This story . . . was told to Mr. Shortland [Edward Shortland, on whose account this summary is
based] by a servant of his named Te Wharewera. An aunt of this man died in a solitary hut near the
banks of Lake Rotorua. Being a lady of rank she was left in her hut, the door and windows were
made fast, and the dwelling was abandoned, as her death had made it tapu. But a day of two after,
Te Wharewera with some others paddling in a canoe near the place at early morning saw a figure
on the shore beckoning to them. It was the aunt come to life again, but weak and cold and famished.
When sufficiently restored by their timely help, she told her story. Leaving her body, her spirit had
taken the flight toward the North Cape, and arrived at the entrance of Reigna. There, holding on
by the stem of the creeping akeake-plant, she descended the precipice, and found herself on the
sandy beach of a river. Looking around, she espied in the distance an enormous bird, taller than a
man, coming towards her with rapid strides. This terrible object so frightened her, that her first
thought was to try to return up the steep cliff; but seeing an old man paddling a small canoe towards
her she ran to meet him, and so escaped the bird. When she had been safely ferried across she asked
the old Charon, mentioning the name of her family, where the spirits of her kindred dwelt.
Following the path the old man pointed out, she was surprised to find it just such a path as she had
been used to on earth; the aspect of the country, the trees, shrubs, and plants were all familiar to her.
She reached the village and among the crowd assembled there she found her father and many near
relations; they saluted her, and welcomed her with the wailing chant which Maoris always address
to people met after long absence. But when her father had asked about his living relatives, and
especially about her own child, he told her she must go back to earth, for no one was left to take care
of his grandchild. By his orders she refused to touch the food that the dead people offered her, and
in spite of their efforts to detain her, her father got her safely into the canoe, crossed with her, and
parting gave her from under his cloak two enormous sweet potatoes to plant at home for his
grandchild's especial eating. But as she began to climb the precipice again, two pursuing infant
spirits pulled her back, and she only escaped by flinging the roots at them, which they stopped to
eat, while she scaled the rock by help of the akeake-stem, till she reached the earth and flew back
to where she had left her body. On returning to life she found herself in darkness, and what had
passed seemed as a dream, till she perceived that she was deserted and the door fast, and concluded
that she had really died and come to life again. When morning dawned, a faint light entered by the
crevices of the shut-up house, and she saw on the floor near her a calabash partly full of red ochre
mixed with water; this she eagerly drained to the dregs, and then feeling a little stronger, succeeded
in opening the door and crawling down to the beach, where her friends soon after found her. Those
who listened to her tale firmly believed the reality of her adventures, but it was much regretted that
she bad not brought back at least one of the huge sweet-potatoes, as evidence of her visit to the land
of spirits.
