know some of them are yet living. Amongst the younger Maoris of the present time, there is a renewal of interest in the traditions of their forefathers, while some of the Maoris have had their spirit awakened at seeing their songs published in Maori magazines, and Sir Apirana was thus assisted by them. On the other hand, some have felt annoyed at seeing their own songs made available to other Maori folk, while others again have been reluctant to part with the information, suspecting that it might be commercialized. Nevertheless, Sir Apirana has secured in these first two volumes, two hundred songs of various types, and has supplied in each case the name of the composer and the circumstances under which the song was composed, with appropriate explanatory notes. In the preface to the second volume, he has included an analysis of the art of Maori poetry. Both volumes are entirely in Maori, and it is with his kind permission and his valued assistance in more difficult passages that I am enabled to place these remarks embodying a translation of this preface before my readers. In the songs contained in each volume, certain essential characteristics may be noted. These are as follows:— (a) The majority of the composers are women. Whether from Tainui, Te Arawa, Mataatua, Horouta, Takitumu or Aotea, there is to be found a woman who has composed the laments, the love songs, the patere or songs of derision, the kaioraora or curses, the oriori or lullabies. Thus from the Ngati Porou tribe we have Hinekitawhiti, Hinewahirangi and others; from the Ngati Tuwharetoa tribe Te Rohu, Rerehau; or from Waikato, Ngati Maniapoto, and Ngati Raukawa we have Te Kahukore, Te Manawa, Topeora and others; and so on in the case of each tribe. But when all the circumstances are taken into account, it will be seen that it is only natural that women should constitute the greater number of the composers. The songs of love have their origin in the death of the loved one, in his deserting his love, in his transplanting his affections to another, or in the taunts of other women. In the case of the laments for the warriors fallen in battle, it will be found that a woman is the author of the song, giving vent to her grief by lacerating herself, weeping for her fallen man, and so when her child has been burnt in the fire or her kinsman drowned in the sea. The patere or songs of derision, and the kaioraora or those invoking curses on her enemies, spring from the feelings aroused in the woman by the insults of the company of other women, while, in her intense grief at the loss in battle, she lacerates herself, and under the deepest emotion invokes curses upon the heads of her foes. Then, while her husband has taken the war path to avenge the death of his friends, the woman has to await his return to the village. Her thoughts follow him on his way and she pours out her feelings in song. Those who are inclined to search the depths of the Maori tongue should delve into these waiatas, finding therein the nature of the heart of the Maori woman. (b) Next, the composers of the ceremonial songs of the tohungas are usually men. Amongst the Ngati Tuwharetoa, the songs of the Heuheus are striking examples; with Ngati Porou we have those of Rangiuia, with Te Aitanga a Mahaki, those of Te Pakaru; with Nga Puhi, those of Taoho and Papahia; and with Taranaki those of Turaukawa and Makere. And so with other tribes who compsed songs of this character. Therein will be found the teachings of the Wharewanaga, the genealogical tables of the tribe and the ancient and obscure words of the Maori tongue. These compositions are terrible in character, exalted in style, reaching right up to the deities, the high priests speaking in their priestly language to their gods. Most of these songs have not yet been printed on account of the difficulty in supplying satisfactory explanatory notes. Thus the lament of Turaukawa for his son, and that of Rangiuia for Tuterangiwhaitiri, the many lullabies of Ngati Kahungunu, and many patere or songs of derision, are not included in the two volumes to which I now refer. (c) Though each kind of song originates in a different source and has a different basis, there is a similitude of pattern in the construction of each class. Take for example, the kind known as the popo or oriori, that is, the lullaby:— In these two volumes are given twenty-three lullabies. They all begin in the same way—an affectionate salutation to the child in whose honour the song is composed, to his distinguished ancestors, to his cry of yearning for his dead mother, to his lost people, to the want of food, to the cold and other similar causes. Then the child is exhorted to wake up, and go in search of his ancestors in the places where they dwell, if living, or where they are buried, if dead, or where they fell in battle. Following this, the tohunga composer proclaims the high-born descent of the child, and so in the song we come to the part where the question is asked, “‘Whose child is this’? You will tell them ‘I am the child of Te Au o Mawake’, so that your elder female relatives will salute you. If you are asked ‘Whose child are you?’, tell them ‘We are the children of Mahaki-a-Iranui, of Kahupakari, of Te Aomatangi, of Hinerupe, my child.”’. The tohunga thus seeks a wav