There was no question of reward or punishment. The dead simply continued to exist in spirit form, occasionally revisiting the scenes of their former life. These visitors preferably occupied the bodies of lizards, which explains the abhorrence in which these reptiles were held by the Maori, who, though they revered and prayed to their ancestors, were terribly afraid of meeting their pale ghosts, or transmigrated souls. The _tohunga_, or sorcerers, exercised unbounded influence over the minds of the Maori. Their duties on occasion coincided with those of the _ariki_, and their position, too, was hereditary; but, while men revered, and often loved their chief, their respect for the _tohunga_ was tinctured with fear and, not seldom, with hate. The chief could lay _tapu_ upon a man, which was bad enough; but the _tohunga_ could bewitch him outright, condemning the poor wretch to loss of worldly gear, aches and pains, and even to death itself. The _ariki_ thought it no shame to go in dread of the _tohunga_, while, let the _tutua_, or common fellow, be once convinced that the malign eye of the wizard had bewitched him, and he not infrequently laid him down and died. There did not exist among the Maori a middle class as we understand the term. Every Maori whose birth placed him in a position between the aristocracy and the _tutua_ class was a warrior by choice. Among such were men of property, poets, philosophers, literary men who did not write, but told their stories to eager audiences--in a word, gentlemen of leisure until the need for fighting arose. In the infrequent intervals of peace these, if you will, represented the middle class; but, once "let slip the dogs of war," and they cried "havoc" with the best of them. The Maori warrior, or _toa_, unlike the Japanese Samurai, did not live for war alone, but was ever ready when it came. When speaking of the conduct and character of the high chiefs, it was mentioned that they were rarely deposed. The reason why, may be expressed in one word--_land_. Bad or good, the chief had a fuller knowledge with regard to land than any other person concerned. It is necessary clearly to comprehend what follows; for the misunderstandings which arose between the Maori and the colonists over the tenure of land had much to do with the origin of the long strife between them. When the canoes from Hawaiki had discharged their passengers at the various spots selected by the chiefs in command, each one of the latter took possession of a district which became his property, and the property of all his followers, every free male and female among them being part proprietor. In other words, the land was common to the tribe.