the happy land with taro in each hand were asked, "Why
taro, if the little one is gone to heaven?" they answered that they
were not quite sure whether it went up or down, and therefore as an
additional precaution they planted a seed of taro in the grave, so that
their offspring might find something to eat either above or below.[61]

[59] J. Dumont d'Urville, _op. cit._ ii. 542; G. F. Angas,
_op. cit._ ii. 71; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 220.

[60] J. Dumont d'Urville, _l.c._

[61] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 220.

Similar ceremonies were performed to facilitate the ascension of the
souls of chiefs and priests. Before the body was taken to the place of
burial, it was laid out with its feet towards the north, and all the
blood-relations of the deceased, men, women, and children, assembled
round it. Then the priest, standing at the head of the corpse, between
the rows of the people, chanted two incantations, of which the second
was supposed to assist the soul to ascend to heaven. The priest next put
a bulb of taro in the left hand of the corpse and chanted another
incantation. After that, flaxen cords were tied with a slip-knot to a
tassel of the mat in which the body was enshrouded, and a cord was
placed in the hand of each child, boy and girl, present at the ceremony.
When the priest had chanted one more incantation, each child pulled the
cord with a jerk, to disconnect the soul from the body, lest it should
remain and afflict the relatives.[62] This last rite, with the reason
assigned for it, is significant at once of the dread which the Maoris
felt for departed spirits, and of the very materialistic conception
which they entertained of the human soul, since they appear to have
imagined that it could be detached from the body by jerking at a cord.

[62] John White, "A Chapter from Maori Mythology," _Report of
the Third Meeting of the Australasian Association for the
Advancement of Science, held at Christchurch, New Zealand, in
January 1891_, pp. 362 _sq._

The wish to raise the soul to heaven was perhaps the motive for another
curious rite performed at the obsequies of a chief. When the body had
been buried, the chief returned to the village; but the men who had
carried the body went to the nearest swamp, and having caught a
swamp-sparrow (_matata_) sent word to the priest, who forthwith rejoined
them. Each of the bearers was then provided with a stick to which
certain of the