{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_54610/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_54610","id":"gutenberg_54610","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54610","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Folklore -- New Zealand","Mythology, Maori","M\u0101ori (New Zealand people) -- Folklore"],"text":"Transcriber\u2019s Note: Captions have been added to the full-page\nillustrations.\n\n\n\n\n\n A\n MEMORIAL\n TO\n THE RT. HON. R. J. SEDDON, P.C.\n Premier of New Zealand, 1893-1906\n\n\n\n\nTE TOHUNGA\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: HUPENE, THE OLD TOHUNGA]\n\n\n\n\n TE TOHUNGA\n\n THE ANCIENT LEGENDS AND TRADITIONS\n OF THE MAORIS\n\n ORALLY COLLECTED AND PICTURED\n BY\n W. DITTMER\n\n [Illustration]\n\n LONDON\n GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, LIMITED\n NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO.\n 1907\n\n\n\n\n Nau i waka aua te kakahu, he taniko taku\n\n (You wove the garment, I have put the border to it)\n\n _Maori Proverb_\n\n\n\n\n TO\n THE COUNTESS OF RANFURLY\n\n Who was a true friend to Artists and\n their Art in New Zealand\n\n This Book is Dedicated\n By the Author\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF CONTENTS\n\n\n CHAP. PAGE\n\n INTRODUCTION. With 2 Illustrations 1\n\n I. TIKI--THE ANCESTOR OF MANKIND. With 3 Illustrations 5\n\n II. THE CREATION OF HAWAIKI. With 3 Illustrations 9\n\n III. THE POI-DANCE. With 3 Illustrations 15\n\n IV. THE CREATION OF THE STARS. With 5 Illustrations 20\n\n V. THE CHANT OF RANGI-NUI. With 2 Illustrations 26\n\n VI. TANE--THE CREATION OF NATURE. With 2 Illustrations 30\n\n VII. THE FIGHT OF NIGHT AND DAY. With 2 Illustrations 34\n\n VIII. MAUI--THE CREATION OF NEW ZEALAND. With 6 Illustrations 37\n\n IX. MAHUIKA. With 2 Illustrations 52\n\n X. MAUI AND MAHUIKA; MAUI\u2019S FIGHT WITH THE SUN. With 3\n Illustrations 56\n\n XI. THE DEATH OF MAUI. With 2 Illustrations 62\n\n XII. TE AROHA O HINEMOA: a Legend. With 2 Illustrations 66\n\n XIII. MAUI AND IRAWARU: a Tradition. With 1 Illustration 71\n\n XIV. NGA PATU-PAIAREHE, THE CHILDREN OF THE MIST [by James\n Cowan]. With 3 Illustrations 74\n\n XV. TIHI-O-TE-RANGI. With 3 Illustrations 80\n\n XVI. THE BATTLE OF THE GIANTS. With 3 Illustrations 86\n\n XVII. THE COMING OF THE MAORI [by James Cowan]. With 3\n Illustrations 93\n\n XVIII. TRADITION--TAMA-TE-KAPUA. With 4 Illustrations 100\n\n XIX. A TANGI. TE REINGA [by James Cowan]. With 3 Illustrations 107\n\n XX. NGAWAI. THE BURIAL OF TE HEU-HEU ON TONGARIRO. With 4\n Illustrations 114\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n PAGE\n\n 1. HUPENE, THE OLD TOHUNGA _Frontispiece_\n\n 2. MATAPO, A BLIND TOHUNGA 9\n\n 3. TANE, THE GOD OF TREES 11\n\n 4. THE BIRTH OF MAUI AT MAHIKU-RANGI 17\n\n 5. TANE SEARCHING FOR THE DWELLING OF THE EVENING STAR AND THE\n MORNING STAR 21\n\n 6. NGAWAI, A MAORI CHIEFTAINESS 27\n\n 7. TANE AND THE TREES 31\n\n 8. MAUI ENTERS HINE-NUI-TE-PO\u2019S PATAKA 35\n\n 9. MAUI 37\n\n 10. A TOHUNGA 41\n\n 11. MAUI CHANTING INCANTATIONS 45\n\n 12. MAUI FISHING NEW ZEALAND OUT OF THE OCEAN 49\n\n 13. TARANGA, THE NIGHT-SUN, AND MAUI 53\n\n 14. MAUI\u2019S FIGHT WITH THE SUN 57\n\n 15. HINE-NUI-TE-PO KILLING MAUI 63\n\n 16. HINEMOA 67\n\n 17. MAUI AND IRAWARU 71\n\n 18. THE MAORIS AND THE FAIRY PEOPLE 77\n\n 19. A TANGI 83\n\n 20. A GIANT 87\n\n 21. THE BATTLE 91\n\n 22. HAWAIKI 95\n\n 23. THE JOURNEY 97\n\n 24. THE FIRST OFFERING TO THE GODS 101\n\n 25. THE BREAKING OPEN OF THE GATES OF HEAVEN 105\n\n 26. TE HEU-HEU 107\n\n 27. TE REINGA 111\n\n 28. THE BURIAL 117\n\n\n\n\nGLOSSARY\n\n\nThe pronunciation of the vowels in Maori are:\n\n a has the sound of a in rather.\n e \u201d \u201d e in dedication.\n i \u201d \u201d ee in sheep.\n o \u201d \u201d o in bold.\n u \u201d \u201d oo in cook.\n\nAriki: a high chief, a leader, a master, lord.\n\nAroha: affection, love.\n\nAtua: a supernatural being, a god.\n\nAtua-toko: a small carved stick, the symbol of the god whom it\nrepresents. It was stuck in the ground whilst holding incantations to its\npresiding god.\n\nHaere-mai: come here, welcome.\n\nHaere-ra: good-bye, go, farewell.\n\nHaere-mai-ra, me o tatou mate: come here, that I may sorrow with you.\n\nKarakia: invocation, ceremony, prayer.\n\nKehua: spirit, ghost.\n\nKia-ora: welcome, good luck. A greeting.\n\nKura: red. The sacred colour of the Maori.\n\nMana: power, authority, prestige, influence, sanctity, luck.\n\nMere-pounamu: a native weapon made of a rare green stone.\n\nMua: an old-time Polynesian god.\n\nPiu-piu: short mat made out of flax leaves and neatly decorated.\n\nPo: gloom, darkness, the lower world.\n\nRangatira: chief, warrior, gentlemen.\n\nReinga: the spirit land, the home of the dead.\n\nTaiaha: a weapon made of wood.\n\nTangi: funeral, dirge. Assembly to cry over the dead.\n\nTaniwha: sea monster, water spirit.\n\nTapu: sacred, supernatural possession of power. Under restriction.\n\nTaua: war party.\n\nTiki: first man created, a figure carved of wood, or other representation\nof man.\n\nTohunga: a priest, a possessor of supernatural powers.\n\nTohu-mate: omen of death.\n\nTupuna: ancestor.\n\nWairua: spirit, soul.\n\nWhare: hut made of fern stems tied together with flax and vines, and\nroofed in with raupo (reeds).\n\nWhare-puni: large, and often beautifully carved and decorated house. A\nmeeting house.\n\nWhare-kura: the ancient sacred building of the Maoris at Hawaiki. Those\nwho once met there in council are now regarded as their highest gods.\nWhare-kura is the name of the sacred history of the Maoris.\n\nWhaka-papa: the genealogical history of the Maori, or a tribe, or a\nfamily.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nWith the drawings it began.\n\nAn expired world tried to come to life again in the fragments which some\nold Maori narrated. Nature all around favoured admiration only, and her\nloneliness was alive with longing.\n\nOf Maori art I had never heard, and, when that art was first offered to\nme, I had none other to choose. At first it disgusted me. But I had to\nmake use of my time. The evergreen nature was beautiful, and entrancing\nwas her invitation to waste my life in her midst, as she herself was\nwasting hers.\n\nTo protect myself against her allurements, I began the first sketches of\nold carvings. Then I made more.\n\nSitting beside me, and looking at my work, an old Maori related the deeds\nof his ancestor, upon whose carved image I was at work.\n\nAnd they were mighty deeds!\n\nIn the evenings later, at the camp-fire, those deeds lived again in\nmy thoughts, and the imagination busied herself, awkwardly enough, to\nexpress new ideas with the help of new forms.\n\nThat was the beginning of the first drawing.\n\nOut of books I could learn the old legends, but from the fragmentary\nnarratives of my old friends they sprang into life: so the number of\ndrawings grew--aimless, purposeless.\n\nBy that which first had disgusted me I was now greatly attracted; the\nforest was dreaming while I worked, the river murmured, and a strange\npeople awoke interest and friendship.\n\nThen, one day, came a traveller from Europe. He saw the drawings and\nspoke the words: \u201cMake a book\u201d, and the magic words: \u201cI\u2019ll get it\npublished!\u201d Then he went his way back to Europe again. It was four years\nago.\n\nBecause these words were spoken in a far-away country, this book came to\nlife--otherwise the destiny of those first few drawings would doubtless\nhave been the destiny of everything else in the great nature: to wither,\nto fall to dust. Perhaps it would have been a pity.\n\nAs to the text of the book: \u2019twere better that another had written\nit. More serious treatises have been published by those with greater\nopportunities to hear and more art to reproduce the legends from the\nmouths of the old folk now dead and gone, and I owe a good deal to them,\nespecially to Sir George Grey\u2019s _Polynesian Mythology_ and Rev. R.\nTaylor\u2019s _Te ika a Maui_, as well as to Mr John White, Mr E. Schirren,\nand Hamilton\u2019s _Maori Art_. But it was to my old friends that I chiefly\nlistened, seeking to look into the past through their eyes, to stir my\nimagination through their memories; yet, even though my pencil may not\nhave done its work amiss, I have grave doubts of the work of my pen.\n\nA part only of the legends is contained in this book: it will suffice to\nkeep alive what I have received from my tattooed friends during the long,\nlong days of a peculiarly strange life. The little that is new in my book\ndoes not pretend to be scientific: I have written it to help my drawings\nalong their way.\n\nAnd, after all, the book would possibly never have been completed without\nthe friends which the drawings made in New Zealand, above all Augustus\nHamilton, Director of the Colonial Museum. The encouragement and help\nI received from him, the benefit of his wide knowledge and love of art\nand of all things Maori, and his true friendship, gave confidence to my\nwavering hopes of representing graphically the imaginings of a people so\nalien to and so distant from the European mind.\n\nAt last everything was done: the parting hour came--from the new home\nback to the old. And now my thoughts are wandering back, often and often,\nto that distant time when everything was at its beginning: when the tent\nwas pitched under the willow on the river, and from the Maori village\non the other shore issued the sounds of happy life; when morning after\nmorning the sun rose golden over the hills, and every night the river\nreflected the silvery stars; when the willow grew slowly yellow, and the\nfalling leaves gilded the tent; when the smoke of the camp-fire rose blue\ninto the skies--and the first drawing was finished.\n\n W. DITTMER.\n\n _London: 1907._\n\n\n\n\nIntroduction\n\n\n[Illustration: Maori-mask and God-stick]\n\nA small fire had been kindled, and over it hummed the billy, boiling for\nthe last time in Maoriland.\n\nThrough the misty atmosphere the sun was sinking, powerless and glowing\nred: and night came.\n\nA grand night!\n\nBeautifully illuminated, grand clouds of smoke ascended from the burning\nprimeval forest--a first mighty sign of the work of man, and the will of\nman, for the fire has to finish the work of the axe, and to consume the\nforest.\n\nStars in silvery brilliance bespatter the East; the West is all aglow\nwith crimson, gold, and creamy white; but to-morrow work and care will\nfollow the great destruction, for endless is the beauty of this ever\ngreen country, but its liberty and its fruitfulness are labour.\n\nHe who wishes for liberty must till the soil, and the fruit of liberty\nshall be art, for art is not an image, but a fruit.\n\nA strange fruit is once gathered by the Maori children of Nature, a fruit\ngrown out of the darknesses of the ocean-encircled forests--an art,\nhopeless and sad. A fruit without seed.\n\nWas not Darkness the mother of All? Does not the everlasting ocean\nencircle all? And in the end must not Darkness again swallow all?\nThis art followed the ways of untiring Nature: unseeming tools,\nunmeasured time, and endless labour, shaped to perfection the hardest\nstone into the \u201cmere pounamu,\u201d the beautifully formed and polished\ngreenstone-weapon--the giant of the forest into the wonderful war-canoe.\n\nSharp-edged stones and shells have to shape the tree into the centre-post\nof the house, into the mighty figure of the god and ancestor; and such\nlabour stands in grim need of incantations to the atuas (gods) who dwell\nin the darknesses of the Lower World and who dwell in the spaces of light\nabove the earth, that they may strengthen and enliven the unseeming tools\nwith their god-power.\n\nThe sages and dreamers of many generations had spent their lives bending\nover the smoke of their little fires, and forming into wisdom what\ntheir eyes perceived of the wonders of the world; and their wisdom has\nresulted in incantations and Karakias[1] powerful enough to overcome the\ngods.\n\nThese incantations and Karakias are tapu, that is, sacred. The possessor\nof them is a Tohunga; a Tohunga is sacred. The tapu of the Tohunga is\ndescended from the gods, and so is his wisdom. The gods are all descended\nfrom the Great Mother Darkness, the goddess Hine-nui-te-po; and they are\nthe ancestors of mankind, which with every generation moves farther and\nfarther away from the gods.\n\nOnce a great inspiration must have fallen upon the Maori world; but since\nthen generation followed generation, framing incantations, speculating,\nshaping--never renewing, never widening, this inspiration, but working\nout form and expression to perfection.\n\nThe life of man became like the life of ever-renewing Nature, producing\nand again destroying, giving birth, and again killing, to enable\nlife to be sustained: the souls of man grew into the rigid wisdom of\nincantations; the food of man became man.\n\nHe who wishes for art must till the soil, but he who tills the soil must\nhave faith; for art, though a fruit of Nature, is a child of god.\n\nWith the rising Sun came the old friend, and placed fresh wood on the\ncamp-fire, a work of love; for he is a Rangatira-Tohunga (chief priest)\nof great mana in his tribe, and his tapu forbids menial labour. With\nSorrow in his face, he sat down, quietly laying a parting present at our\nfeet.\n\nOn the water of the river sways the reflected canoe loaded for the\njourney, and the sun plays among the leaves of the trees, the children of\nthe God Tane-Mahuta.\n\n\u201cTake with you the wisdom of the old people, my wanderer, the wisdom\nwhich will be soon forgotten among my children, who follow now the ways\nof the pakeha (the new friends) who came to us bringing the truth of\ntheir God; and we are now all children of the great Queen over the seas,\nwho promised to be our mother. Go in peace, my friend!\u201d\n\nDeeply thinking, he looked in the glowing embers. Each followed his own\nthoughts.\n\nFar away at Hawaiki was the world created, and there is the home of the\nMaoris. It is the birthplace of their race; it was the dwelling-place of\ntheir ancestors, who are gods now, and live in the heavens; it is their\nSpirit Land.\n\nTheir ancestors built the whare-kura, the sacred Temple, at Hawaiki,\nand it stood facing the East, at the place of Mua. In the whare-kura\nassembled the highest chiefs and the Tohungas of all the tribes to\ncommunicate with the spirits of the gods, and to repeat and rehearse\nthe names and heroic deeds of their ancestors, that they might take\ndeep root in the hearts of the living, and that they might never forget\ntheir descent from the most ancient gods, who dwelled in the Darkness,\nthe Nothing, and the Beginning of All Things! They assembled to acquire\nand repeat the sacred wisdom of the incantations, the ceremonies, and\nthe traditions, from Te-Kore, the Nothing, to Te-Po, the Lower World,\nto Te-Ao, the Light, to Rangi-nui, the Great Heaven, and to Papa-nui,\nthe Great Earth; the incantations and Karakias to the Gods of War and of\nWitchcraft, and the food; and all those to the multitude of spirits who\ngovern, help, or hinder, the living.