SACRED CARVINGS OF WHAKATOHEA Photographs: National Publicity Studios Many people have asked about the fine carving which appears on the front cover of Te Ao Hou. As the magazine has now come of age, with the appearance of issue 21, the time has come to reveal the secret. Until now we had been a little scared, we must admit. The pare is from an old and very sacred meeting house stored but never built at Waioeka, near Opotiki. We photographed it about six years ago, but we were warned about the deady tapu resting on that house. Several times people had tried to build it and instal the carvings, but each time it had collapsed. Because of the exceptional beauty of the work. Sir Apirana Ngata advised the people to get a pakeha to build the house as probably the tapu would not affect him. This was tried—we think about ten years ago—but the wind came and blew down the framework before much progress was made. We have heard of no further attempts. After we took the photographs it seemed as if a heavy cloud followed us about and for the rest of that tour, we did not take one successful photograph. We wondered whether it was perhaps the tapu of the carvings pursuing us and for long we would not tell anyone where the pare came from. The photographs on these pages show—we think for the first time—the beauty of these works of old Maori art.