&.—1

15

Then there is the doctor's mana. The Maori doctors in the old times did not deal much in simples, but they administered large doses of mana. If the most of the doctor's patients recovered his mana was supposed to be in full feather; but if a number of patients slipped through his fingers seriatim, then his mana was suspected to be getting weak. Mana, in another sense, is the accompaniment of power, but not power itself; nor is_ it, even in this sense, exactly authority, according to the strict meaning of that word, though it comes very near it. This is the chiefs mana: Let him lose the power and the mana is gone ; but mind you do not translate mana as power ; that will not do; they are two different things entirely. Of this nature also is the mana of a tribe ; but this is not considered to be the supernatural kind of mana. Then comes the mana of a warrior—uninterrupted success in war proves it. It has a slight touch of the supernatural, but not much. Good-fortune comes near the meaning, but it is just a little too weak. The warrior's mana is just a little something more than bare good-fortune—a severe defeat would shake it terribly, two or three in succession would show that it was gone A fortress often assailed but never taken has a mana, and one of a high description too A spear, a club, or a mere may have a mana, which in most cases means that it is a lucky weapon, which good-fortune attends if the bearer minds what he is about

" Mana."—Opinion by E. D. Eenton, Esq., late Chief Judge of the Native Land Court. Theeb is no such thing as manaoi land. Mana is personal. A chief may —or might have had, I should say, for the day is past —sufficient mana to greatly influence his power of managing or directing the disposal or withholding from sale of land, but this power is derived from his position as pater populi, enabling him to protect what he thinks to be the interests of his tribe. He may have no interest in a piece of land, yet be able to retain it from sale. I never recognised or believed in the existence of such an intangible thing as mana, as unrecognisable as the consequential damages were by the Alabama Commission. None of the old Judges recognised such a thing as land mana as conferring a title to land recognisable by the Courts.

Extract from Shoetland's "Mythology," pages 89 to 91. The chief of any family who discovered and took possession of any unoccupied land obtained what was called the mana of the land. This word mana, in its ordinary use, signifies power, but in its application to land corresponds somewhat with the power of a trustee. This mana gave a power to appropriate the land among his own tribe according to a wellrecognised rule which was considered tika, or straight. Such appropriation, however, once made remained in force and gave a good title to the children and descendants of the person to whom it has been thus appropriated. The mana of the acknowledged representative of the tribe had then only power over the lands remaining unappropriated, which power was more especially termed the mana rahi, or great mana, the mana over appropriated land being with the head of the family in rightful possession. In course of time quarrels and wars arose between different tribes, so that tribes nearly allied to each other united for mutual defence and protection, and all the Maoris of New Zealand came to be divided for this purpose into a few large tribes, each representing generally the crew of one of the various canoes composing the migration from Hawaiki. These being frequently at war with each other, it came to pass that every man who did not belong to a particular tribe was considered in respect to it as a tangata ke, or stranger. It has been affirmed by many, on presumed good authority, that no member of a tribe has an individual right in any portion of the land included within the boundary of his tribe. Such, however, is not the case, for individuals do sometimes possess exclusive rights to laud, though more generally members of families more or less numerous have rights in common, to the exclusion of the rest of the tribe, over those portions of land which have been appropriated to their ancestors. Their proverbs touching those who wrongfully remove boundary-marks show this if other evidence were wanting. The lands of a tribe in respect to the title by which they are held may be conveniently distinguished under two comprehensive divisions — (1) Those portions which have been appropriated from time to time to individuals and families ; (2) the tribal land remaining unappropriated. Whenever land is appropriated formally by Native usage it descends in the family of its first owners, according to well-recognised rules, and the mana of the representative of the tribe ceases to have any control over it. Their law rs as to succession naturally tended to render the greater part of such lauds the property of several of the same family as tenants in common, but an individual might and did frequently become a sole owner. The tribal lands never specially appropriated belonged to all under the mana or trusteeship of the tribal representative.

The Effect of "Mana" on Native Tenuee. We, the persons whose names are hereto attached, are aboriginal natives of New Zealand, who have been instructed in the Maori usages of our ancestors. We have also travelled through various places in the Islands of New Zealand, and know that the Maori usages observed by other tribes in no way differ from those of our districts. Now, this example is written by us for the consideration of the Judges of the Native Land Court, in order that they may know what the Maori custom is in relation to the mana of the chiefs of the Maori. That is to say, there arc many degrees of chieftainship, such as the superior chief of a district and the lesser ones of a hapu having its own chief.