\n\nFrom Hawaiki the heroes and their tribes wandered over the seas, and\nthe Tohungas took with them the wisdom of the whare-kura, guarding it\nsacredly, and repeating it only to the ears of their descendants or to\nthose of high rank and ambition; and nothing of the sacred knowledge was\nlost from the days of Te-Kore to the present time; but now it is dying\nwith the last Tohungas.\n\nLittle only is known of the sacred wisdom of the Maoris. The dread of the\nold gods is still living in the hearts of the Maoris, but the last hour\nhas come for them as they now bend their tattoed heads over the fire and\nmurmur regretfully of the great Past.\n\nThoughtfully looked the old friend at me, and I spoke:\n\n\u201cFarewell, friend. Wide you opened your heart, and far away will I take\nyour love with me; far away into the Great Distance, to my Hawaiki; and\nalways will I think of the Tohunga of the Maoris, the Rangatira, my\nfriend.\n\nSmall was my little knowledge, and bad were my tools to form it into\npictures; and I was in need of the incantations to the atuas, who have\nthe art in their keeping: the gods who have the happiness and hope, the\ncomprehension and confidence in their keeping. In the whare-puni of my\nfriends, the Maoris, I found these atuas, and more, a friendship which\nmade the loneliness fly away like a dark feather before the morning wind.\nFarewell!\u201d\n\n\u201cHaere, e tama taku--farewell, my son. This song out of ancient time I\ngive you, for your eyes can look back into the past; but my eyes are dim\nlike my wisdom.\n\nLook often at the sign which I have put to it, that you may remember me.\nFarewell,\n\n Kia-ora.----\n Kia-ora.\u201d\n\n\nHIS SONG\n\n O, thou sun, advancing high,\n Beaming red, and blazing forth!\n O, thou moon, now moving onward,\n Sending here thy lesser beams!\n The host of heaven--\n The gods now there--\n Can see and gaze on you.\n\n Come forth thou hidden\n Cause of blindness in mine eyes,\n Thou blood-red blight\n Of waters sweeping o\u2019er my sight.\n Come forth, that I\n May live, and see again,\n And gaze as I was wont.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[1] Religious rites and ceremonies.\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nTIKI--THE ANCESTOR OF MANKIND\n\n[Illustration: Marikoriko, the first woman, and Tiki, her Creator.]\n\n\nHupene, the old Tohunga, squats muttering on the floor beside his carved\nancestor Tiki.\n\nTiki is a god who in the dim long ago helped to build the world, and\nwhose carved image is now supporting the middle pillar of the house. His\neyes of pawa-shell, which once commanded in the ten Heavens and were full\nof fire and wisdom, glisten out of the silent twilight; they stare far,\nfar into the darkness, which Hine-nui-te-po is slowly spreading over the\nworld, Hine-nui-te-po, the Great Mother of Night, who at one time was\nyoung and beautiful, and gave life to Nature.\n\n\u201cHaere-mai, e te manuhire, Haere-mai\u201d (\u201cWelcome, stranger, welcome\u201d),\nso speaks the old Tohunga; then, drawing his flax mat around him, he\nmutters: \u201cHaere-mai\u201d, and, after a long silence again, as if murmuring\nto himself, \u201cHaere-mai\u201d--but soon his eyes follow those of his ancestor\nagain, gazing into the silence of the slowly descending night, the\nancient goddess Hine-nui-te-po, the Great Mother of Rest. Wisdom dwells\nwith the aged, and their muttering is the sign that their wisdom is ripe.\nFlying from the mouth of the old it becomes mother now and wife to the\nlistening ear.\n\n\u201cListen, my guest:\n\nWhen man dies, he returns no more to the place which once knew him.\nUnlike the Daughter of Heaven, Te marama, the moon, which ever ascends to\nnew life from the Spring of Living Water, man must die: he is devoured by\nHine-nui-te-po, the Great Mother of Nature, the first among the gods; and\nman is her food.\n\nHa, hear now the story of Tiki, our Father, the Father of man!\n\nWhen Rangi-nui, the great Heaven, and Papa-tu-a-nuku, the far-stretching\nearth, were separated from each other, then, my listener, the light shone\nover Papa-tu-a-nuku, the mother of Tiki, and he was the first man.\n\nAh, great was his longing for the power to spread himself out over Papa:\nfather of mankind he wanted to be! Far, and far, and far he wandered over\nHawaiki, searching and asking, and again and again he wandered forth over\nall Hawaiki, his heart full of longing.\n\nAh, my listener, full of longing was his heart.\n\nAt last he came to the river at Hawaiki known by the name of\nWai-matu-hirangi, and from the depth of his desire he cried aloud: \u2018Oh,\ndaughter of Hawaiki, child of the murmuring water, tell me how I may\nbecome the father of mankind. Tell me where may I obtain the power and\nfrom whom?\u2019\n\nAnd the river Wai-matu-hirangi answered him and said: \u2018Ha, Tiki, son of\nHeaven and Earth, go and search for the incantations and the powerful\nKarakias to the gods who have the desires of man in their keeping, and\nwhen you have obtained them return to me here, for it is here that the\nchild of man shall be born: out of the murmuring waters at Hawaiki. Go,\nand search!\u2019\n\nO, listen to Tiki, our father, the father of man.\n\nHa!--see how he set out on his search. First he journeyed to the gods of\nTe Po, the Lower World, and then he made his toilsome way through the\nten heavens, searching for the sacred incantations and the Karakias, the\nobject of his mighty quest, and at last, high, high in the uppermost\nheaven, he found them--ah, my listener!\n\nJoy made his journey light and the distance easy, and it was with a\ngladsome heart that he stood once more by the river in Hawaiki and cried\naloud:\n\n\u2018Oh, Daughter of the Many Faces, I bring with me the Karakias to the\npowerful gods, the great incantations which will give power and ecstasy\nto Tiki. See, I bring the incantations for which I went in search.\u2019\n\nThen he knelt down, and, as the gods had commanded him, mixed the sacred\nred colour with the soft sands of the shore, and formed a figure like\nunto himself, as he saw his own image reflected in the water. Full of\njoy, he shaped the body and the limbs, the head and the eyes; and then he\ncommenced to chant the sacred incantation, the first lines of which are\nas follows:\n\n \u2018From the children at Hawaiki,\n Shake in ecstasies\n Oh, shake in ecstasies\n Oh, Tiki, the Father,\n Tiki, the Seeker,\n Ha, shake in ecstasies....\u2019\n\nAnd so, with the help of the Shimmering Heat and the Echo, the power of\nmultiplying, he gave life to the first woman.\n\nMarikoriko, or Twilight, was the first woman!\n\nMarikoriko, my listener, was not a child of the gods; she was created out\nof the sands of the shore and the sacred Red; she takes her descent from\nthe Shimmering Heat and from the Echo, and she became the first wife of\nTiki, our father.\n\nMany children were born to Tiki and Marikoriko his wife. Their daughter\nwas Hine-kau-ata-ata, the Floating Shadow. And the children of\nHine-kau-ata-ata began their lives as clouds, wandering across the sky.\nThey were light, and flew far away till lost to sight in the distance,\nor they were heavy and did not move and brooded overhead in rain. Then\nit was that Papa-tu-a-nuku, the Earth, lay under the spell of the first\nawakening day.\n\nAmong the many children of Tiki and Marikoriko were the sons the Power\nof Speech and the Power of Growth, who took their sisters to wife, and\nTe-a-io-whaka-tangata, \u2018He who became man\u2019, was born, and he was the\nfather of many children--the Maori children of the world.\n\nThis is the wisdom of Tiki, our father, and Marikoriko his wife, the\nparents of man who peoples the earth. The wisdom of Tiki, our father.\n\nWelcome my guest from the far distance, welcome!\n\nYou give pleasure to my eyes, and in your ears has sounded the wisdom of\nTiki.--Welcome, friends of my guest.\n\nWelcome all!\n\nWelcome!\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHine-nui-te-po has swallowed the world again and Rangi looks down upon\nPapa out of his Eye of Night, the moon, and is slowly unfolding his\nbeautiful garment, which is adorned with the stars--the eyes of the\nbraves who fell in battle.\n\nFiery looks Maru down upon the women who kindle the cooking-fire; Maru\nwas the god of war in Hawaiki, but he was an evil god, full of anger\nand wrath, and from him are descended illness and murder. He had many\nenemies, and at last they killed him, and devoured him; but his spirit\nflew up to Rangi, there to become the fiery and flashing star.\n\nRauriki, the oldest among the women who kindle the cooking-fire, murmurs,\nfor she is old, but she is a woman and murmurs no wisdom; she murmurs\nincantations to the fire that it might listen to Maui, who once brought\nthe fire into the world--to be bright and warm and to cook the food for\nthe hungry and for the guest.\n\nSilent and peaceful is the night. The Great Mother of Nature swallows\nsilently a few old songs and the low-toned voices that sound out of the\nhuts and the whare-puni.\n\nNgawai, Rauriki\u2019s granddaughter now takes the embers to the whare-puni,\nand puts them to the feet of Tiki, to warm and light the house, and\noutside Night is working her grand and lonely wonders, while the old men,\nsquatting around the fire and staring into the flames, narrate of the\nterrors of Hine-nui-te-po.\n\nMusing and wondering thoughts light up the glow of the fire in the faces,\nfire flashes out of the pawa-shell eyes of the old ancestor, and patches\nof light flicker over the group that surrounds the fire, now lighting up\nthe artistic lines of the tattoo in the faces, now again the phantastic\ncarvings on the walls, or suddenly brightening a painted ornament, and\ncovering the rest with impenetrable blackness.\n\nEvery line the light reveals, every colour it displays, gives knowledge:\neach carved image is a part of the history of the people. It is the\nfamily history of the group around the fire, their history painted by the\ngod of the fire upon the black garment of night--and with the fire it\nwill die, swallowed by Hine-nui-te-po. And so in the end all will die,\nthe words, and the speaker, and the listener: they all will at last be\ndevoured by Hine-nui-te-po, who has brought forth Rangi and Papa, who has\nbrought forth Tiki, who made Marikoriko his wife.\n\nOut of the womb of Hine-nui-te-po came the world, and to her all must go\nback--as the fire to the ashes.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nTHE CREATION OF HAWAIKI\n\n\n\u201cHere friend\u201d--so speaks Ngawai--\u201csit beside the old man of my people,\nand listen to the song of the gods, which is living in the mouth of the\nblind Matapo, and know that Truth is dwelling upon his lips. Listen to\nhis words!\u201d\n\n[Illustration: MATAPO, A BLIND TOHUNGA]\n\nAh, these are my words to you, my wanderer, the words of the old Matapo,\nthe oldest of his people, and his eyes are closed and they cannot see\nyou; but they are opened again towards his heart, and what they see your\neyes cannot perceive, for upon those who dwell in the womb of night rest\nhis eyes. Listen.\n\nThe beginning was J-o, the great atua, the god-power, and the world was\nfilled by Te-po-nui, the Great Darkness--ah!--Te-po-nui filled all the\nspace, from the first space to the hundredth, to the thousandth space.\n\nHa, my listener, then was it that the Atua commenced his great song of\ncreation, and out of the Darkness sprang forth Life!\n\nAnd out of the Darkness sprang forth Hine-nui-te-po!\n\nAnd out of the Darkness sprang forth Te Ao, the Light!\n\nHa, my listener, Te-Ao--ha!--Te-Ao gave birth to Rangi! Rangi-nui, the\ngreat Heaven.\n\nAnd again sang the atua his great song of creation, and out of Te-po-nui\nsprang forth Tangaroa, the God of the Oceans!\n\nAnd out of Te-po-nui sprang forth Papa-tu-a-nuku, the far-stretching\nEarth.--\n\nHa, the Earth was created! The Earth, and Rangi, the Heaven.\n\nAh, Rangi-nui, the great Heaven!\n\nRangi took Hine-nui-te-po for his wife, and their son was Ha-nui-o-rangi,\nthe Great Breath of Heaven. And Ha-nui-o-rangi commenced his great\nmovement, and forth sprang Tawhiri-matea, the father of the winds. And\nagain Ha-nui-o-rangi commenced his great movement, and Te-ata-tuhi sprang\nforth, the First Glimmer of Light.\n\nTe-ata-tuhi was a woman, and Rangi took her to wife. Her daughter was Te\nmarama, the Moon, and Rangi spoke full of joy:\n\n\u201cO, woman, Te-ata-tuhi, look upon the beauty of Rangi\u2019s daughter; ha, she\nis his daughter for which he was longing\u201d; and he made her his eye, his\nEye of Night.\n\nLightening his path, he went in search of his son. He found the woman Te\nwera-wera, the heat, and his heart went out to her, so that he took her\nto wife, and Te-Ra was born, Te-Ra, the Sun! Then cried Rangi full of\njoy: \u201cO, woman, Wera-wera, look upon the beauty of Rangi\u2019s son--ha, he is\nhis great son for which he was longing\u201d; and he made him his other eye,\nhis Eye of the Day.\n\nHa, my listener, great now was Rangi\u2019s power, Rangi, the Creator! His\neyes beheld with admiration Papa-tu-a-nuku, the far-stretching earth,\nshine forth out of the Darkness, and she was of great beauty.\n\nAh, she was of great beauty, and Rangi made her his wife that together\nthey might create Hawaiki, and their first son was Rehua. With him were\nborn the rays of light, and he flew high up into the highest heaven,\nwhich he made his dwelling-place. He became the god of the highest\nmountain-peak and of the Locks of Heaven, the Sun-rays, when he stands\nhighest on the heaven; and he became the ancestor and the ariki (Lord)\nover all the spirits and gods in the heavens.\n\nThen Tane was born, and he was the god-power of the masculine sex, and\nthe father of trees and birds. He and his brothers took Papa-tu-a-nuku\nfor their dwelling-place.\n\nThe next son of Rangi and Papa--ha, listen my wanderer--was Tiki, our\nFather, who created Marikoriko, his wife, and became the father of man!\nAh!--\n\nRangi and Papa!--Ah! Rangi looked upon the Far-stretching Earth out of\nhis Eye of Night and admired her beauty; and he looked upon her out of\nhis Eye of Day and his heart was full of joy, so that he spoke:\n\n\u201cO, woman, Papa, nevermore will I be parted from you; together we will be\nthe world; the parents, Rangi and Papa!\u201d\n\nThen their fourth son was born, Rongo: he was the God-power of Good, and\nthe atua of the Tapu and the sacred incantations; he was the creator of\nthe food for man and the wisdom of cooking and the incantations over the\nfood.\n\nTheir fifth son was Tu, the atua of all evil and the god of war.--Ah!----\n\n[Illustration: TANE, THE GOD OF TREES]\n\nAs you have opened your ears to the song of the old man, who is your\nfriend, my listener, so open now your eyes, that they may show you how\nnight presses upon earth, and darkness has swallowed all, for, know, such\nwas the night and the darkness which reigned between heaven and earth,\neverlasting, from the first time to the hundredth time, to the thousandth\ntime--Ah, know, my friend, when the world was still dwelling in Te-po-nui\nthen was it Tangaroa, the God of the Oceans, who had taken Papa-tu-a-nuku\nto wife, and their sons were Tinirau, The Many Hundreds, who founded\nthe Family of the waves which encircle the earth. When Tangaroa had\nperceived Te-ata-tuhi, the First Glimmer of Light, he wandered forth to\nfind the Gate of Day. Ah, far he wandered, far into the last darknesses,\nand farther and farther, to the very end of Te-po-nui; but when he came\nback, then, ha, my listener, then did he find Rangi the ariki over\nPapa-tu-a-nuku.