erishable nature, and that in particular they are
liable to be cut short in their career and totally exterminated by the
insidious arts of magicians. So frequently, indeed, did this happen in
former days that the Maoris of old apparently recognised no other cause
of death, but imagined that every man and woman would naturally live for
ever, if the thread of his or her life were not prematurely snipped by
the abhorred shears of some witch or wizard. Hence after every death it
was customary to hold an inquest in order to discover the wretch who had
brought about the catastrophe by his enchantments; a sage presided at
the solemn enquiry, and under his direction the culprit was detected,
hunted down, and killed.[46]

[46] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 51.

The Maoris tell a story to explain how death first came into the world,
or at least how men were prevented from enjoying the boon of
immortality. The story runs as follows.

The great mythical hero of Polynesia is Maui, a demigod or man of
marvellous powers, who lived in the early ages of the world, and whose
mighty deeds are the theme of tales of wonder told far and wide among
the islands of the Pacific.[47] In his childhood his mother prophesied
that he should thereafter climb the threshold of his great ancestress
Hine-nui-te-po, and that death should have no more dominion over men. A
happy prediction, but alas! never destined to be fulfilled, for even the
would-be saviour Maui himself did not escape the doom of mortality. The
way in which he became subject to death was this. His father took him to
the water to be baptized, for infant baptism was a regular part of Maori
ritual.[48] But when the baptism was over and the usual prayers had
been offered for making the lad sacred and clean from all impurity, his
father bethought him that through haste or forgetfulness he had omitted
some of the prayers and purifications of the baptismal service. It was a
fatal oversight, and the anxious father was struck with consternation at
the thought, for too well he knew that the gods would punish the
omission by causing his son Maui to die.[49] Yet did his son make a
brave attempt to rescue all men from the doom of death and to make them
live for ever. One day, after he had performed many feats and returned
to his father's house, his father, heavy at heart and overcome with a
foreboding of evil, said to him, "Oh, my son, I have heard from your
mother and others that you are very