“As we march into the marae, or plaza, we see that the village people are drawn up in a mass by the side of the new house, the whare pakuwha (not in front of it), where they are crying us welcome; and in advance of them are some of the old women, standing singly out in the marae or mounted on shed-roofs or on the defences of the village, where each cries loudly in the doleful tones of the Maori a welcome to our party. And each of them is waving a cloak or shoulder-cape, waving us forward to our destination. This is the tawhiri, or powhiri. It is the welcome of the Maori people, even from the days of our ancestors. “Slowly we march forward until we are opposite the column of the village people, and then we halt, with perhaps a space of fifty yards separating us. The wild welcome of our hosts still rings out, but no sound comes from our party. We do not tangi* Tangi = to wail for the dead, or as an affectionate salute to long-absent friends. unless some misfortune has lately afflicted one of the parties, or my son-in-law has been long absent from his people. At such a meeting there is no general hongi (the native salute by pressing noses together). The priest of our party alone might so salute a few of the village people in that manner. “The next thing done is the rahiri whare—i.e., the lifting of the tapu from, the whare pakuwha. This is performed by the priest of our party, who mounts the roof of the house and, standing on the ridge-pole thereof, recites the invocation known as a kawa whare. This was an important rite to the Maori of former days, but we will not go into that matter now, it is too long. Leave it for the days that lie before. “The house is now free from tapu and may be used. Our party enter and rest therein. Then, one after another, the leading men of the village come and make speeches to us. The speaker does not enter the house; he walks back and forth in the front thereof as he delivers his speech, for this is the ancient custom of the Maori. The speeches made are a welcome to us—first to my daughter, who has married into this clan, and also to us, her elders and relatives. The leading remarks of all these speeches are a welcome to the young wife, as, ‘Haere mai taku taonga,’ &c. (‘Welcome, my treasure,’ and so forth). When the speeches of the village people are over, then one of our party will go forth from the house and make a speech, returning the greetings of the other party. But all remarks centre round and upon the young couple. After the first speaker finishes and retires to the house another goes forth to have his say, and so on, until all who wish to speak have done so.