\n\nAh, the Heaven was the ariki over the earth!\n\nFull of rage, Tangaroa fell upon Rangi, and wounded him terribly, so that\nhe could not stand and fell upon Papa, and never could lift himself any\nmore, and no space and no light could come to his sons from this time.\nAh, the sons, whose dwelling-place was upon the earth, they had to live\nin darkness and night--ah!--ha!; but the sons!, ha, but the sons! Their\nhearts filled with the longing for the light, that happiness might grow\nagain; and their hearts filled with the longing for space, that the\npower, living in them, might be born.\n\nHa, the longing in the hearts of the children of Rangi and Papa became\nthe mother of the great incantations which gave them the power to create\nspace again between heaven and earth so that the light could come to them\nlike a wife to all.\n\nAnd the voice of Tu spoke out of the darkness:\n\n\u201cListen, all my brothers, together let us overcome Rangi, and let us kill\nhim, for he gives us no room and covers us with blackness! Let us kill\nRangi!\u201d\n\nBut, my listener, the voice of Tane spoke out of the darkness, and this\nis what he said:\n\n\u201cListen, all my brothers, how can we kill Rangi? Is he not our Father?\nListen, all my brothers, and this is Tane\u2019s word: No, do not let us kill\nhim, but let us search for the incantation to compel our brother Rehua\nand the host of spirits who dwell outside to help us in our great work,\nthat we may lift our Father upon the highest mountains. Let us hold the\nKarakia that we may become sacred for our work to lift Rangi from Papa.\nLet Rangi be far from us, and let us dwell with Papa, our mother.\u201d\n\nHa, these were the words of Tane!--and all the voices out of the darkness\nspoke their consent, and all the voices together chanted the great\nincantations to Rehua and the host of gods and spirits calling upon\nthem to come to their aid. Then, my listener, they commenced the sacred\nKarakia which is held to become strong and unconquerable, all together\nthey chanted this powerful song:\n\n \u201cThe night, the night,\n The day, the day,\n The seeking, the adzing out,\n From the seeking the nothing.\n Their seeking thought also for their mother,\n That man might arise.\n Behold this is the word,\n The largeness, the length,\n The height of their thought,\n To free their mother,\n That man might live--\n This was their counsel.\u201d\n\nHa, Tu now took the sharp-edged stone, and cut the sinews and bands with\nwhich Rangi pressed the earth to his breast, and frightful were the cries\nof the heaven--ah! Then, calling on Rehua, the strength of the sons grew,\nand grew, and grew--ah!, my listener, all their strength--but where was\nthe power that could separate the parents? ah--ah! Rangi the powerful\ncould not be separated from Papa; Tu could not find strength enough, and\nwhere was the strength of Rongo? And the strength of Tiki? Then came\nTane!\n\nAh, Tane!\n\nOpen the eyes of your mind--as you have opened your ears and your eyes.\nOpen the eyes of your mind that they may perceive how Tane separated\nHeaven and Earth. See how he presses the head of his god-power on the\nbreasts of Papa--See his hair grow and take root----ah,--See how his\nbody and his limbs begin to stretch:--high, high above, his feet grow\ninto branches and boughs--See how his power grows--oh, how he grows\nall-powerful into the heaven----Ah, see how his power overcomes the\nstrength of Rangi!\n\n--Ha, he lifts him!\n\nHe lifts the Heaven!\n\nHigher!----\n\nHigher--! Ha, the heaven is high!\n\nAh, Heaven and earth are separated--!\n\nHawaiki is born!\n\nOh, Tane----!\n\nAh, my listener, Rangi and Papa are separated!----\n\nFrom high above Rangi sent down many words of farewell, so that they\nsounded all over the Far-stretching Earth, and many were his songs of\nlove to Papa. Ah, his tears still fall upon Papa--they are the dew of the\nmornings. And Papa sang words of farewell, and her sighs flew up to Rangi\nas white cloud-messengers of love. Ah--.\n\nGreat was the love of the parents, my listener----\n\nGreat was the strength of the children!--\n\nYour ear has received the wisdom of the creation of Hawaiki, the home of\nmy people, the Maoris.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nTHE POI-DANCE\n\n[Illustration: HINE-TE-HAKA]\n\n\nOut of the semi-darkness of the whare-puni a shrill voice is ringing, and\nsoon is accompanied by other voices and by clapping of hands, beating\ntime for a poi-dance.\n\nDiscordantly the first voice pierces the bustle, and laughter there is,\nand moving and shifting, to make room for the dancers, for the girls and\nthe young women.\n\nGraceful figures dressed in piu-pius come forward, coyly and laughing,\nwith whirling of pois[2], taking up their positions, and all is clamour\nof getting ready for an amusement, highly enjoyed by spectators and\ndancers.\n\nLike clock-work hands are clapping all the while; the shrill voice is\ndominating the chorus, and all the old women and the men, squatting\naround in a circle, settle down to an inexhaustible song.\n\nIn two rows stand the dancers, light in their eyes, grace and laughter in\nevery movement. Ngawai is leader, Hine-te-haka, \u201cthe maiden of dance\u201d.\n\nA sharp cry falls from her lips, and is answered by the dull thud of the\npois, caught in the open left hand after being whirled around the head.\n\nFour times whirl the pois through the air, and four times, perfect in\ntime, follows the dull thud, while the song is going on and the clapping\nof hands. Now another sharp cry comes from Ngawai\u2019s lips and rhythmically\nthe bodies of the dancers begin to move: slowly, into graceful positions,\nwhile the dried flax-strings, which form the piu-pius, are clapping\nagainst the naked limbs, and the play of the pois commences. An\nuninterrupted whirling around the heads, around the shoulders, in the\nout-stretched arms, now through the air, before the breasts or behind\nthe backs, beaten again and again with the dull thud upon hand, head,\nshoulder, or floor under the rhythmical movements of the bodies, the soft\nstamping of the bare feet, the slapping of the piu-pius and the clapping\nof hands, ending again in the four times repeated thud in the open hands.\n\nEnjoyment is in the eyes of the spectators, and happiness seems to\nenliven the monotonous song; the clapping of hands sounds joyful, and the\nbosoms heave quicker.\n\nLike wonderful birds flutter and whirl the pois around the heads, musical\nis the rolling movement of the arms, the bendings and turnings of the\nfigures, the crashing of the dry flax-strings of the piu-pius against the\nbodies: precise are the movements, the thuds of the pois sound as if cast\nby a single arm; the rolling, lifting, and stretching, of the arms, the\nmovements of the heads and shoulders, hips and legs, as if from a single\nbody.\n\nQuicker grows the clapping of hands, louder shrieks Ngawai, fiercer\nbecome her movements. She stands opposite the dancers: she leads, and all\nfollow her movements.\n\nA short cry, a hiss, a head thrown back, a wild yell, call forth ever\nnew, ever graceful, ever circling, combinations, bendings, and turnings.\nWhirling, circling, slapping, stamping, becomes the dance; rolling arms,\nback-bending heads, moving hips, and heaving breasts--fiercer yet grow\nNgawai\u2019s shrieks, swifter her movements, undistinguishable the mass of\nthe ever-whirling pois. Full of laughter and grace is every movement of\nthe vast living body of weaving, rolling, and bending, figures; joy is in\nevery face, light in the eyes of all. Like black waves floats the hair\naround the heads, the bosoms heave quicker and quicker, and the breathing\nmingles with the song of the spectators--: a vast, beautiful, ever-moving\nbody is the whole, with its ever-circling pois.\n\nA loud and joyful cry--and all is over, abrupt, with one thud.\n\nIn the sudden silence the dancers flutter about, and settle on the ground\nlike a swarm of birds; loud is the applause, and Ngawai, with laughing\neyes and quick-heaving bosom, stands before us, and drops the little poi\nat our feet.\n\n\nTRADITION\n\nO, listen who will deny the truth of the old gods? Who can deny the truth\nof the Sun-god, Maui?\n\nEveryone is asleep in the whare-puni, asleep, too, is Ngawai.\n\nMurmuringly had Matapo recited how the world was created; deep into the\nnight had he muttered the wisdom known only to himself and a few still\nliving Tohungas, the wisdom of generations of gods and ancestors and\nheroes of Hawaiki. Then he, too, had dropped off to sleep, and everything\nis loneliness and blackness, for Hine-nui-te-po has finished her great\nrepast, and has devoured the world once more. Only the fire splutters now\nand again with flickering life, and answeringly a dim sparkle springs\nforth from the eyes of the old ancestor.\n\nOnce, ha, once the gods were living at Hawaiki; they were the ancestors\nof mankind; they are human beings in the faith of the Maori people,\nheroes, who were the authors of superhuman deeds.\n\nHow is it possible for Maui to fish this great and beautiful land out\nof the ocean? Maui, the hero? But, is not Maui the Sun himself? And is\nit not the Sun who destroys the darkness of night so that the eyes of\nman can see the land--: Te-ika-a-Maui, or Maui\u2019s fish--swimming on the\nendless ocean?--\n\n[Illustration: THE BIRTH OF MAUI AT MAHIKU-RANGI]\n\nAh, in the dark nights, whilst bending over the fire, was it in the\nhearts of the sages and dreamers of generations where these heroes\nwere born; unshakable grew the faith in them, and with the growth of\ngenerations upon generations it became the Truth.--And is it not Truth?\nIs not yonder, with the dawn of the morning, the god commencing his\ngreat daily work again? Is he not preparing to lift out of the ocean of\ndarkness this great and beautiful land again, his fish, Te-ika-a-Maui?\n\n O, who will deny the truth of the old gods?\n Who can deny the truth of the Sun-god, Maui?\n\nTe Ra, the Sun, is the son of Rangi, but Maui is the Sun-god of human\ncreation; he is the binding link; through him alone is it possible for\nman to understand the wonder of the golden Sun.\n\nHine-nui-te-po, the goddess, once devoured Maui, as the Darkness nightly\ndevours the Sun, and now keeps enclosed the world. But even now the Sun\nis wandering through the caves of the lower worlds--Te Po--to receive new\nstrength in its fires, and Hine-nui-te-po is lasting upon the earth, and\nthe hearts of the Maori-people are filled with fear and horror whilst the\nSun is still hidden by the east and Maui, the great hero, is not yet born\nwith him at Mahiku-Rangi.\n\nThe last sparkle of the fire has died away and the pawa-shell eyes of the\nold ancestor are swallowed by the Darkness.\n\n O, who will deny the truth of the old gods?\n Who can deny the truth of the Sun-god,\n\n [Illustration: Maui]\n\n[2] A poi is a small egg-shaped object made of raupo (reed) and dried,\nhanging on a little flax-string.\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\nTHE CREATION OF THE STARS\n\n[Illustration: Tane]\n\n\nTe Ra, the day-eye of Rangi is closing, and sends a last glowing look\nover the peacefully dreaming Moana-rarapa, the Lake of the Glittering\nWater.\n\nSoftly murmurs the lake and reflects the sacred Red with which Tane once\nadorned the heaven, whilst over his floating colours black swans are\ndrifting like dream-thoughts over a beautiful face. Slowly dying away in\nblue, deep blue and pure, is the last breath of day silently departing\ninto the heavens.\n\nA canoe is putting off the shore, and voices of children are heard\nleading it light-hearted with mirth and laughter and splashing of water\nover the lake, which looks clear and glittering green up to the stars.\nSoftly now breathes the air, and the mirror is gone--the day has departed.\n\nMuttering departs Hupene, our old friend, in dread of the darkness; with\nhis mat he is covering our shoulders and he murmurs these words:\n\n[Illustration: TANE SEARCHING FOR THE DWELLING OF THE EVENING STAR AND\nTHE MORNING STAR]\n\n\u201cRemember, while you are watching the stars on the night-mat of Rangi,\nand know, great is the power of the god Tane-Mahuta, and his are the\nstars.\n\nRemember, his are the stars.\u201d--\n\nBright shimmer the stars through the summer night, and the earth breathes\nfreshness and sleep, leading the heart to rest, and it yet filling with\nlonging; but from the heaven descends hope, promising the new day and the\nfuture.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTane once commenced his great wandering to find adornment for his father,\nthe heaven, whom he beheld standing high over Papa, naked by day and\nlonely and cold by night, and he spoke:\n\n\u201cO, father Rangi, my heart is looking upon you in sorrow, for you are\nlonely and cold, and I will go in quest for adornments which shall make\nyou beautiful to the eyes of Papa and her children.\u201d Thereupon he went on\nhis way, and, whilst he was wandering through the ten heavens, he found\nTe-Kura, the Red Colour, and that he took back with him upon the earth.\nHere he rested for seven days and seven nights, and, when his strength\nwas growing again, he commenced his work, and covered the heaven with the\nbeautiful red colour. But behold, when he had finished this great work\nand descended again to earth, he let his eyes wander over the red sky,\nwhich was stretching now over Papa, and he found that this adornment was\nnot worthy of his great father, and full of sorrow he took it away again\nleaving some of it only at Mahiku-rangi, the End of Heaven. He beheld\nnow, when Rangi was closing his great eye, sending it down into the Po,\nor when he called for it again in the mornings so that it burst forth\nout of the Gate of Day, that the beauty of his father at Mahiku-Rangi was\nwonderful, but ever and ever it disappeared by day and by night.\n\nSeven days and seven nights he was watching the dying away and bursting\nforth again of Rangi\u2019s beauty, and then out of his sorrow he sang these\nwords up to his father: \u201cOh, Rangi, still you are cold and dark and\nlonely from the first night, to the second night, to the tenth night,\nwhen your daughter Te-marama ascends again out of the Source of Living\nWater, so that you look down upon Papa silent and sorrowful. What\nadornment can I find for you, that you may be happy and beautiful, and\ngladden the heart of Papa, your loved one?\u201d\n\nAfter he had spoken these words he wandered forth again upon his mighty\nsearch, and all over the world he wandered, and farther and farther still\nhe wandered, till he came to Tawhiti-nui, the Great Distance; and farther\nstill, till at last he came to Te-Po, the Lower World. Here he found\nHine-a-te-ao, the Daughter of the Light; she is the guardian of the Gates\nof the Lower World, and, tired from his long journey, he slept in her\nhouse.