In addition to other causes of insecurity of life, was the
Tapu ; an institution which completely placed the life and
property of everyone in the power of the priests and chiefs,
However outrageous its acts and requirements, they coulc
not be resisted. Another of the many evils of the Heather
State was the Mahutu — witchcraft. If a wasting disease
attacked any one, it was generally attributed to an evil eye
or the act of some enemy ; and if the sufferer could not fij
his suspicions on any one, he had merely to consult the
mata-Mte, or seer, who at once would name the individual
and, as in former days, the natives imagined that death die
not occur naturally, a kind of inquest was held at the decease
of any one of rank, to find out the person who caused it
When an old lady died rather suddenly, the enquiry wai
made as to what was the food she had last eaten ; that wai
found to be quite correct ; but it came out in evidence tha
she had unfortunately scraped her potatoes with a borrowec
knife, which at once fixed the cause on the lender, who
without any further ceremony, was immediately despatched.
Before the Gospel came, life was not prized, and mai
thought no more of killing his fellow man than the hunte
does of securing his game. The first white man seen by thi
Wanganui natives was killed as a new kind of animal, t



THE CHURCir. /

see how lie tasted, whether there was any difference in the
flavour of the Pakelia, or European, from that of the Maori.
