t, _op. cit._ p. 184.

[77] R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 104.

[78] E. Shortland, _The Southern Districts of New Zealand_
(London, 1851), p. 294; _id._, _Traditions and Superstitions of
the New Zealanders_, pp. 80, 81; _id._, _Maori Religion and
Mythology_, pp. 10 _sq._; R. Taylor, _Te Ika A Maui_, p. 108,
"Maori gods are so mixed up with the spirits of ancestors, whose
worship entered largely into their religion, that it is
difficult to distinguish one from the other."

[79] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New
Zealanders_, p. 81; _id._, _Maori Religion and Mythology_, p.
11. As to the _karakias_, which were prayers or invocations,
spells or incantations, addressed to gods or ancestral spirits,
see E. Shortland, _Maori Religion and Mythology_, pp. 28 _sqq._;
E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary_, p. 128,
_s.v._ "karakia." Apparently the _karakia_ partook of the nature
of a spell rather than of a prayer, since it was believed to be
so potent that the mere utterance of it compelled the gods to do
the will of the person who recited the formula. See R. Taylor,
_Te Ika A Maui_, pp. 180 _sq._: "The Maori, in his heathen
state, never undertook any work, whether hunting, fishing,
planting, or war, without first uttering a _karakia_; he would
not even take a journey without repeating a spell to secure his
safety; still he could not be said to pray, for, properly
speaking, they had no such thing as prayer. As in war, they
armed themselves with the most formidable weapons they could
procure, and laid their plans with the greatest skill they
possessed, so to secure the fruition of their desires, they used
their most powerful means to compel the gods to be obedient to
their wishes, whether they sought for victory over their foes,
fruitful crops, successful fishings, or huntings, they called in
the aid of potent incantations; when they planted their _kumara_
[sweet potatoes], they sought to compel the god who presided
over them to yield a good increase; when they prepared their
nets and their hooks, they must force the ocean god to let his
fish enter them; as the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and
the violent take it by storm, so the heathen Maori sought, by
spells and incantations, to compel the gods to yield to their
wishes; they added s