\n\nIn the darkness of night he beheld two beautiful stars shining forth;\nthey were the children of Ira, and their names were Lonely South, and\nShore of Heaven, the morning star, and his heart was glad over their\nbeauty, so that his eyes could not sleep, and could not but rest upon\nthem all the night.\n\nIn the morning he called Hine-a-te-ao, and showed her the two beautiful\nstars shimmering forth out of the darkness of the Po, and asked for them,\nfor nothing could be more beautiful he thought as an adornment for his\nFather Rangi. Hine-a-te-ao answered: \u201cGo, son, and take the stars!\u201d And\nagain he pleaded: \u201cOh, Hine, Daughter of the Light, show me the road that\nI may go and take the stars.\u201d And Hine-a-te-ao answered: \u201cO, son, far is\nthe way indeed! Go to the House of Tupu-renga-o-te-Po, the Growing Night:\nhe is the guardian over the two stars, and his house is standing at\nMahiku-rangi. There ask for the two stars, whose names are Toko-meha and\nTe-pae-tai-o-te-rangi; go and take the stars for your father Rangi.\u201d\n\nAfter Tane had rested, and for seven days and seven nights strengthened\nhimself through powerful incantations and many Karakias, he went on his\nway to Mahiku-rangi, to the House of the Guardian of the Stars, Tupu.\n\n[Illustration: TE-ATUA-TOKO-TANE-MAHUTA.]\n\nWhen at last he had found Tupu, he pictured the sorrows and the nakedness\nof his father, and asked him to give the beautiful stars to Rangi, and\nTupu answered: \u201cOh, Tane, son of Rangi and Papa, the stars which you\nbehold shimmering yonder are the sacred holders of the world; they are\nHira-utu, Fish by the Land, Hira-tai, Fish of the Sea; Parinuku, Cliff by\nthe Earth, and Pari-rangi, Cliff of the Heavens. Yes, it is my wish that\nyou may adorn Rangi with yonder stars.\u201d And he gave him the Four Sacred\nHolders of the World, the stars of the four points of the compass,\nand then he gave him the five stars, Ao-tahi, Puaka and Tuku-rua,\nTama-re-reti and Te-waka-a-tama-rereti.\n\nAll these stars Tane took away with him and fastened the four sacred\nstars in the four corners of Rangi; with the other five he formed a cross\nin the South.\n\nMany more stars brought Tupu, and Tane distributed them over Rangi from\nthe summit of the mountains whilst still the Sun was standing high in the\nheavens.\n\nAnd again sorrow filled his heart when his eyes looked upon his work, for\nagain he found that the adornment was not worthy of his father Rangi.\n\nBut at last he had finished his labour and that was about the time when\nthe Sun was again entering the Gate of Night. Resting upon Papa, he\nwatched the beautiful sacred red appear again at Mahiku-rangi, and, when\nwith the departing sun darkness again filled the world, his wandering\neyes perceived how star upon star commenced to live and shine forth, till\nat last Rangi in wonderful beauty was stretching over Papa, and his heart\nwas full of joy and happiness, and he sang: \u201cO, father Rangi, your beauty\nis indescribable; in truth you are now the ariki of Papa, and all her\nchildren will love you!\u201d\n\nThus had spoken the old friend on the shores of the glittering\nMoana-rarapa.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nV\n\nTHE CHANT OF RANGI-NUI\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nA silent, shimmering ocean of stars encircles the Earth: Rangi in his\nindescribable beauty.\n\nAh, the silent night sends fear into the hearts of the children of Tiki,\nand they murmur incantations, for Makutu, the terrible witchcraft, and\nthe host of evil spirits, are wandering upon earth beneath the glittering\nbeauty of Tane-Mahuta\u2019s stars.\n\nOf half-forgotten wisdom the old friend had murmured into the listening\near of the guest, while the people of his tribe had covered their heads\nand closed their ears; for dangerous it is to listen unto the wisdom:\n\n\u201cTen are the heavens who are stretching over Papa, and they together are\nRangi\u201d--so had spoken the old friend.\n\nThe lowest heaven is Tawhiri-matea, the dwelling-place of the god of the\nwinds. It is the heaven of the Floating Air above the earth, and it is\nthe heaven which gives birth to the sacred red at Mahiku-rangi.\n\nEach heaven is divided from the next by a transparent roof, and so\ndivided from the first is the second heaven, which forms the path for the\nSun and the Moon, and which is the dwelling-place of the heat of the day.\n\nThe third heaven is the place for the lakes and the waters. The God of\nWinds is often rushing over them from one end of the heavens to the\nother, and that makes the waters spray and splash, and causes them to\nfall as rain down upon earth. Rehua once, in terrible wrath, stamped upon\nthe bottom of this heaven so that it broke, and all the waters rushed\ndown upon the earth as a Deluge.\n\nIn these three heavens is Maru, the governing god; from here it is that\nhe inspires the children of earth with great deeds, that the spirits of\nthe slain braves may live here as stars on the heavens of Maru, the God\nof War.\n\nThe fourth heaven is Tawhaki, and from this heaven are the spirits of man\nsent down upon Earth to enter there into the children, new-born to life.\n\n[Illustration: NGAWAI, A MAORI CHIEFTAINESS]\n\nThe next heaven is the home of the lower and lesser gods, who are the\nslaves of the gods who live in the highest heavens.\n\nThe sixth heaven is the dwelling-place of Tawhaki, and it is from here\nthat he governs the host of inferior gods and atuas who work and shape,\nand help and hinder, the destinies of Tiki\u2019s children. To these three\nheavens of Tawhaki are directed most incantations and songs and Karakias\nof the people; high up into these three heavens also reaches the power of\nthe Tohungas of great Mana, and their incantations often compel the gods\nto work good or evil according to the will of the Tohunga.\n\nOver the next heavens is Rehua the ariki.\n\nRehua is the god of food; therefore is he the ariki over the gods, and\nmany were his victories over Maru, the God of War, for many were the\nspirits of the slain heroes who were wandering up to the heavens of Maru,\nthere to become stars, and who changed their mind and followed the call\nof the god Rehua, for Rehua is the God of Food. Truly, he is a powerful\ngod!\n\nIt is in the seventh heaven that the spirits of men are created: here\nthey commence their lives, which they continue in the next heaven, their\nwonderful dwelling-place, Aukumea, the paradise of the spirits before\nthey descend into the forms of men.\n\nIn the next heaven live the host of the atuas, the working-power of the\ngreat gods who are living in Tuwarea, the tenth heaven, and the sacred\nedifice of the highest gods.\n\nRehua is the commanding god in Tuwarea.\n\nAll the heavens together are Rangi, a son of Te-Po-nui, the Great Night.\nThus had spoken the old friend.\n\nThe endless beauty of the \u201cshimmering vestment\u201d is the birthplace of\nthe host of spirits, and the abode of the gods, and it is fearful for\nman when their spirits follow their longing eyes toward the glittering\nGrandness, trying to penetrate Hine-nui-te-po.\n\nMaui once entered Hine-nui-te-po, trying to penetrate her, so that she\nmight be killed and man may live for ever; but that was the death of\nMaui. With the gods and spirits communicates the Tohunga, and his wisdom\nrenders him Tapu. Far may his thoughts wander when his eyes are closed\nand opened again toward the wisdom, which has been handed down from the\nwhare-kura since the time of Te Kore--the Nothing; and all-powerful,\ndefeating the gods themselves may his incantations and Karakias be when\nhe, squatting at the sacred place, before his carved god-stick, murmurs\nthe great incantation Waka-rawhiti, the Mouth of the East. Ha, the power\nof it grows like the Sun out of the darkness, and conquers all but\nHine-nui-te-po, who cannot be conquered--but night and loneliness are\ndangerous to all.\n\nGolden dawns the east, and with the sacred red at Mahiku-rangi appears\nNgawai.\n\nShe comes toward the shores of the lake with laughing eyes, and speaks:\n\n\u201cWhereto wander the thoughts of my friend? His eyes are looking into the\ndistance, but they can see nothing, for the distance is hidden by the\nmorning-mist.\u201d\n\nThe eyes, Ngawai, follow the thoughts into the past of your people, and\nshe also is hidden to me, and my mind is pondering over the little wisdom\nI received, wisdom out of the whare-kura.\n\nNgawai smiles, for not always does the thought of the gods and\nspirits inspire terror. Descent from the great ariki and from the\nRangatira-tohunga gives security to man; and out of Ngawai\u2019s eyes it\nflashes: man is powerful in spite of the gods. \u201cDo not let your mind\ndwell with the deeds of the gods and the heroes of my people, but open\nyour heart to the incantations which have soft power over the hearts of\nmen.\u201d\n\nTell me, Ngawai, of Tane, who adorned his father Rangi so beautifully;\ntell me, my friend, of his love to Papa.\n\n\u201cCome into the shadow of the trees, my friend, the shadow of\nTane-mahuta\u2019s children, while I will tell you of his love to Papa.\n\nCome into the shadow of Tane-mahuta.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nVI\n\nTANE--THE CREATION OF NATURE\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\u201cThe godpower of Tane lifted his father Rangi high above the\nmountains--oh, high above the mountains, clad in snow he lifted him with\nthe help of the gods who dwelled above the earth.\n\nAh, bare now was Rangi and naked--oh, he was beautiful and vast, but\nlonely and bare, and Tane adorned him with the stars; oh, then was Rangi\nvery beautiful indeed!\n\nFrom his great work Tane was resting upon earth while his eyes were\nwandering over his mother, and his heart grew sad again, for he beheld\nthat she lay naked under the eyes of Rangi and the gods.\n\nAh, his love for his mother was great, and he pressed his head to her\nbosom and spoke: \u201cOh, mother, I will not that you sorrow any more over\nyour nakedness for I will adorn you with great beauty; do not sorrow any\nlonger, oh mother, Papa.\u201d\n\nThereupon he went into the Great Distance, and became the father of the\nlakes, the Water of the Many Faces; and many of these glittering faces he\ndistributed over Papa. Faces, smiling at Rangi by day, and blushing up to\nhim at every new morning--look my good friend, how the Moana-Rarapa is\nreflecting the beauty of Mahiku-rangi whilst Rangi is laughing down upon\nPapa out of his Eye of Day: ah, are they not lovers?\n\nBut again Tane wandered into the Great Distance, till he found the\nGentle Noise of Air; and taking her to wife, he founded the family of\nthe Multitude of Trees. Their sons were the Totara-tree, the Manuka,\nthe Rimu, and the Kauri-tree: ah, look at the tree under which we are\nresting; see the majestic beauty of the Kauri, the child of Tane! And\ntheir daughters were the Kahiku, and the creeper and the vines.\n\n[Illustration: TANE AND THE TREES]\n\nWhilst the Multitude of Trees were growing up into maturity, Tane rested\nnot till he found the two sisters, the Wanderer in the Sky, and the\nWanderer in the Brook, and they gave him his children, the birds.\n\nThere, friend, do you hear the sweet sounds? There?--there now;\neverywhere--ah, it is the black Tui; and there, do you hear the gentle\nnoise and soft clapping of wings over our heads? It is the folk of the\nKererus, the wild-doves; ha, listen to their happiness! Come farther into\nthe green shade, my good friend, that your heart may be filled with the\nbeauty of Tane.\n\nYes, my friend, when Tane had founded these families, then he took them\nback to her who was still lying lonely and naked, and now he began his\ngreat work. Ah, let us wander under the shade of Tane, that your eyes\nmay see how the Multitude of Trees are covering Papa like a beautiful\ngarment, spreading shades and giving happiness to the children of Tiki;\nperceive in the wonderful garment the great god-power of Tane-mahuta.\n\nClose your eyes, my good friend, that Ngawai may show to your mind the\npath upon which it may perceive how Tane distributed the multitude of his\nchildren over the earth. Ah,--ha,--can you perceive how he puts their\nfeet into the ground? Ha, ha! They will not stand! They lift their heads\nup to Rangi and cry, and will go whither it pleases them; ha, ha, my\nfriend, they are rebellious, and fight with each other, and run away,\nfor they do not like to stand and grow, and give garment and coolness to\nPapa, ha, ha!\n\nAh, can you perceive how Tane looks upon his work of the first day, and\nsees the rebellion? Can you perceive his rage, the terrible rage of the\ngod?--ha, ha!\n\nAh, he is wending his way back, tearing his children out of the ground\nand throwing them down, tearing and throwing, and then, when the sacred\ncolour appeared again at Mahiku-rangi, he began his great work over\nagain! Ha, ha, my friend, ha, ha, can you perceive how he began his work?\nListen: he took his children and put them into the ground again, but,\nha, ha, oh, he put their heads now into the ground, so that they must\nstand upright and stretch their feet up to Rangi; ha, ha, could they move\nnow?--and fight?--and run away? Ah--their hair commenced to grow into\nthe earth and took root, and their mouth drank the dew--the tears of\nRangi for Papa--and sent it up into the limbs and feet as strength and\nlife, and the feet grew long and branched off and covered themselves with\nleaves. Ha, my good friend!\n\nAh, my good friend, when Tane saw his children now, then came joy to his\nheart, and all over Papa he planted his children, and they grew, and took\nthe earth to their mother.\n\nOh, beautifully now was Papa dressed in her vast garment, and greater\nstill grew the love of Rangi, and he sent the rays of his Eye of Day down\nupon her, and created the flowers.\n\nO, my friend, follow Ngawai into the darkness and the pleasures of\nTane-mahuta\u2019s creation; look, all the life of the forests and all the\nlife in the air is his, ah, he is the great friend of man, he is the\ngod-power of Nature.\n\nTane, the great son of Rangi.\n\nTane, who loved Papa.\n\nTane, the friend of man.\u201d\n\nA soft murmuring was Ngawai\u2019s voice, murmuring to the leaves of the\ntrees; murmuring of that what the birds had told her; murmuring to the\nspirits of the forest, who all are children of Tane-mahuta.\n\n\n\n\nVII\n\nTHE FIGHT OF NIGHT AND DAY.\n\n\n[Illustration: TRADITION.]\n\nMaui is the hero of the Maori people: he is the God of the Sun. He\nis Maui-roto, the Night-sun, the hero of the Lower World; and he is\nMaui-waho, the Day-sun, the hero of the light.