t mats, decked with
feathers, and provided with weapons, lay in state for a time. After the
first day a brother of the deceased used to beat the body with fresh
flax gathered for the purpose; this he did to drive away any evil thing
that might be hovering about the corpse. In the olden time one or more
of the chief's wives would strangle themselves, that their souls might
accompany their dead lord and wait upon him in the other world, and with
the same intentions slaves were killed, lest the great man should lack
attendants in the spirit land.[51]

[51] W. Yate, _An Account of New Zealand_, pp. 135 _sqq._; J.
Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage autour du Monde et a la recherche de
la Perouse, Histoire du Voyage_ (Paris, 1832-1833), ii. 541
_sq._; Servant, "Notice sur la Nouvelle-Zelande," _Annales de la
Propagation de la Foi_, xv. (1843) p. 25; E. Dieffenbach,
_Travels in New Zealand_, ii. 62, 118; W. Brown, _New Zealand
and its Inhabitants_, pp. 15 _sqq._; G. F. Angas, _Savage Life
and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand_, i. 331; A. S. Thomson,
_The Story of New Zealand_, i. 185 _sqq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A
Maui, or New Zealand and its Inhabitants_, Second Edition
(London, 1870), pp. 217 _sq._; E. Tregear, "The Maoris of New
Zealand," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xix.
(1890) pp. 104 _sq._

The body was kept for three days because, we are told, the soul was
believed not to quit its mortal habitation till the third day.[52] The
mode of disposing of the corpse differed in different districts and
according to the rank of the deceased. In some places a grave was dug in
the house and the body buried in a sitting posture, the legs being kept
in that position by bandages or doubled up against the chest. In the
grave the dead man retained the fine garments in which he had been
dressed together with the family ornaments of jade and shark's teeth.
With him also was usually interred his property, especially the clothes
which he had worn and everything else that had touched him during his
last illness. The weapons of a warrior were laid near him that he might
be able to fight his battles in the spirit land. In other places the
corpse was laid in a box on a stage; or two pieces of an old canoe were
set upright in the earth, and in the hollow between them the body was
seated on a grating so as to allow the products of decomposition to drip
through on the ground. In other pla