MAORI MEDICAL LORE by Elsdon Best, 1903

We have seen that, according to Maori ideas, physical health is so closely related to their religious beliefs, that it is quite impossible for the Maori mind to sever the supposed connection between them, and herein lies a fine field for research by someone interested in psychical studies. The mentality of the Maori is of an intensely mystical nature: he deals largely in occult mysticism, and in hypo-theses of a metaphysical nature. We hear of many singular theories anent Maori beliefs and Maori thought, but the truth is that we do not understand either, and, what is more, we never shall. We shall never know the inwardness of the native mind. For that would mean retracing our steps for many centuries, back into the dim past, far back to the time when we also possessed the mind of primitive man. And the gates have long closed on that hidden road. http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_13_1904/Volume_13,_No._4,_December_1904/Maori_medical_lore,_by_Elsdon_Best,_p_213-237/p1