\n\nMaui-roto, living in the Lower World, created the Earth, which has,\nlike the Sun, a body of granite; and Maui-waho then nourishes her with\nhis blood, which he streams down upon her as the red Evening-glow. This\nEvening-glow, covering the earth, does not die away with the Sun, but\nit cools and forms a new layer upon Earth, and thus, with layer upon\nlayer of Evening-glows, he nourishes his child. It is upon the mountain\nTongariro that this radiance lives most brilliant and long, and that is\nthe reason why Tongariro became the possessor of the highest Tapu, the\nsacred mountain of the Maori people.\n\nHine-nui-te-po is the Goddess of Night, and the whole world is her\npataka (storehouse). She has commanded her slaves that, when a man came,\ncrawling with his head forward, they should let him go into her pataka\nand not kill him, for he would be an atua and of great tapu; but should\nthey perceive a man standing upright in his canoe, they should take him\nand put him to death.\n\nNow a man came--it was Maui-potiki (Maui the infant), the Morning Sun;\nand he came crawling into the world, the pataka of Hine-nui-te-po. Head\nforemost he came, and, therefore, the slaves, seeing that he was an atua,\nlet him into the world unmolested. But Maui-potiki ascends and ascends\nup to the very high, of the mid-day, and in his canoe he commences his\ndescent. Lower and lower he went, standing upright in his canoe, and was\nat last seen by the slaves of Hine-nui-te-po. Out of Maui-potiki, the\nMorning Sun, has grown Maui-mua, the Evening Sun, and he now is captured\nby the slaves and pressed to death by Hine-nui-te-po.\n\nThe night swallows the evening.\n\nBut Maui-potiki, as Morning Sun takes revenge, for he steals off the\nsacred fire of his ancestress Mahuika; he returns to the world and puts\nfire to Hine-nui-te-po.\n\nThe night is burnt to death by the dawn of the morning.\n\n[Illustration: MAUI ENTERS HINE-NUI-TE-PO\u2019S PATAKA]\n\n\n\n\nVIII\n\nMAUI--THE CREATION OF NEW ZEALAND\n\n\n[Illustration: MAUI]\n\nOver the sky shoot the first golden rays of the Sun whilst our canoe is\ngliding up-river and Honewaka is singing:\n\n \u201cWho is paddling my canoe along the river?\n It is Hine, who takes my heart away from me!\n O Rangi, send down thy dark clouds of rain,\n That my dear love may not depart from me!--\n O, I wish the water were heaped into waves\n So my dear one will not go in haste from me.\u201d\n\nHonewaka is leader; standing in the middle of the canoe, in his hand the\ngreenstone-mere, he is chanting mighty songs of encouragement to the\noarsmen, and these are repeated by them whilst paddling to the music, and\nthe canoe glides joyfully under chanting and merrymaking, between the\ncliffs with the overhanging tree-ferns and ratas.\n\nHonewaka is a leader of great mana; he knows every ripple in the river,\nand he knows men. He knows where the canoe glides onward whilst the\nspirits of his men are not in the paddles, and he knows how to incite\ntheir spirits by powerful songs so that, when the rapids are fighting\ntheir strongest, the spirits of men uniting to their greatest strength in\nthe paddles will be victorious.\n\nThere rushes a rapid.\n\nThe eyes of the leader commence to roll; his weapon shakes; his breath is\nshort, as he sings:\n\n\u201cWho is paddling my canoe along the river?\u201d--and the crew, putting force\ninto the paddles, answer: \u201cIt is Hine, who takes my heart away from me!\u201d\n\nThe water rushes and foams around the canoe, and the singing, the chorus,\nand the paddling, follow the quick time-beating mere: quicker and quicker.\n\nHonewaka, with rolling eye, makes a sudden bound, shouting:\n\n\u201cO, she is beautiful--beautiful!\u201d--and half the crew changes the paddle\nwith the strong and elastic tokos (punting-sticks)--one voice crying:\n\u201cO, Hone, tickle her!\u201d The crew laughs, but with the jest seems to come\nsudden life into the paddles, greatly assisted by the force of the\nholding and bending tokos.\n\nHone, excited now and with furious gestures, shouts:\n\n\u201cO Rangi, send down thy dark clouds of rain,\u201d Quicker and quicker,\nexcited by Hone\u2019s singing, quicker and quicker pull the paddles, and\namidst the shouting chorus, under the force of the powerful shifting and\nbending tokos, battles the canoe through the rapid.\n\nNow the point is reached where the strength of the rushing waters is\ngreatest, and the canoe will not move. Honewaka with greatest excitement\ncries:\n\n\u201cO, she is tall like the rata.\u201d\n\nThe crew, answering wildly: \u201cIt is Hine, who paddles my heart away with\nher.\u201d\n\nHone: \u201cO, she is lithe like the toe-toe.\u201d\n\nCrew: \u201cO, Rangi, send down thy dark clouds of rain.\u201d\n\nThe spirits of the men are roused, and the roaring rush of the rapid\nbecomes harmless under the steady living power of the paddles and the\nmighty pulling of the bending and trembling tokos. Into the silent,\nreflecting calmness of the higher water-reach the canoe suddenly shoots.\n\nNgawai, sitting in the prow, folds her arms over her paddle, and looks\nlistlessly in the trembling and rushing waters, and smiles. Now the\nbeautiful calm of the silent reach is gained; and the voice of Honewaka\nis low, mingling with the distant rolling of the rapid, as he narrates\nthe story of the Taniwha, who lives in the caves of the rapid, and who\nhas swallowed many a brave, when his song was not powerful enough or was\ndispleasing to the Taniwha (water-monster). Then she broke the canoes on\nthe large stones and took the strong men and beautiful women into her\ndark cave for food. Disdainfully looks Ngawai back, for now the battle is\nwon, and women despise the conquered foe, be it man or spirit.\n\nGreat is the power of the Spirits who live in the image of a beautiful\nwoman; greater is the power of the spirits awakened by incantations to\nthe gods; and the power of man lies in the incantations which capture the\ngods into their weapon--but twice powerful is such a weapon when used in\nthe service of a beautiful woman.\n\nThe distant rolling of the rapid now sounds like happy laughter of\nbeautiful women far away over the water.\n\n\u201cHaere-mai, me o tatou mate\u201d comes in the evening the wailing welcome\nfrom the Maori pa on the cliffs.\n\n\u201cLong is it, friend, since a man of your colour came to me, a great\nTohunga-pakeha (white priest), and he took great pains to teach me the\nwords of his Truth.\n\nThe words of his god.\n\nI was young then, and Takakopiri, who was then so old that he could\nremember Te Repo-repo, the large war-canoe, growing still as a tree in\nthe forest, had given to me the wisdom of the ancient. It was given to\nhim by his grandfather, the Tohunga, Te-puha-o-te Rangi, whose mana\nwas so great that people, saluting him, rubbed noses only against his\nknee--he was a great Rangatira.\n\nLong and marked with many teeth was the waka-paparanga-rakau, the board,\nrecording the ancestors of Te-puha-o-te Rangi, leading back from ancestor\nto ancestor to Maui, who came from Hawaiki and who is the father of this\nland, which is called Te-ika-a-maui, or Maui\u2019s fish; and leading still\nfurther, up to the gods.\n\nThe wisdom, my listener, is born at Hawaiki.\n\nMany a time died the moon, my friend, and was born again out of the\nLiving Fountain of Tane Mahuta, while I was asking the words of the book.\n\nYes, beautiful is the Truth!--\n\nBut endless to count since then are the Floods who came down the river\nwhen his great Father, the mountain Ruapehu, shook off his white garment\nof snow, and my flesh has dried to the bones. Yes, friend, I loved the\nTruth of the white Tohunga; but she was not like a woman to me: she gave\nme no offspring.\n\nAh, the multitude of voices of the past are in my heart, and my\nhands can touch the spirits of my ancestors, as they can touch my\nwaka-paparanga-rakau; and they come and feed me with joy, like children\nfeed the aged, and my heart is glowing with the power of my ancestors--of\nMaui the Strong.\n\nAh! his great power attempted his greatest deed: to take the heart of\nHine-nui-te-po, that man may live for ever; but his incantations were\novercome by the Mother of All, and she swallowed him, as she swallows\nall--Maui-i-tiki-tiki-a-taranga.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: A TOHUNGA]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nTE IKA A MAUI\n\nListen:\n\nTaranga was his mother, but--ah, for Tama-nui-ki-te Rangi! ah, for\nTama-nui-ki-te Rangi, what would have become of Maui? But a prey of the\nbirds of the sea, ah! Tama found a bundle of jellyfish and sea-kelps\non the shore, and the sea-birds were collecting around it fighting and\nscreaming; so he went, and, stripping the fish and sea-kelps, he saw that\nthey were covering and enclosing a child--Maui-potiki.\n\nAh, behold Maui-potiki, Maui, the infant, reared and fashioned by the\nfish and the weeds and the waves, by storms and gales of the rolling\nsea--ah, but for Tama-nui-ki-te Rangi, what would have become of Maui,\nalone on the shore? What but a prey of the sea-birds?\n\nMaui-potiki!\n\nAh, Listen:\n\nBefore his time Maui was born, and Taranga, his mother, who gave birth\nto him on the border of the sea, knew that he could not live; therefore\nshe cut her hair, and, wrapping it around him, she threw him into the\nsurf of the sea--ah. She sang many incantations which have power over the\nevil spirits; for know, my listener, they are watching for the children\nwho are born to life, before their life is ripe. They try to enter the\nbody and fill the departing spirit of the child with hatred for man--for\nthe departing spirit will never know and receive the joys of man; and\ntherefore, friend, the dead-born children form the multitude of evil\nspirits.\n\nAh, great were Taranga\u2019s incantations, but what would have become of\nMaui but for the love of Tangaroa? Tangaroa, the god of the oceans! His\nare the waves, and they rolled and rocked the child to sleep, and they\nfashioned him and gave him strength; and they took possession of him\nand gave him the power of the sea and the wisdom of the sea--their great\nincantations which unite heaven and earth; and they gave him the terrible\nwitchcraft of the sea.\n\nThen, rolling him gently on the sand of the beach, the jellyfish robed\nhim, and the seaweeds--ah, my listener!\n\nTama-nui-ki-te Rangi became his father, and he lived with him till he\ngrew into manhood. Many were his deeds, and great was his cunning: he\nlearned powerful incantations, and he learned how to take the shape of\nthe birds.\n\nAt last a great longing for his parents and his brothers grew in his\nheart, and he set out to seek them, for his heart was longing for them.\nHe wandered and wandered toward the Edge of the Ascending Sun, and many\ndays more he wandered, till he came to the great whare-puni; and all the\npeople were there, and full of enjoyment and happiness.\n\nHe saw a woman who was counting her sons:\n\n \u201cMaui-i-mua--my eldest;\n Maui-i-roto--my second-born;\n Maui-i-taha--my third son; and\n Maui-i-pai--my other son;\u201d\n\nand, perceiving Maui-potiki, she demanded: \u201cWhom do I see among my\nchildren?\u201d\n\nMaui, assuming before her eyes the form of a pigeon, flew upon the\nforehead of Rangi, whose carved image supported the house, and, sitting\nthere, he spoke: \u201cIf you are Taranga, my mother, then know, that I am\nMaui-potiki, your youngest son.\u201d\n\nHa! great was the wisdom given him by Tangaroa, and great was his beauty\nand strength, fashioned by the storms of the sea, so that, when he took\nthe form of man again, his mother saw his great beauty and she believed\nin him, and knew that he was her son; and she spoke:\n\n\u201cDo you come from the North?\u201d; and Maui answered: \u201cNo.\u201d\n\nAnd again she asked: \u201cDo you come from the South?\u201d Maui again answered:\n\u201cNo.\u201d\n\nAnd she asked again: \u201cDo you come from the West?\u201d Maui again answered:\n\u201cNo.\u201d\n\nAnd she spoke again: \u201cDo you come from the East?\u201d--and again Maui\nanswered: \u201cNo.\u201d\n\nShe said: \u201cDo you come on the waves of the sea?\u201d--and Maui spoke: \u201cThe\nwaves of the sea rolled me.\u201d\n\nAnd she said: \u201cDo you come on the waves of the wind?\u201d--and Maui said\n\u201cYes!\u201d\n\nThen Taranga cried: \u201cIt is true! He is the youngest son to whom I gave\nbirth, and cast his body into the sea because his life was not ripe. He\nis here again; he is alive; it is true, it is true, it is true! He is my\nson; he is Maui-i-tiki-tiki-a-taranga!\u201d\n\nAh, listen, my friend to Maui; Maui, my ancestor!\n\nThree times he slept in the house of his mother, but every morning when\nhe awoke he found his mother had disappeared before day-break.\n\nThe next night, when Taranga had come again to sleep with her sons, he\nwaited till all were asleep, and then he closed every hole and rent\nthrough which light could come into the house, and put away Taranga\u2019s\nfeather-garment and belt, that she might not be able to go away again. In\nthe darkness now Taranga slept till the Sun was standing high, and she\ncried and searched for her garment and belt. Not finding them she covered\nherself with an old mat, and ran to a tuft of reeds which grew near the\nhouse, and disappeared beneath it.\n\nMaui followed her, and, lifting the tuft, he found that it covered the\nentrance to a cave.\n\n[Illustration: MAUI CHANTING INCANTATIONS]\n\nQuickly now he changed himself into a pigeon, and, binding the white belt\nof his mother around his neck and her black feather-garment before his\nbreast, he flew to the entrance of the cave, and, entering it, he flew\nand flew and flew through the long and dark cave till he saw at last\nthe people of another world. Thither he flew, and rested upon a large\ntree. Sitting there, he perceived that his mother and father were among\nthe people, and he threw down two berries, hitting both, his mother and\nMakea-tu-tara his father. They thought the berries had fallen from the\ntree, and took no heed; but Maui threw and hit them again, and then\nagain. At last all saw the pigeon, and they began to throw stones, to\nkill it; but they could not hit Maui until at length he wanted them to,\nand then he fluttered down to the feet of his father. The people now\nsprang forward to kill the pigeon, but Maui quickly changed into a man\nagain, so that they were struck with fear, and looked frightened into his\nstaring red eyes: they were as red as if they were painted with kokowai.\n\nAh, my listener, Taranga, seeing her son, chanted the great Song of\nWelcome of the people of Hawaiki; and then, staring far into the\ndistance, she sang the incantations to the gods who record the past,\nand with their help she narrated to the people all that had taken place\nsince Maui\u2019s birth, and the people wondered, and believed that Maui was\nTaranga\u2019s son--Maui-i-tiki-tiki-a-taranga.\n\nAnd from that time, Maui lived with his people for time, and time, and\ntime.\n\nAt last, Maui, full of knowledge and cunning, wished for a weapon, so\nthat he might perform great deeds that no other men could do. He wished\nfor a sacred weapon, and he held many Karakias to the gods whose abode is\nthe tools of the warrior.\n\nOne day he asked the people who brought food every day to\nMuri-Rangi-whenua, his grandfather, and said: \u201cGive me the food that\nI may take it to Muri-Rangi-whenua, for is he not a sacred man?