ned to chiefs, but
extended to any one who was bold enough to submit his head to the
barber's shears; for one of the early writers on the Maoris tells us
that "he who has had his hair cut is in the immediate charge of the
_Atua_; he is removed from the contact and society of his family and his
tribe; he dare not touch his food himself; it is put into his mouth by
another person; nor can he for some days resume his accustomed
occupations, or associate with his fellow-men."[111] The hair of the
first-born of a family in particular, on account of his extreme
sanctity, might be cut by nobody but a priest; and for many days after
the operation had been performed the priestly barber was in a state of
strict taboo. He could do nothing for himself, and might not go near
anybody. He might not touch food with his hands, and no less than three
persons were required to feed him. One of them prepared the food at a
safe distance, took it to a certain place, and retired; a second came
forward, picked up the victuals, carried them to another spot and left
them; finally, a third, venturing into the danger zone, actually brought
the food to the priest and put it into his mouth.[112]

[109] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 87; R. Taylor,
_Te Ika A Maui_, p. 165.

[110] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 87; E.
Dieffenbach, _Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 104.

[111] Richard A. Cruise, _Journal of a Ten Months' Residence in
New Zealand_ (London, 1823), pp. 283 _sq._ Compare J. Dumont
d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et a la recherche de la
Perouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), ii. 533.

[112] Elsdon Best, "Maori Religion," _Report of the Twelfth
Meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of
Science, held at Brisbane, 1909_, p. 463.

The atmosphere of taboo or sanctity which thus surrounded Maori chiefs
and gentlemen not only imposed many troublesome and inconvenient
restraints on the men themselves, it was also frequently a source of
very real danger, loss, and annoyance to other people. For example, it
was a rule that a chief should not blow on a fire with his mouth,
because his breath being sacred would communicate its sanctity to the
fire, and if a slave or a common man afterwards cooked food at the fire
or merely took a brand from it, the chief's holiness would cause that
man's death.[113] Again, if the blood of a high chief flowed on
anything,