New Zealand Superstitions

Man, according to the notions of the natives, is endowed with an immortal incorporeal spirit, which at his death departs from his body, and goes as a falling star to the nether world, the entrance to which is down the face of a rocky cliff at the Cape Maria, von Diemen. An ancient tree stands there, upon the branches of which the spirit descends. The natives hold this place in great awe and veneration; and even christian natives who accompanied me would not go near it. But the spell has been partly broken by a missionary cutting off the branch of the tree on which the spirit was supposed to alight. In the interior the natives still adhere to their ancient notions. The lower world is the common dwelling-place of spirits, but it is not the only one. Before the spirit of an hereditary chief descends into it, it goes into Heaven; there his left eye remains and becomes a star. In the lower world the spirits live as men do on earth; but they can leave it. and influence the actions and the fate of those who are alive, communicating with them through the medium of the priests who bear them. Their voice has a whistling sound which others beside the priests sometimes perceive, when they walk out in the dark. If travelers come into the neighborhood of the infernal regions, they throw down a piece of fern or of the slikaw palm, to let the spirits know whether the wanderers are inhabitants of the open land or forest. The spirits often speak in dreams to the priest or chief who announces their communications in the moons; and these often lead to important resolutions. Duffeaback's Travels in New Zealand.