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                             MAORI RELIGION
                                  AND
                               MYTHOLOGY.




                    WILLIAM ATKIN, GENERAL PRINTER,
                      HIGH STREET, AUCKLAND, N.Z.




                            _Maori Religion_

                                 _and_

                              _Mythology._




               ILLUSTRATED BY TRANSLATIONS OF TRADITIONS,
                             _KARAKIA_, &c.

                           TO WHICH ARE ADDED

                    NOTES ON _MAORI_ TENURE OF LAND.




                                   BY
                   EDWARD SHORTLAND, M.A., M.R.C.P.,
                  LATE NATIVE SECRETARY, NEW ZEALAND,
                               AUTHOR OF
         “TRADITIONS AND SUPERSTITIONS OF THE NEW ZEALANDERS.”




                                LONDON:
                        LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
                                 1882.
                         _All rights reserved._




                             TO THE MEMORY
                                   OF
                           SIR WILLIAM MARTIN

                       THESE PAGES ARE DEDICATED,

                        THE AFFECTIONATE TRIBUTE
                                   OF
                      A FRIENDSHIP OF MANY YEARS.




                                PREFACE.


The Maori MSS. of which translations are now published were collected by
the author many years ago. The persons through whom the MSS. were
obtained are now, with one exception, no longer living. They were all of
them men of good birth, and competent authorities. One who could write
sent me, from time to time, in MS. such information as he himself
possessed, or he could obtain from the _tohunga_, or wise men of his
family. Chapters iii. and iv. contain selections from information
derived from this source.

The others not being sufficiently skilled in writing, it was necessary
to take down their information from dictation. In doing this I