be recovered. And on being looked at it would be found quite wet. A peculiar wetness this that clings to the kite: it is not like the water which flows here below; it is like dew, or the misty wet which settles on the ranges.’ Kite-flying was not always a game. In the real old times it often had a religious meaning. Maui compelled the winds with his kite, and in the hands of a powerful tohunga the manuaute could do wonderful things. It was sometimes used as a way of finding the solution to a problem, as in the story of Tarakiuta and Tarakitai, and in the case of decisions made in war time. Sometimes it was used as a means of claiming new territory for a tribe. For instance, it is said that the Ngapuhi ancestores, together with those of the Rarawa and the Aopouri, came to New Zealand in the sacred canoe Matawhaorua, in which Kupe had earlier sailed to this country. The voyage was accomplished in safety, and the party landed at Hokianga—so called because it was the place of returning (hokinga)—that is, the place from where Kupe had returned to Hawaiki. The people settled down near the place where they landed, but after a time this place became too small for them, so that a chief named Kaharau decided to go further out and seek land for his descendants. He flew a kite named Tuoronuku from Pakanae, near the mouth of the Hokianga River, and as it went forth this turu manu, or kite song, was sung: Taku manu, Ke turua atu nei, He Karipiripi, ke kaeaea; Turu taku manu, hoka taku manu, Ki tua te haha-wai; Koia Atutahi, koia Rehua, Whakahoro tau tara, Ki te Kapua, Koia E! (Fly away from me, my bird, glance restlessly as you dart about on high; swoon down like the bush hawk in search of its prey. Fly ever higher, beautiful bird, soar beyond the clouds and over the trough of the sea, onward to Caropus, onward to Antares, speed to the clouds like a warrior about to do battle, onward!) Caropus and Antares are the names of stars. As the string was let go the kite drifted along before the wind, and fell to the ground at Kaikohe, twenty-five miles away from Pakanae, thus conveying the mana of the tribe to this new land. The people followed the kite, and ever since, the district of Kaikohe has been occupied by a branch of the Ngapuhi Tribe. These huge kites disappeared soon after the pakehas came. The place of the manuaute has been taken by other things. When we have the post office, there is no need to send a message by kite. Neither would it be worth while to take the matter out of the hands of the police and hunt round with a kite for the body of a missing relative. And the place of the ‘great games’ has been taken by the races and football. —M.O.