\u201d And\nthey gave it to him, and he carried it away; but did not give it to his\nancestor. Many were the days that passed since he took the food away; but\nhe did not give it to the old man, whose cries became louder and louder,\nfor he was very old and hungry.\n\nAt last the spirit of his life took his abode in the jawbone, and,\ndeparting from there to be swallowed by Hine-nui-te-po, he left the\njawbone--as his last resting-place, tapu (sacred)--behind him.\n\nAh, behold now, my stranger, how, taking the sacred jawbone of\nMuri-Rangi-whenua, he became the possessor of his powerful weapon. And\ntruly wonderful deeds did he perform with his sacred weapon. Is not all\nthis land its prey--this land, Te-ika-a-Maui? Look how he wanders till he\nreaches a place on the river at Hawaiki--look how he does not touch any\nfood--look how he distributes the great tapu over the place, how he makes\nit sacred to the most powerful gods only, and--look, ah, look how he\nforms the jawbone of Muri-Rangi-whenua into a beautiful fish-hook; how he\nadorns it with carvings, and how its eyes of pawa-shell, flash fire into\nthe world! Ha, look, my friend, how he, with great cunning, fashions the\nteeth into barbs! Ah, see him giving to his weapon the great name of his\nancestor, Muri-Rangi-whenua.\n\nHa, now he held the great Karakia over his fish-hook, making it sacred\nas an abode for the mightiest gods; and, hiding it in his belt, he went\nback to his brothers, and he watched them trying to catch fish; but could\nnever land them, for their hooks had no barbs. He said laughingly: \u201cO,\nbrothers, let us together go upon the sea to find out who may catch the\nlargest fish.\u201d\n\nBut his brothers were afraid of Maui and his cunning and witchcraft: they\ndid not like him in the canoe, and therefore they left so early next\nmorning that Maui had to stay behind.\n\nWhen Maui awoke and found his brothers gone, he laughed, and changed\nhimself into the little bird, Ti-waka-waka, and flew out upon the sea.\nWhen he had reached the canoe he set himself upon the prow, and began to\ntwitter and sing.\n\nThen his brothers knew him, and cried: \u201cIt is Maui, oh, it is Maui, who\nhas come!\u201d--and Maui, flying around the canoe, twittered: \u201cYes, brothers,\nit is Maui, it is Maui, who has come, Maui, Maui!\u201d Then, throwing off all\nhis feathers one by one, he took the form of man again, and spoke: \u201cHa,\nmy brothers, now you shall see how Maui catches his large fish, and you\nshall not know its name! But let us go further out upon the sea--there,\nwhere the sea is deep, there is Maui\u2019s fishing-ground.\u201d His brothers now\npaddled and paddled, till at last they said: \u201cTruly Maui, this must be\nyour fishing-ground, for we can see Hawaiki no more.\u201d But Maui answered:\n\u201cNo, no,--let us go further out--where there is no more end to the sea.\u201d\n\nAt last they came to a place in the middle of the ocean, and Maui\nspoke: \u201cEh-hu, my brothers, this is Maui\u2019s fishing-ground, the great\nbattle-field for his fish-hook, Muri-Rangi-whenua.\u201d\n\nNow he took his fish-hook with great care, so that his brothers might not\nsee the barbs, and asked them to give him some of their bait; but they\nlaughed, and cried: \u201cNo, no; mighty Maui, show us your big fish, the fish\nwe do not know--the fish you catch without bait!--ho, ho, the great fish\nof Maui!\u201d\n\nHa, ha, my friend.\n\nBut now, in great rage, Maui tore half his hair out, and, soaking it with\nhis blood, he baited his hook with it. Then he threw his line far, far\nout into the sea, and began to chant this great incantation:\n\n \u201cBlow gently from the wakarua,\n Blow gently from the mawaki\n My line, let it pull straight,\n My line, let it pull strong;\n It has caught,\n It has come.\n The land is gained.\n The fish is in the hand--\n The fish long waited for,\n The boast of Maui,\n His great haul,\n For which he went to sea,\n His boast, it is caught!\u201d\n\nHa, see how his fish has swallowed the hook! Ha, see how his line\nstraightens; see how Maui pulls and pulls with all his mighty strength!\nSee, how his strength presses the canoe under water! Ha, listen how his\nbrothers cry and wail; ha, ha, listen! \u201cMaui, Maui, let go; let your fish\ngo; oh, let go, let go, Maui!\u201d Ha, ha, see how Maui pulls, and pulls, and\npulls; see him pulling for three moons! Ha, listen how he shouts to his\nbrothers: \u201cWhat Maui has got in his hands he cannot let go again!\u201d\n\nHearken now to his incantations to the gods who make heavy things\nlight--ah, see him gathering together all his mighty strength, ah, see\nhim pull, see him pull! Ah, friend, the sea foams, the sea thunders, the\nsea storms--ha, oh see, ah--ha, behold the fish of Maui, Maui\u2019s fish\nswimming upon the surface of the sea--Maui\u2019s fish--Ha, friend, it is this\nland! It is Te-ika-a-Maui.--Aotea-roa, this land.--Ah, behold the wisdom\nof my ancestors: how Maui\u2019s hook caught the house of the old Tonga-nui on\nthe top of Tongariro, and pulled all this beautiful land out of the sea,\nTe-ika-a-Maui.\n\n\u201cOpen now your throats that are still hoarse and tired from crying, my\nbrothers, and tell me the name of my fish\u201d: so spoke Maui boastingly; but\nthey could not give the name of the fish, and Maui said full of pride:\n\u201cIt is Te-ika-a-Maui!\u201d\n\nThe canoe was now lying on the mountains at Hiku rangi, and Maui\u2019s\nbrothers took their weapons and sprang forth, and wounded and killed the\nfish, and, ah, my friend, from that time are the hills and the valleys\nand the mountains: they are the foot-prints of the brothers who did not\nfollow Maui\u2019s bidding that they should wait till he had made offering to\nthe gods that they might regard his catch with favour, and that his fish\nmight retain its beautiful smooth surface for ever.\n\n[Illustration: MAUI FISHING NEW ZEALAND OUT OF THE OCEAN]\n\nNo, they did not follow Maui\u2019s advice. Maui, our\nancestor----Ah----(_murmuring very low_): Maui-i-tiki-tiki-a-Taranga----\n\nAh,----(_and lower still_): Angi, angi ki te wakarua----Angi, angi\nki-te-ma-wa-ki----Tuku----aho----to----\n\n Respect demands sleep.\n Tapu is the sleep of the very aged.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nIX\n\nMAHUIKA\n\n[Illustration: TRADITION]\n\n\nThe Gods and the heroes of the Maori people are personifications of\nNature and her elemental powers: through the forms and doings of these\ngods and heroes alone could they understand Nature--night and light,\ncloud and lightning, sun and ocean.\n\nThe personalities and deeds of these heroes were human translations of\nthe unfathomable workings of Nature and the character of the elements:\nthe winter became the mother of the summer, but the winter has to devour\nhis child again; the night kills the evening, but the morning kills the\nnight through its fire. The moon is slowly eaten by her enemies, and must\ndescend to the dead that she may be born anew out of the world of death;\nthe gods of the lower world devour the dead that they may be cleaned\nand come to life again in the Reinga. The sun alone is wandering daily\nthrough the heavens, and nightly through the world of darkness, with\nnever diminished brilliancy; and this phantasy gave birth to the Sun-god\nMaui, the great hero of the Maori people.\n\nTaranga, the goddess of the Night-sun, is his mother, but\nTama-nui-ki-te-Rangi, Great Son of Heaven, lifts him as a child,\nMaui-potiki, out of the ocean upon which he is swimming, and rears him\ninto manhood. With him Maui learns to use his great wisdom, given to him\nby the sea--his Sun-wisdom. He learns how to assume the form of birds, to\nthrow spears, to cast fishing lines, for birds, spears, fishing-lines,\nare the wisdom of the sun-rays.\n\nGrown into manhood, and in full possession of his Sun-wisdom, he wanders\nforth to find his brothers, the heroes of the Ascending Sun, the Sun at\nmidday, the evening Sun, and his mother, the Night-Sun.\n\n[Illustration: TARANGA, THE NIGHT-SUN, AND MAUI]\n\nHis mother recognises him as her son whom she had given birth, and had\nthrown into the sea, and she takes him into her house; through cunning he\nfollows his mother--who only lives with her children during the night--as\npigeon; bird--sunrays, through the caves of the lower world to Hawaiki.\nHere he throws his berries (sunrays) upon his father and the people and\nis again recognised by his mother and received with songs of welcome by\nher and with incantations by his father to make him all-powerful, in the\nworld into which he has now entered as the first Sun-rise.\n\nBut after a time he extinguishes all the fires of the world, and enters\nthe Lower World to steal new fire from his ancestress Mahuika.\n\nMahuika is the mother of the fire, and her children, living in her\nfingers are the first rays of light which shoot over the sky in the\nmornings. In order to ask for one of her fingers he visits Mahuika, but\nhe deceives her, and she, to punish him, sets fire to the world. Out\nof this fire--the second Sunrise--emerges the flying Maui, flying as\nsun-eagle over the heavens, and hurling himself at last into the ocean.\n\nThat was the first sunset.\n\n\n\n\nX\n\nMAUI AND MAHUIKA\n\n\n[Illustration: MAHUIKA]\n\n\u201cListen, friend.\n\nMaui extinguished all fires in Hawaiki, and no fire was burning anywhere,\nand all was cold and dark. Then he called out: \u2018Where are the lazy\nslaves? Maui is hungry; where are the slaves to cook his food?\u2019 And all\npeople were awakened by his noise, and they found all fires extinguished\nat Hawaiki.\n\nAh.--\n\nThe ancestress of Maui, my listener, Mahuika, was now alone in all the\nworld in the possession of fire, for she is the mother of fire, which is\nliving in her finger. She was to be found at her great dwelling-place in\nthe Lower World, but it was terrible to go near her; and fear entered\ninto the hearts of the people of Hawaiki, for who could go near her in\nher terrible beauty? Ha! Maui alone, the great hero--ah, Maui, my tupuna!\n(ancestor).--Oh listen, my wanderer--Maui alone had the courage to go\nto Mahuika to ask her for one of her fingers! He wandered through the\ncaves of the Lower World, and nearer and nearer he approached Mahuika,\nhis heart full of courage and cunning; but, ha, when his eyes beheld his\nancestress, he began to tremble so that he could not speak--ah, friend,\nMahuika was beautiful to look upon in her dark cave surrounded by her\nchildren, who shone forth out of the darkness. At last Maui overcame his\nfear and he spoke: \u201cOh, old woman, Mahuika, will you give me some of your\nfire?\u201d\n\n[Illustration: MAUI\u2019S FIGHT WITH THE SUN]\n\nMahuika, surrounded by fire, was terrible to behold--ah, my listener,\nterrible. She cried: \u201cAu-eh, who is there in the light of my\nchildren?\u201d--and Maui answered: \u201cIt is Maui, your grandson.\u201d Mahuika now\nasked him the four sacred questions, and he answered them as he had\nanswered Taranga, when Mahuika knew that her grandchild was standing\nbefore her in the light of her fire, and she spoke: \u201cYes, my son, I will\nthat you receive the fire you have asked for\u201d--and she took one of her\nfingers and gave it to Maui.\n\nWith the fire he now wandered back, but, when he had travelled part of\nhis way, his old cunning overmastered him, and he resolved to take all\nthe fire of Mahuika. Ha, ha!\n\nHe killed the finger Mahuika had given him in a great water, and went\nback to his ancestress to ask for another finger, telling her that he had\nlost the first one.\n\nAnd Mahuika gave him another finger--ha, ha.\n\nHe killed the second finger, too, in the great water, and came back to\nask for more; and his ancestress gave him another finger--ha, ha--ah!\nMaui came again and again, and Mahuika gave him all her fingers till she\nhad only one left--ha, ha! Maui killed them all in the great water; but,\nwhen he again came back and asked for the last finger, then Mahuika knew\nthat he wished to deceive her and kill her, and a frightful anger took\nhold upon her! Ha, she took her last child, her last finger, and threw it\nupon the world, and the world filled with fire--ha!\n\nAh, then Maui began to run!\n\nThe flames grew larger and larger, and followed him; he ran into the\nforests, and the forests caught fire--ah, Maui, my ancestor--ah, he ran\ninto the river, but the river began to boil--ah! He took the form of an\neagle, but the flames pursued him high into the air. Ha!--he sang great\nincantations to Tawhiri-matea and the gods, and they sent clouds of rain.\nThe clouds wandered forth from the end of heaven and burst into rain, and\nlong rain fell upon the fire, and heavy rain, and lasting rain. Through\nthe rain flew Maui, and threw himself into the sea, to save himself from\nthe terrible wrath of his ancestress Mahuika--ah!\n\nAh, my listener, Maui had almost perished through the terrible fire that\nfilled the world, but Mahuika, ah, Mahuika, she had to perish in the\nendless floods which fell down upon the world. She knew that she had\nto die, and she filled the world with terrible cries. With her great\nswiftness--for is she not the mother of the fire?--she ran and ran to\nsave her child, the flame; and she ran and ran but the flood of the rain\nalways followed her. At last, knowing that she must die, she took her\nlast child, her last finger, and hid it in the Kai-Komaki tree--and then,\nmy listener, the rain has slain the mother of the fire--ah!\n\nBut the Kai-Komaki tree has sheltered up to this day the child of the\nfire, so that men take its dry wood and rub it together till the flame\nwhich once lived in the finger of Mahuika bursts forth to new life again.\n\nYou have heard how Maui cheated his ancestress Mahuika, and nearly\nperished in the flames. Listen now to the song of his great strength and\nbraveness, that you may know how he once fought and conquered Te Ra, the\nSun, himself.\n\nThese are my words:\n\nThey were the days when our ancestors were still living at Tawhiti-nui,\nthe Great Distance.\n\nThe days were short, and Te Ra, the Sun, wandered through the heavens and\nthrough the Lower World; but the days became shorter and shorter, and\nfaster and faster wandered the Sun through the heavens.\n\nAh, the nights grew longer and longer, and in the long nights grew the\nlonging for longer days in the heart of Maui, and out of the longing was\nborn his great cunning plan to fight the Sun and to compel him to create\nlonger days.\n\nAh, listen how he persuades his brothers in Tawhiti-nui to aid him in his\nwork! Frightened were his brothers at first, but, when he showed them his\nart of making sacred ropes out of the long hair of women, and of forming\nthe ropes into nooses, then the hearts of the brothers lost their fear,\nand they began to burn with eagerness for the fight.\n\nYes, Maui taught his brothers the art of making ropes, and from him\ndescended his wisdom to my people.\n\nAt last, my listener, all ropes and nooses were ready, and the brothers\nburdened themselves with them, and they together started on their distant\njourney.