English: The remains of the sacred dead and all connected therewith were highly tapu and anyone who had been engaged in handling the dead or bones of the dead would be extremely tapu (sacred/forbidden) and would not dare to touch food with the hands. Consequently such persons like the Tohunga shown had to be fed in the manner shown in this picture.
"A little girl, quite naked, so that her garments may not be infected with the dangerous tapu, has brought the old man his food, a plaited flax kono or basket full of potatoes, and is half-fearfully feeding him with the boiled taewa stuck on the end of a long fern-stalk."
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Mr. H. E. Partridge, 1915.