Weave, weave the mat, Couch for my unborn child, Qui lectus aquâ inundabitur: Rupe, et Manumea inundabuntur: Lectus meus, et mei fetûs inundabitur: Inundabor aquâ, inundabor; Maritus meus inundabitur.¹⁸ Now I step upon (the mat). The _Matitikura_¹⁹ to Rupe above, * * * Toroa * * * * Takapu * * * * to cause to be born, My child now one with myself. Stand firm _turuturu_²⁰ of Hine-rauwharangi, * * * * Hine-teiwaiwa, Stand by your _tia_,²¹ Ihuwareware, Stand by your _kona_,²¹ Ihuatamai, Chide me not in my trouble, Me Hine-teiwaiwa, O Rupe.²² Release from above your hair,²³ Your head, your shoulders, Your breast, your liver, Your knees, your feet, Let them come forth. The old lady²⁴ with night-dark visage, She will make you stretch, She will make you rise up. Let go _ewe_,²⁵ let go _take_,²⁵ Let go _parapara_.²⁵ Come forth.* ¹⁸ Hæc ad effusionem aquarum sub tempus partûs spectant. ¹⁹ The name of a powerful _karakia_. ²⁰ _Turuturu_, a sharp pointed prop, two of which are fixed in the floor to serve as a frame for weaving mats—also used by women in child-birth to hold by. ²¹ Names of lower parts of abdomen. ²² Rupe or Maui-mua, brother-in-law of Hine-teiwaiwa. ²³ Addressed to the unborn child. ²⁴ The old lady referred to was Hine-nui-te-po, the mother of the female ancestress of mankind. ²⁵ Names of different parts of the decidua. [*] For tradition as to Tuhuruhuru and other names here mentioned vid. Sir Geo. Grey’s “Mythology and Traditions of New Zealand,” p. 39 et seq. This _karakia_ is still in use with the Arawa tribe in cases of difficult parturition. When such cases occur, it is concluded that the woman has committed some fault—some breach of the _tapu_, which is to be discovered by the _matakite_ (=seer). The father of the child then plunges in the river, while the _karakia_ is being repeated, and the child will generally be born ere ever he returns. The following form of _karakia_ is also used by members of the same tribe in similar cases:— O! Hine-teiwaiwa, release Tuhuruhuru, O! Rupe, release your nephew. The ancestors of the father of the child are then invoked by name. First the elder male line of ancestors, commencing with an ancestor who lived in Hawaiki and terminating with the living representative of that line. Then follows a repetition of the ancestral line next in succession, and the third in succession, if the child be not born.²⁶ After which the _tohunga_ addressing the unborn child says, “Come forth. The fault rests with me. Come forth.” The _tohunga_ continues thus—