rites still performed. It opens with the words ‘Beat the kawa, water the kawa’. This appears to have little meaning, until it is realised that the word ‘Kawa’ refers to the kava plant of Polynesia, the root of which is beaten to a powder and mixed with water to form a narcotic drink which is of ritual importance. During the nineteenth century a large number of karakia were revealed to the prophets of pai marire, and other religious cults that developed about that time. Some of these are still performed. They probably mark the end of the karakia as a productive literary form, but the particular technique of chanting they employed is still used in the ritual of certain Maori churches. An an example of karakia, I will quote from the dedicatory ritual for a male child, which translates as follows: ‘Dedicated with the sacred water of the God of War, May you grow up and capture men, and climb mountains. Grow up, and fight and rage. Kill men and take forts. Defeat war-parties. Be fierce and brave to bear the club and spear. Grant it to this child that it may be so. Grow up and produce food, and build great houses, and canoes. Summon the people to make nets for you, and to fish for you. Grant it to this child that it may be so.’

Patere These fast vigorous chants with impromptu (but conventionalised) gestures and facial expressions, were occasional songs, usually composed to reply to gossip of a slanderous nature. The reply took the rather curious form, not of denying the gossip, but of recounting the lineal and lateral kinship connections of the author. The implication appears to have been that a person with such noble connections could not possibly have been guilty of the charges preferred. A patere often takes its audience on a tour of New Zealand, with introductions to the principal chiefs of the time and genealogical excursions into the past. It is at once a gazetteer and a Who's Who for the period of its composition. Interspersed with this sort of information are interesting remarks on what the singer will do to her detractors when she meets them. I should perhaps mention that all patere were composed by women.

Oriori The chants called oriori were composed for young children, generally by doting grandparents. Typically they commence with some wry reference to the vocal abilities of the child. A well known oriori begins as follows: ‘So the young fellow is crying for food? Just hang on a minute, and I'll send a moa To fetch a whale ashore for him to eat.’ This bantering tone is not maintained. The song continues as a serious attempt to impart knowledge necessary to the education of a wellborn child. Kinship connections, lines of descent, myths and traditions, are all worked into the texts of oriori in a very complex way. As if realising the difficulties of such a text one composer has included a ‘square-off’ to be used by slow learners. ‘When you are asked by strangers the details of your descent, you may reply: “I am only a child, and forgetful, But this I do know, Tainui, Te Arawa, Mataatua, Kurahaupo and Tokomaru, These were the canoes of my ancestors, Who paddled across the great sea …”.’

Waiata Tangi These laments for the dead are set to a short musical theme which is repeated throughout the song, a theme which contrasts markedly in its slow tempo and definite melody with the rapid chanting of the patere and oriori. Many hundreds of these songs have been recorded, varying widely in their length, composition and content. It is fairly usual for them to begin with a reference to some aspect of nature, often something which is taken as a portent of death: ‘The lightning flashes, and forks above the mountain peak. It is the sign of death.’ The grief occasioned by death is likened to rain, to the moaning of the sea, or to biting winds. And loneliness is a constantly recurring theme. The circumstances of the death are often mentioned, and if there is a motive, as in the case of death in battle or by witchcraft, plans for revenge may be outlined.

Waiata Aroha Waiata aroha or love songs are musically indistinguishable from laments, and indeed their whole tone is mournful, since they are invari-