\n\nMaui took his sacred fish-hook, Muri-Rangi-whenua, the End of Heaven and\nLand, and showed his brothers the way. They wandered by night, and, as\nsoon as the sacred red broke forth at Mahiku-rangi, they hid themselves\nunder the rocks, that Te Ra might not see them. And again they wandered\nforth by night till they had wandered many, many nights; and they at\nlast reached the cliffs of the caves out of which Te Ra ascended in the\nmornings.\n\nHa, here they looked for shelter, and Maui warned his brothers not to\nexpose themselves to the arrows of the Sun, that they might not be killed\nin the battle.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAh, Maui, the hero, he spoke to his brothers till all fear had left their\nhearts, and the desire filled them to fall upon their enemy; and then\nMaui showed them how they could catch Te Ra in their ropes; and he showed\nthem how to hold the ropes--tight, tight, and tight, so that the Sun\nwould be powerless and he could kill him with his sacred weapon.\n\nHa, let the eyes of your mind perceive how Te Ra ascends out of the\nLower World--see how he slowly appears in the precipice; see, oh see,\nhow he entangles himself in the strong ropes--how the brothers throw the\nnooses--Look, ah, the Sun is caught!\n\nHa, the brothers hold; they hold tight. Oh, see Maui!--Maui springs\nforward with his sacred weapon--Te Ra cries!--Ah, Maui beats him; look,\nhe bleeds!--ha, again he beats the Sun; again--again--Te Ra cries\nwildly!--ah, ah--Maui has broken his wing--O Maui, the hero!--Ha, that\nis a terrible battle! Oh, see the eyes on Maui\u2019s fish-hook flashing\nlight--see the carvings; ha, see the adornment of sacred dog\u2019s-hair--Ah,\nhis weapon is superbly beautiful! Ha, did you see the arrows of the Sun?\nDo you see the flashing of his arrows?--Ha, Maui, the brave!--Now, the\nSun cries!--friend, she trembles!--she tears--she pulls!--Her blood is\ncovering the whole East of the heaven!--Ha, Maui--Maui----my ancestor!\nHa, oh--ha, Te Ra has torn himself free! Ha, beaten by his enemies,\nbleeding from terrible wounds, with broken wings, with cries of pain he\ngoes his way--slowly--slowly----Oh, Maui!--\n\nCan you hear Te Ra wailing? Ah, he cries!--What is he crying? Ah, he\ncries: \u201cAh, why has man wounded me so terribly?--ah man, do you know that\nyou have wounded Tama-nui-ki-te-Ra? Why would you kill Tama-nui-ki-te-Ra?\u201d\n\nAh, my listener--\n\nThat was the first time that the great name of the Sun was made known in\nHawaiki--Tama-nui-ki-te Ra!--\n\nWhen Maui heard that great name, his heart glowed in pride, for he knew\nthen that he had fought the greatest battle a hero can fight, that he had\nconquered the Great Son of the Heaven.\n\nFrom that time the Sun went slowly over the heavens, so that the days\nbecame long again and full of happiness for the people at Hawaiki.\n\nGo, my friend, and remember the words of the old man who is your friend!\u201d\n\n\n\n\nXI\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE DEATH OF MAUI\n\n\nMany descendants had Maui; and many of them were living at Hawaiki, and\nmany were living in this land, in Aotea-roa. When he had created this\nland; when through his great deed he had compelled Tama-nui-ki-te-ra to\nprolong the days that the hearts of his descendants may be gladdened; and\nwhen at last he had cheated Mahuika out of her flames which were living\nnow in the Kamaki-tree to give fire and warmth to his children, then the\nlife at Hawaiki became finer and finer; and finer and finer became the\nlife at Aotea-roa. That was the time when the great wish grew in the\nheart of Maui, the wish to conquer his powerful enemy Hine-nui-te-po,\nthat Night might die and man may live for ever: ake, ake, ake!--yes, it\nwas his great wish.\n\nAt length he wandered to the tree at Hawaiki, and here he found his\nparents, and told them of his great desire. But his parents were still\nangry with him about the evil trick he had played on Mahuika, the trick\nwhich had nearly cost him his life; but he laughed, and spoke boastingly:\n\u201cHo, old people, have I not done greater deeds than this one? Who caught\nthe big fish, Te ika-a-Maui? Who?--Maui! Who captured Tama-nui-ki-te-Ra?\nWho?--Maui! Truly, old people, Maui will continue on his way for ever and\never! Ha, he will go and kill Hine-nui-te-po! Hine-nui-te-po!--so that\nthe life of man may be for ever and ever: ake, ake, ake! Who is stronger\nthan Maui?\u201d\n\nAnd his father answered: \u201cHine-nui-te-po, whom you may behold yonder\nflashing on the horizon, is stronger than Maui!\u201d\n\nThereupon laughed Maui, and spoke: \u201cWhen Hine-nui-te-po can take my life,\nthen you can tell me how her looks are, ha, ha!\u201d But his father spoke\nwarningly: \u201cAh, my son, her eyes, which you see flashing yonder, are dark\nas greenstone; her teeth are sharp as obsidian; her mouth is like the\nmouth of the Baracuta, and the hair of her head is the sea-weed; her body\nalone has human form!\u201d\n\nBut Maui only laughed, and asked: \u201cIs Hine-nui-te-po as strong as\nTama-nui-ki-te-Ra? Is her strength as the strength of the sea, which I\nhave conquered and filled with land? Is her power as great as the power\nof the fire--Ha, ha?\u201d And his father had to answer: \u201cIt is well, my\nyoungest son; go brave there where you find your ancestress flashing with\nfire on the horizon, and conquer her. Go, son of mine!\u201d--\n\n[Illustration: HINE-NUI-TE-PO KILLING MAUI]\n\nMaui now took the shape of a beautiful coloured bird, and flew high up\nin the sacred tree at Hawaiki, and sang and twittered till all the birds\nof the forest collected around him: the Tui and the Huia and the Kaka,\nthe little Fantail and the Robin--all the birds followed the sweet call\nof Maui, and great singing and life and happiness were in the tree at\nHawaiki.\n\nWhen night came Maui and all the birds flew toward the west where\nHine-nui-te-po lived, and there they descended and found the old goddess\nasleep.\n\nMaui now took the form of man again, and prayed the birds to be very\ncareful, and very quiet, and not to laugh, for he was going to undertake\nhis greatest deed: to enter into Hine-nui-te-po and to steal her heart,\nso that she must die and man might live for ever and ever--ake--ake--ake!\n\nWhen the little birds heard Maui speaking thus, they fluttered about and\nchirruped and were full of fear, and they twittered: \u201cMaui, do not do it,\ndo not do it, Maui; no, Maui; no, no; Maui, do not do it!\u201d\n\nBut Maui only laughed, and threw off his mat, so that all birds could see\nhis beautiful tattoo, the work of the god of the Rainbow, and, taking\nhis enchanted weapon, he entered the old goddess Hine-nui-te-po. All the\nwhile the little birds were flying and fluttering hither and thither and\nwere full of fear for Maui. They fluttered noiselessly through the bushes\nand higher then up the trees and, looking out of curiously glittering\neyes upon Maui, they were happy, beholding the wonderful spectacle of\nMaui entering Hine-nui-te-po.\n\nAh, then was it that the little bird Tiwakawaka could not longer be\nsilent, but burst out into a heartfelt twittering laughter. Ah, the sweet\nnoise awoke the old goddess, and opening her greenstone eyes, she saw\nMaui and his doings. Wrath overcame her, and quickly she snapped her jaws\ntogether, biting through Maui and killing him with her sharp teeth of\nobsidian. Then she took him down into the everlasting darkness.\n\nThat was the death of Maui!\n\n\n\n\nXII\n\nTE AROHA O THE LOVE OF HINEMOA\n\n[Illustration: TE AROHA O\n\nTHE LOVE OF HINEMOA\n\nTutanekai]\n\nHigh above the sandhills Rangi the mighty spreads his Garment of Day. It\nis adorned with a border of snow-white clouds, which is resting on the\ndistant hills of Papa, Papa, the happy.\n\nAh, she is sending white cloud-messengers of her love up to Rangi, to\nRangi, the smiling, the beloved of Papa.\n\nHis golden Eye of Day caresses Papa, and looks down upon her with\ntenderness, and her blood mounts blushing into her cheeks of\nsnow-white cliffs, and higher into the crimson glory of the flowering\nPohutukawa-trees which crown the cliffs. The crimson flowers flutter down\non the beach, of which Tangaroa, the unresting, takes possession again\nwith long-rolling lines of froth borne on transparent waves and thrown\nashore with majestic laughter and thundering songs to Papa, the beautiful\nmother.\n\n\u201cSee, how Rangi\u2019s Eye of Day looks down, my good friend, filling the\nheart with longing. Ah, longing for happiness enters the heart of man,\nand Hine-nui-te-po is forgotten.\u201d\n\n\u201cTell me, Ngawai, my good friend, what you have heard of the people who\nhave wandered before us on the path to the Mother of Rest. Tell me what\nyou have heard listening by the fires of the whare.\u201d\n\n\u201cListen then, while we wander along the border of the sea to the love\nthat has been, the love of both, the two, of Hinemoa and Tutanekai.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe clear waters of the Waitemata never gave back such a beautiful\nimage, nor did the flowing water of the Waikato nor the bottomless\ndepth of Taupo-moana, as did the lake Rotorua on the evenings when the\nworld was calm and Hinemoa looked down into the depths and was full of\ngladness.\u201d\n\nNgawai commences her narrative while the sun paints a blue halo in the\nblack hair around her head. The light plays in the sunburnt face, the\nlips quiver, and the large eyes, full of light, see in the distance what\nthe lips utter.\n\n\u201cOh, Hinemoa was full of gladness and was smiling at her image for joy,\nfor over the sea sweetly sounds the music of the flute and the horn\nplayed by Tutanekai and his friend Tiki, far off in the middle of the\nlake on the island of Mokoia, Tutanekai\u2019s home.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: HINEMOA]\n\nAnd she sat and listened murmuring to the water: \u201cOh, Tutanekai, how\nsweet is thy music to my heart! On many a calm night has Hinemoa\nlistened, and her joy grew always greater, and her heart happier within\nher. Sometimes there were great gatherings of the people on the mainland,\nin the pa (village) of Amukaria, Hinemoa\u2019s father, and Tutanekai came\nover, but he felt sorrowful amidst the feasting and frolic. He stole\nquick glances at the beautiful maiden, but his hand was trembling\nand he was ashamed; and he glanced over where Hinemoa was sitting\nlike a beautiful white heron among a flock of Kiwi, and his heart was\nfrightened. He was frightened and ill, and was full of wrath over it, as\nover a lizard that ate away his heart. Therefore he longed for powerful\nenemies, to fight away his trembling, and thus to forget his fear.\n\nSo he collected his war-friends and went away like a dark cloud to the\ntribe of his enemies, challenging them to battle; and great was the\nfighting, and many were slain, but Tutanekai was victorious, so that he\ntook many slaves and made great offerings to the God of War.\n\nThe great battle and the many offerings to the War God gladdened his\nheart again, and he was frightened no more.\n\nBut again, when he was home with his friend Tiki, his music wandered over\nthe water, and took his heart away to Hinemoa, and it brought back her\nimage, as she listened on the shore, and sorrow again grew within him. So\nhe sent Tiki, his friend, to Hinemoa, to tell her of his great sorrow in\nbeing away from her, and to ask her to come to him and to his heart, that\nit might lose its fright and be full of gladness.\n\nWatchful was Amukaria, but Tiki gave his message, and full of gladness\nanswered Hinemoa: \u201cEh-hu, is then each of us growing in the heart of the\nother?\u201d--and she promised to come to Tutanekai in a canoe, late on a\nblack night, when he would play his sweetest music to call for her and to\nguide her in the darkness.\n\nAmukaria, a great Ariki, was only willing to give Hinemoa as wife to a\nRangatira of a very high mana, for her beauty was like the Morning Sun\nover the lake, and he, knowing the power and danger of such beauty, gave\norder that all the canoes should be taken off the lake. Thus, when the\nsweet music of Tutanekai called for Hinemoa, she wandered boatless on\nthe shore, her heart full of tears, for she could not answer Tutanekai\u2019s\ncalling.\u201d\n\nHer eyes full of tears, Ngawai wandered along the rolling waves, telling\nherself in low tones, in Maori, of all the sorrows of Hinemoa, her\nancestress. Ngawai accompanies her mutterings with movements which\nexpress despair; presses her hands against her heart; stretches her arms\nlongingly over the ocean and presses them again to her bosom; then she\nspeaks with a different voice and rapidly:\n\n\u201cOne evening Hinemoa sat listening upon the rock Iri-iri-kapua, and\nsuddenly the longing to go shook her as an earthquake. The trembling of\nlove overtook her, and the courage of love overflowed her heart.\n\nShe went to the store-house, and took six dry and empty gourds, and tied\nthem together with flax for floats, and she went to the edge of the\nwater, called Wai-rere-wai, threw off her mat of kiwi feathers, and cast\nherself to swim the long, long way with the help of the floating gourds.\nOh, my friend, behold Hinemoa like a beautiful flying star casting\nherself into the water!\n\nOh, Hinemoa, the brave!\u201d\n\nSilent is Ngawai: her lips are murmuring incantations to Tangaroa; her\nhands tremble; her eyes are fixed far away in the distance.\n\n\u201cAh, there, behold, she is there where the stump of the sunken tree\nstands in the lake----\n\nOh, Hinemoa!\n\nHer arms are weary and her bosom is panting as she holds on to the\nbranches of the tree.\n\nAh, now has darkness swallowed her!--oh her heart is brave!----\n\nOn she goes, on, on, weary her limbs, her breast panting, darkness\naround; but nearer and nearer comes the sweet music, nearer, nearer,\nand at last, with all her strength gone, her hands reach the rocks of\nMokoia, where the hot spring is in the cave Wai-ki-miha. In this cave she\ntook shelter, for she was cold, and trembling like a dead leaf. Trembling\nwere her hands, but her heart was full of joy! Weary were her limbs, but\nher love was great and happy!\u201d\n\nNgawai is striding with quick steps forward, heaving is her bosom, but in\nher eyes is fire and she is murmuring to herself. Her heart and thoughts\nare far away among the waves of the lake Rotorua, battling there with the\nwater, as Hinemoa did, her ancestress.\n\n\u201cLong, long was the way over the water--oh, great was the love of\nHinemoa!--\n\nWhilst she was warming herself in the cave, there appeared at the narrow\nedge a slave, sent by Tutanekai, to fetch some water; and when he had\nfilled his calabash Hinemoa called out to him: \u2018Slave, for whom is that\nwater?\u2019--and the frightened slave answered: \u2018For Tutanekai, my ariki.\u2019\nHinemoa spoke: \u2018If it is for Tutanekai, then give it to me,\u2019--and the\nfrightened slave reached her the calabash, and she drank and broke it\non the rocks. The slave called out: \u2018Why did you break Tutanekai\u2019s\ncalabash?\u2019 But Hinemoa never answered.