their backs on the
land of the living and set their faces to the land of the dead. Arrived
at the cape they pass outward over a long narrow ledge of rock and then
leap down on a flat stone. There they see a mass of sea-weed floating on
the water, its roots hidden in the depth, its upper branches clinging to
a _pohutukawa_ tree. When they perceive an opening in the sea-weed they
dive and soon find themselves in the lower world. But before they reach
the abode of spirits they must cross a river by a plank; the river is
called Waiorotane or the River of the Water of Life; and sometimes the
warden of the plank will not suffer the ghosts to pass the river, but
drives them back with friendly violence and bids them return to their
friends on earth. Such souls come back to the bright world of light and
life, and tell their friends what they have seen and heard on the
journey to that bourne from which so many travellers return no more.
Hence when any one has recovered from a dangerous sickness or escaped
some great peril, they say of him that he has come back from the River
of the Water of Life. Even if a soul has crossed that sombre stream, he
may still return to the land of the living, if only he refuses to
partake of the food set before him by the ghosts; but should he taste of
it, he cannot come back. They say that people living near the North Cape
can hear the spirits of the dead passing through the air on their way to
the spirit land; and in the old days, when a battle had been fought and
before the news of it could reach them by word of mouth, the natives
near the cape were made aware of what had happened by the rushing sound
of a great multitude flitting by overhead in the darkness.[68] Perhaps
the sighing of the night-wind or the clangour of birds of passage
winging their way out to sea may have contributed to create or foster
these fancies.

[67] E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_,
p. 342, _s.v._ "Po."

[68] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New
Zealanders_, pp. 150 _sqq._; _id._, _Maori Religion and
Mythology_, p. 45; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 52, 231;
W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, p. 140; E. Dieffenbach,
_Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 66 _sq._; E. Tregear, "The Maoris
of New Zealand," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_,
xix. (1890) pp. 118 _sq._; _id._, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative
Dictionary_, pp. 407 _sq._, 591, _s.