this wise: Bangi had paddled merrily forth from Te Awa-a-teatua to take the offspring of Tangaroa, who swarm in the Sea of Toi. A storm arose, the canoe was swamped, and Rangi, the fisherman, perished. His body drifted ashore at Wairakei, where it was found by the Tauranga people, who promptly cooked and ate it. Te Hahae, a noted warlock of Ngati-awa, heard of this occurrence, and inquired concerning the appearance of the drowned person. The answer was, ‘He was a light-haired man, and had the puhoro pattern of tattooing on his left arm.’ Te Hahae cried, ‘Alas! He was my grandson, Te Rangi-kaku.’ He at once despatched his daughter, Te Rere-wairua, to Puketapu (at Te Teko), to her brothers, Ouenuku, Rehe, and Tikitu, saying, ‘Should your brothers consent to my proposition, let there be seventy separate whawharua (holes in which taro are planted), and only one taro in each, which must be cultivated so as to grow to a large size.’ So she went, and arrived, and said, ‘Te Rangi-kaku is dead and has been eaten. Te Hahae spoke in this manner: That taro be cultivated, that eels be caught (and cured).’ These labours were commenced. The woman returned. Te Hahae asked of his daughter, ‘How did your brothers receive the message which you took?’ She replied, ‘The taro are being cultivated.’ Autumn arrived. The Tauranga people came to get the taro and eels. The dawn of the morrow came. The old warlock cried to Nga-maihi, ‘Arise! Collect fuel and stones and covering (for the steam-ovens).’ These things were collected. The old man said, ‘The sacred oven, I will attend to that.’ The people cooked their food, and Te Hahae prepared his sacred umu (oven). As he dug the hole he repeated a charm. As he placed the fuel therein he repeated a charm. As he placed the stones on the fuel he repeated a charm. When the stones were red with heat Te Hahae, clad merely in a girdle of green twigs and leaves, entered the oven and stood upon the red-hot stones thereof. There he stood and repeated his magic spells, yet was he not injured by heat, nor was his girdle affected in any way by flame or heat. Then he stepped out and proceeded to put the taro in the oven. Then he covered the taro with green branches and fern-fronds, and covered the oven with earth, repeating a charm as he performed each act. When the food was cooked he uncovered the oven and put the food in baskets, and placed these in a row, and presented the food to the people of Ngati-pukenga and Ngai-te-rangi. And each of these acts was accompanied by further spells of magic. Then those people thought as to what return they could make for this present of food. And it was said, ‘We will go to the fishing-grounds.’ Then those people paddled out upon the ocean. Te Hahae said to Nga-

maihi ‘Arise!’ And Nga-maihi returned to their homes. They left the old man behind. He entered the water and by his magic power raised the wind (uru-karaerae) in furious violence. Thus appeared the wind, the lightning, the thunder, the hail. The sea was torn up. That storm caught the fishing-fleet anchored on the hapuku-grounds, and utterly destroyed it and the people thereof. So fell Tauranga; and the eating of the body of Te Rangi-kaku was avenged. Wrought by Te Hahae, the works of the wizards of old. Friend! This is the end.”

Certain tribes are famed for their knowledge of witchcraft. Among these are the two divisions of Ngati-awa, and also the section of Ngati-kahungunu which lives in Te Wairoa district, on the East Coast. “Wairoatapoko rau” is a saying applied to that district. It is equivalent to “Wairoa, the engulfer of myriads,” so many have been slain by the dark arts of those people. A sub-tribe of the Wairoa people, Ngati-hika by name, who lived at Te Mahia, are said to have made themselves so objectionable to their neighbours by means of their magic powers that the latter rose up and expelled them. They, or a portion of them, came to Tuhoeland, where they were given wives and settled down, thus becoming merged in the Tuhoe Tribe.

Only this morning I had a visit from three old women of Tuhoe. Passing by my camp, they called in to exchange greetings, and to weep over a photograph of one of their number who but recently drank of the waters of Tane-pi and lifted the world-old trail for Te Reinga. Anyhow, we got talking, and some questions of mine led to the following narrative from one of my visitors: When she was a young girl, eight years or so of age, she was whakapakuwhatia, or betrothed, by her tribe to a man of the Ngati-awa Tribe. Her aunt took her to that tribe, where they remained some time, but she, not liking the man, returned with her aunt to their own tribe. Some time after a party of Ngati-awa visited Ruatahuna, and one of their number abstracted a few threads of her clothing, which fragment was taken away to serve as an ohonga, or medium. Thus she and several of her relatives and friends were bewitched by Ngati-awa. The case called for instant action. One of the tribal tohunga, or wise men, who was kauwaka, or medium, of the atua (god, demon) known as Taimana, took all the patients to Matuahu pa, or fort, on the shores of Waikare-moana (where he made them live for several seasons). He said, “Let a cord and a mussel-shell be sought.” These were found, and he proceeded to avert the magic of Ngati-awa and destroy the wizard. He bled each of the patients on the right shoulder and smeared the blood on the cord, which, together with the shell, he carried off to work