selves common, or free from tapu, that they might be able to accept the new religion. For the tapu was of the Maori gods, and must be got rid of, or reduced, so to speak, before the new god was accepted. This was done, in most cases, by washing the head with water heated in a vessel in which food had been cooked. Shade of Toi! It was enough to cause the whole horde of gods in the Maori pantheon to turn on the race and destroy it at a blow—the most sacred part of sacred man to be brought into contact with cooked food! “As old Pio remarked to me, ‘The mauri of the Maori has become polluted; that is what is destroying the Maori people. It may be that this generation, born among the white men, may survive, and be as healthy and virile and industrious. But I fear that the Maori has forsaken his own well - being [ora and mana] in pursuing that of the white man. And I ask, How may we survive? [Me aha ra tatou e ora ai.] Let us return to the beliefs of the Maori, and the rites of old. I am resolved to follow the practices of my forefathers, which have been followed for many generations. I say to you that the Maori is in fault; he has deserted his ancestral rites, customs, and beliefs, and now they have turned upon him and are destroying him.’ “ The Tuhoe Maoris have a tradition that it was Irakewa, father of the chief Toroa of the Matatua canoe, who introduced disease into New Zealand from Hawaiki. He seems to have visited this country in some mysterious manner just before the coming of the Matatua canoe. Before the arrival of these voyagers it is said that disease was unknown here. Violation of Tapu. “The violation of tapu includes any interference with tapu objects, persons, or places. For instance, when a house has become tapu for some reason, and is deserted, it must not afterwards be entered, or burned, or interfered with in any way. Only a priest, or those under tapu for conveying a body or exhumed bones, may trespass on a burial-place or cave where bones of the dead are placed. Should any one else so trespass, then those bones of the dead will turn upon the intruder and slay him, or afflict him grievously. That is to say, the gods will punish that person. “The bed and pillow of a tapu person are likewise endowed with that dread quality, and should any careless or imprudent person presume to seat himself on such, or eat food there, he will be seriously afflicted ere long. These things cannot be done with impunity. The gods will mark him down. This does not, of course, apply to the sleeping-places of ordinary persons who are not highly charged with tapu.