, in his pamphlet on `Nomenclature'
(1883), p. 5:

"Taepo means to visit or come by night,--a night visitant,--a
spectral thing seen in dreams,--a fancied and feared thing, or
hobgoblin, of the night or darkness; and this the settlers have
construed to mean the Devil!--and of course their own orthodox
one."

<i>Taipo</i> or <i>taepo</i> is also a slang term for a
surveyor's theodolite among the Maoris, because it is the
"land-stealing devil."

1848. Rev. R. Taylor, `Leaf from the Natural History of New
Zealand,' p. 43:

"Taipo, female dreamer; a prophetess; an evil spirit."

1855. Rev. R. Taylor, `Te Ika a Maui,' p. 49:

"There is the <i>Taringa-here</i>, a being with a face like
a cat; and likewise another, called a <i>Taipo</i>, who comes
in the night, sits on the tops of houses, and converses with
the inmates, but if a woman presumes to open her mouth,
it immediately disappears."

1878. B. Wells, `History of Taranaki,' p. 3:

"The similarity in sound and meaning of the Egyptian word
<i>typhon</i> with that of the Maori <i>taipo</i>, both being
the name of the Spirit of Evil, is also not a little
remarkable."

[Ingenious, but worthless.]

1886. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open,' `New Zealand Country
journal,' vol. x. p. 262:

"His wife became seriously affected, declaring that
<i>Taipo</i> had entered into her. Reasoning was wholly
useless. She declared that Taipo was in the smoke of the wood,
which smoke she had inhaled; soon she became prostrated by
illness and was expected to die."

1887. J. C. Crawford, `Travels in New Zealand and
Australia,' p. 107:

"After dinner Watkins requested the loan of a tomahawk
to defend himself on going up to the Pa on the hill above.
He said he knew that there was a <i>taipo</i> (devil) about;
he felt it in his head."

1888. P. W. Barlow, `Kaipara,' p. 48:

"They were making the noises I heard to drive away the `Taipo,'
a sort of devil who devotes his attention exclusively to
Maoris, over whom, however, he only possesses power at night."

1891. W. H. Roberts, `Southland in 1856,' p. 72:

"They believed it was the principal rendez-vous of the fallen
angel (Taipo) himself."

1896. Modern. Private Letter (May):

"<i>Taipo</i>, for instance, of course one knows its meaning,
though it has been adopted chiefly as a name as common as
`Dash' or `Nero' for New Zealand dogs; all the same the writers
upon Maori superstitions seem to have no knowledge of it