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The Maori: Yesterday and To-day

(3)

(3)

The final death-dealing karakia, beginning with the words:

Pokia i runga, pokia i raro;
He ahi, he huhunu, he puratoke”:

“Swarm upon him, O spirits from the sky; swarm upon him, O spirits of the earth! Let the mystic fires consume him; let him be cast to the place of the glow-worms. Let him be as a mussel, a water-sleeping mussel beneath an overhanging rock! That Death may gather him up as shellfish are gathered up. He sways and staggers, he is in the midst of fire and smoke. He is squeezed, tightly gripped, then released, shrunken, powerless. Seize the head of the worker of witchcraft! Thrust his head to the ground; let his legs wave to and fro! May he be dried up within and without, reduced to nothing. Let him go to the deep pit, let him be scattered and destroyed, as a floor clean-swept. Let him be cast to the deepest darkness, to the darkness utter and perpetual!

“Cry to your father, cry to your mother! Let your lips be drawn back from your teeth, your eyes wildly glare! You are cast to the night, into the pit. Thrust him down, O Rangi [Sky]; immerse him in the depths, O Papa [Earth]! Let him not appear again in the light of this world… . Darkness of death envelops you! The sun of life shines forth on me!”

For explanations of many cryptic terms and allusions in this series of karakia used in the arts of wizardry I am indebted to Haré Hongi, high authority on the Maori language and its peculiar idioms and esoteric expressions.

(See Maori originals, Chapter VI.)