another tribe, and if the murderers are not owners of the land on which they killed the chief, the relatives of the killed chief claim the land on which the deed took place ; for instance, the Ngatimaru killed a Ngatiwhatua chief on the lands of the Ngatiteata tribe, the Ngatiwhatua therefore claim a right to the district, and to this day their claim has stood in the way of the district being sold. Again, there are certain things which if done or happening to a chief when on the lands of another tribe will, unless the tribe at once object or disallow the act or occurrence, establish a claim on the land. An instance of this occurred when a chief called Papaka (in Waikato, about three generations ago,) while on a visit to the Ngatihape tribe by whom he was entertained as a guest, made a present of his ear ornament to the Ngatihape chief. Now anything worn on the person of a chief is sacred, and the presentation by a chief of an ear or head ornament, is a mark of the greatest respect that can be shown from one Maori to another. Papaka was accustomed to wear attached to his ear the tail of .a Maori dog called a " waro," which he gave to the Ngatihape chief, and it was accepted. Soon afterwards Papaka returned and assumed the leadership of the Ngatihape tribe, and consequently a right to all their lands, which claim has continued good to his descendants to the present time. The Maori is said by many to be the child of impulse. Such an opinion is not just ; for it will appear to those who can enter into close conversation with him that he does not ask a question merely to spend his time or to amuse those to whom he is speaking. There is no such thing as an idle question from a Maori. Those who have observed him will agree with me that when he asks a question he does it in such a way as often to render it impossible to imagine the object for which it was asked ; also, if he has to answer a question the object whereof is not clearly understood by him, be will give such an answer as will not put him in the power of the interrogator; similarly a Maori does not give or take a present except for some predetermined reason ; thus the Ngatihapo tribe in receiving the preseut from Papaka virtually bound themselves to give whatever he might demand in return. I will instance another mode of allowing a claim to be made to land : —While a chief " Raukataura," on a visit from Waikato to the Thames, was passing through the forest, one of his feathers (a Kura) was torn from his head by the scrub in the road; he at once sat down, and breaking a number of sticks, made a small enclosure round the feather: and as it is customary among the natives for visitors from a distance to be attended by people of the district visited, and as these owners of the land witnessed the act and did not forthwith object to it, they virtually acquiesced in the claim which Raukataura thereby set up to the land, and to this day his descendants claim part of the district accordingly. Another instance of this custom may be given :—One of the Waikato tribe, whose district was famed for the eels it produced, invited a chief of another tribe on an eel-catching expedition ; during the sport the invited chief was so pleased with the quantity of eels taken, that he took a bunch of albatross feathers called " Pohoi" from his ear, and cast it into the stream: as the owners of the fishery did not immediately object to this, his descendants are now allowed a claim not only to the land but to the eels taken there. Another instance of the custom occurred not many miles from Auckland. There stands in the Waitemata river a rock, used as a mark in getting the exact position of a bank where shark is taken more plentifully than in any other parts of the river: a few years previous to the arrival of Governor Hobson, an adjoining tribe was allowed to fish for sharks on the bank by the owners of the fishery, and the tribe to whom the permission was given were so pleased with the quantity of fish taken that they were induced to attempt to found a claim there, which they did by cutting a mark on the top of the rock; this having transpired, the owners of the district at once proceeded to the rock and obliterated the mark, thereby disallowing their claim, which has not again been made. Another ground on which claims to land are founded is the " Kanga" or curse; to " Kanga" or " Apiti'' a Maori chief is an offence of the greatest magnitude, or to compare a man to anything eatable, or to call a dog or a canoe or anything after his name. An offender in this respect is visited by a war party, and if he is of another tribe, and leaves the settlement on the arrival of the war party, it is optional for such party at once to occupy the land and become the owners of that portion of the district. Not far from Auckland such an offence was given by the Ngatimaru tribe to the Ngatipaoa; the Ngatipaoa visited the offenders on the Waiheke Island, but not having been able to meet the Ngatimaru there, the Ngatipaoa tribe took part of the Island and hold the ownership of it to this day. There are also, as I have before stated, lands which are ceded to a tribe for a specific purpose with certain restrictions, and the tenure of such lands depends on the conditions being fulfilled. I mentioned that in certain cases in war, an assisting tribe was in return for their help presented with a block of land which became the property of all those who had relatives killed in the war for which it vvas given: in some instances, however, the land was not fully given to the assisting tribes; sometimes only the right of fishing or hunting was granted, and in order that the owners of the district might J_eep the " mana" or right to the land, the tribe who had received permissio.. to fish or hunt had to