2. (noun) tattooed preserved head - done for two reasons, either to venerate a loved one, or as a trophy of war to ridicule an enemy. In the nineteenth century toi moko were traded with Pākehā in exchange for muskets and gunpowder.
E rua tekau ngā toi moko Māori e hoki mai ana i Parī ki te wā kāinga nei. Neke atu i te rua rau tau aua tūpuna e takoto ana i roto i ngā whare pupuri taonga o Wīwī (Te Karere 12-1-2012). / Twenty tattooed preserved Māori heads are returning home from Paris. Those ancestors have been in the museums of France for more than two hundred years.