\n\nAgain did Tutanekai send the slave, and again spoke Hinemoa: \u2018Give me\nTutanekai\u2019s calabash\u2019--and again the frightened slave reached it to her\ninto the darkness, and she drank and broke it again.\n\nWhen Tutanekai heard the words of the slave, he reached full of wrath for\nhis war-weapon of whalebone, calling, so that it sounded all over the\nisland: \u2018Woe be to the man, woe be to the bad spirit, woe be to him who\nbroke my calabashes! I will make a calabash out of his skull!\u2019\u201d\n\nHarsh come the words from Ngawai\u2019s lips, but full of laughter are her\neyes, and she wanders a while, smiling to herself.\n\n\u201cTutanekai, in the dark cave, his powerful weapon lifted for a deadly\nblow cried fiercely: \u2018Who is that enemy, that I may give his name to my\ncup which I will make out of his skull?\u2019\n\nA voice answered softly out the darkness: \u2018It is I\u2019--and the beautiful\nRangatira, dressed in her flowing hair, stretched longingly her arms\ntowards Tutanekai: \u2018O, Tutanekai, my ariki, kill me, kill Hinemoa.\u2019\n\nHa! the powerful weapon fell to the ground like a useless stick;\nforgotten was the God of War; forgotten the lizards: sorrow and fear and\nfull of love sounds the voice out of the cave: \u2018Hinemoa!\u2019\n\nAnd from the rocks it echoed over the lake: \u2018Hinemoa!\u2019\u201d\n\nLong is Ngawai staring in her hands, squatting down on the beach, then\nform her lips one word: \u201cHinemoa.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nXIII\n\nMAUI AND IRAWARU: A TRADITION\n\n\n[Illustration: MAUI AND IRAWARU]\n\nThe Sun is setting, and our canoe is gliding, slowly, with the tide,\nup the river. Hupene, sitting in the prow, is staring to the west, and\nmutters lowly to himself; Ngawai plays lazily with the paddle, and is\nlistening to what the old man is muttering, while the sandhills slowly\npass by.\n\nHupene is staring into the broad reflexion of the Sun over the sea, but\nhe has to close his eyes; and, bending his head, he commences a low-toned\nchant. Of Maui he sings, yes, of Maui, the hero of his people.\n\nHe sings how Maui and Irawaru once went together out to catch fish, and\nhow Maui could not catch any, and Irawaru caught many.\n\nLower sinks the Sun whilst Hupene is murmuring, and the mighty spectacle\nof the sunset illustrates his chant. There is the Sun God Maui ready to\nsteer his Sun-canoe into the Lower Worlds again, singing his song of\nfarewell to his sister Hinauri, the earth.\n\nIrawaru, the husband of Hinauri, had followed Maui in the morning upon\nthe sea, to catch fish--Irawaru is the reflexion of the sun over the sea,\nwandering forth with the sun in the mornings to catch fish--what else\ncould a man do on the sea?\n\nMaui\u2019s fish-lines are the rays, shining through and between the clouds,\nand his sharp-pointed fish-lines may enter deep into the sea among the\nfish, but, having no barbs, they are not able to hold and land the fish\nin his canoe. But Irawaru\u2019s fishing-lines have many barbs, which you may\nsee in the ripple of the water, and you may see too, the fish caught, and\nplaying among Irawaru\u2019s fish-lines.\n\n\u201cAh\u201d (sings Hupene) \u201cIrawaru caught many fish, a great many, and\ntherefore Maui, who had not caught a single one became very angry, and in\nhis wrath he entangled the fish-lines! Irawaru\u2019s line had caught a fish,\nand Maui, feeling it tear and try to free itself, hauled up the lines\nwith all his might. Ha, when he lifts the fish now out of the water, he\nsees that it is caught by Irawaru, but he also sees the secret of the\nbarbs on Irawaru\u2019s fish-hook.\u201d\n\nThe Sun is nearly touching the sea; Hupene is smiling cunningly to\nhimself, and the canoe is gliding noiseless in the broad Reflexion of the\nSun.\n\n\u201cYes, Maui wanted to kill Irawaru, because he had deceived him with his\nbarbs. His face becomes red with rage, and he asks Irawaru to help him\nland his Sun-canoe upon the shores of the Lower World, for he had reached\nMahiku-rangi, the End of Heaven. Maui is cunning, and Irawaru, not\nknowing Maui\u2019s wrath, crawls under the Sun-canoe to help him lift it upon\nthe shores of the Lower World, when Maui, with all his mighty strength,\nbegan to jump in the canoe, pressing it down, and nearly killing Irawaru.\nThen, springing out of his canoe, he jumped and danced upon Irawaru till\nhis body grew longer and longer and took the form of a tail; and then\nwith incantations Maui changed Irawaru into a dog.\u201d\n\nSo sings Hupene. The blood-red Sun seems to tremble and dance, before he\nsinks below the sea: he changes Irawaru into a dog which is now running\nas the last shade of light upon the mountains, whilst the Sun is entering\nthe Lower World.\n\nOur canoe is putting ashore to leave Hupene behind; but his sing-song\nis not ended yet, and he is standing on the shore before the golden\nevening-sky, and finishes his song, which Ngawai in the noiselessly\non-gliding canoe is listening to and translating:\n\n\u201cHinauri asked the parting Maui what he had done to her husband, for she\ndid not see him coming back with him, and Maui answered that Irawaru had\ncrawled among the bushes on the mountain; that she must go and call out\nto him: mo-i-mo-i, Irawaru, mo-i-mo-i. Hinauri did as she was told, and\ncalled and called, till at last a dog came running towards her, and she\nknew it was Irawaru, her husband, whom Maui had so cruelly changed into a\ndog. She broke out in a great lament, and at last she cast herself into\nthe sea.\u201d\n\nThe earth follows the parting sun into the darkness.\n\n\n\n\nXIV\n\nTHE PATU-PAIAREHE: THE FAIRY PEOPLE OF THE MOUNTAINS\n\n\n[Illustration: TAMA-TE-KAPUA\n\nNGA PATU-PAIAREHE]\n\n\nThe Children of the Mist\n\nBy James Cowan.\n\nFar up in the misty mountains dwell the Patu-paiarehe, the fairies of\nMaori Land. They are seldom seen; and, indeed, most mortals who have no\ngift of imagination and no mana-tapu cannot expect to behold the good\npeople; and many who know no better deny their existence.\n\nIt is supposed by some that they were really tribes of aborigines whom\nthe Maoris found dwelling in this wild new land when they arrived here\nfrom the isles of Polynesia. But the old Maoris say that they still\ninhabit certain of the lofty forest-clad mountains of Aotearoa--a\nnumerous people, some of them tiny gnomes and elves and pixies, some\nof them in the presentment of men and women of this world but smaller\nand exquisitely-shaped and with fair hair and fair skins just like\nEuropeans. They are known to the Maoris by several names: Turehu,\nTahurangi, Maero, and Patu-paiarehe; but their common designation is\nPatu-paiarehe. They are a bright, cheerful race, and take great pleasure\nin music. They are skilled in charms and the art of enchantment, and many\na strange adventure has happened to the Maori who has had the temerity to\nventure into their haunts.\n\nLike the elves of other countries, these fairies of Maori Land dread\ndaylight, and appear only by night. Sometimes, on dark and gloomy days,\nwhen the thick mists descend and envelop the bare crags and deep ravines\nof the mountains of the South, the fairy people will be heard chanting\nsongs in a thin sweet cadence, and then too will be heard the doleful\nsound of the fairy trumpet, and the faint and plaintive music of the\nKoauau, or nose-flute, and the voices of the fairy children laughing and\nsinging above the clouds. But most of all they love the thickly-wooded\nmountains of the North, the Fish of Maui, where they live in their little\npas, palisaded like those of the Maoris, and adorned with quaint little\ncarvings and diminutive figures of fairy ancestors. Few mortals can\ndiscover those pas. They are hidden far away in the shadiest recesses\nof the bush, where the mist-maidens hover all day long, and where the\nGoddess of the Clouds descends nightly and covers her fairy children\nwith her loving mantle. A Tohunga alone can perceive those stockades and\nhouses of the Patu-paiarehe. To ordinary folk who penetrate the fairy\ncountry, those works of the little people are to all appearance mere\ntrees and rocks and beds of ferns. But, if you have the wise eye and the\nTohunga\u2019s understanding, you will see that the great rimu pine, with its\ndrooping waterfall of golden foliage, and the lance-like kahikatea, tall\nand stately, the knotted and gnarled rata, the graceful nikau palm, and\nthe lovely tree-fern, swishing gently its broad feather-fronds, are all\npart and portion of the Patu-paiarehe dwellings. For the fairies are ever\nof the forests: with the forest-trees they live, and with the passing of\nthe forests they, too, pass away.\n\nMany are the stories told of the fairy people and their encounters with\nmortals. One story says that it was from a party of fairies who were\nfishing by night for mackerel (tawatawa) in a bay in the far North, where\nthey were joined by adventurous Maoris, and who, being surprised by\ndaylight, fled, leaving their nets on the beach, that the Maori people\nfirst learned the pattern and hitch used in making the large seine\nfishing-nets.\n\nHarmless as the Patu-paiarehe ordinarily were, they yet could worry\nmortals considerably on occasion. Some hapus of fairies, for instance,\nwere in the habit of making periodical nocturnal expeditions to the homes\nof the Maoris and carrying off their wives. The korako, or albinos,\nsometimes seen amongst the Maoris are said to be the offspring of these\nunions; though in the far North they are spoken of as the children of\nkehua (ghostly visitants) and the women of this world. One of these\nstories of wife-abduction by the fairies relates to Mt Pirongia.\n\nThis beautiful mountain, with its dense woody ridges and valleys, its\ncascading brooks and its rocky fastnesses, is in Maori eyes the abode of\nhosts of Patu-paiarehe. In the dark moonless nights the lone eel-fisher\nout on the Waipa banks would start in affright when on his imaginative\near broke the sound of the fairies singing in their pas, and he would\npromptly fortify himself against their magic wiles by reciting potent\nkarakia or incantations, and would chant a high quavering waiata to scare\naway the goblins of the night.\n\nOne day long ago Te Puhi and I were out pigeon-shooting far up the wooded\nslopes of Mt Pirongia. Evening had come upon us while we were intent\nupon bagging the \u201cwing-flapping children of Tane\u201d, and, as we had a\nlong and toilsome journey down the bush ridges and across rapid creeks\nto make before we reached the old frontier township of Alexandra, my\nMaori companion and I decided upon spending the night in the forest. So,\nselecting a comfortable nook beneath the spreading branches of a fine old\nrata tree, we were soon enjoying a savoury meal of fat pigeons roasted\nover the camping fire, with the turnip-like pith of the nikau palm in\nlieu of bread. Tama-nui-te-Ra sank down beyond the westernmost peak into\nhis ocean cave. The evening mists crept up from the murmuring streams\nand the gloomy gullies, and stole noiselessly along the dark forest\nranges; and the Hau-ma-ringiringi, the soft fog-born dews, descended on\nthe earth. And there was something uncanny in the long dancing gleams\nof light which shot through the forest from our bivouac fire. The black\nshadows of the woodland swayed like ghosts with the flickering of the\nflames; and, Puhi, squatting close by the fire, gazed half fearfully down\nthe gloomy forest aisles. And presently, in subdued tones, as if he were\nchary of arousing the genii of the bush by too loud a tongue, he told the\nstory of the fairies.\n\n\u201cO friend of mine, listen! This is the belief of our people. This peak\nof Pirongia is an enchanted mountain; and it is well that you, a pakeha,\nare with me, else would I perchance be visited by the fairy tribe who\ndwell upon these heights. Pirongia is a Maunga-hikonga-uira, that is\na \u2018lightning-flashing peak\u2019. Sometimes, when it is fine weather below\non the plains, thunder will be heard rolling along the summit, and the\nlightning will be seen darting downwards upon its topmost peak. That is\na tohu mat\u00e9, an omen of death or misfortune to the Maoris: some chief of\nour tribe will die, or some untoward event will overtake the people. And\nhigh up around the top of the mountain live the Patu-paiarehe.\n\nA great many years ago, many generations before the pakeha came to\nthese shores and when the plains below us here were covered with the\nfires of the Maoris, there lived at the foot of this mountain, near the\nWaipa River, a chief named Ruarangi of the tribe to which I too belong.\nHis wife was named Tawhaiatu, and she was a woman of fine appearance,\na beautiful woman in the eyes of the Maori. And the fairies of the\nmountain also considered her a fine wahine, for one morning when Ruarangi\nreturned to his house in the early dawn, after having been out all night\neel-fishing, he found that his wife had disappeared. He searched long\nfor her, and called her name aloud, but to no avail. When full daylight\ncame, Ruarangi, greatly sorrowing, took his spear in his hand and placed\nhis stone weapon in his belt and went along the track in the direction\nof the mountain where the fairies dwelt, for he knew that his wife had\nbeen carried off by a Patu-paiarehe. And, as he paused awhile on his way,\nhe stretched forth his spear towards the fairy-mountain and wept, and\nchanted his song of lamentation for his vanished wife:\n\n \u2018My message of love blows afar,\n Borne on the Eastern breeze,\n A token of sorrow from the\n Beloved one of your dreams,\n Here stand I, in whose fond arms\n You oft reposed. Oh, loved one of my\n Heart! Return!\n My head is bowed with grief.\n Return! Incline to me your face;\n Like rushing fountains see my tears down fall.\u2019\n\nAnd lying in wait for two days near the forest pa, Ruarangi performed\nthe ceremonies and repeated the incantations to recover his ravished\nwife. By stratagem he gained the place where she had been taken to by\nthe fairy--the Patu-paiarehe did not perceive him, else had he been a\ndead man; and in haste he took her, before her fairy husband could follow\nin pursuit, and they reached their village on the banks of the Waipa in\nsafety.\n\nBut Ruarangi and his wife knew that, though they were back in their\nhome, the fairy chief or his followers would come by night and endeavour\nto regain possession of her. Their hearts sank as they communed long\nwith one another in the shelter of their raupo house and planned how to\nprevent the fairies from again carrying Tawhaiatu away. And at night\nthere came the spirit of one of their priestly ancestors, and it sat on\nthe ridge-pole of their house and the thin whistling voice of the wairua\nspoke down to them as they sat by the fire in the centre of the whare:\n\n[Illustration: THE MAORIS AND THE FAIRY PEOPLE]\n\n\u2018Oh, friends, I greet you! Hearken to my words. Smear the sacred paint\nof kokowai all over your bodies, and paint the inside of your house and\nthe door-posts and the door and threshold also with the kokowai, for the\nPatu-paiarehe fear the kokowai as they do the fire of man. And, when the\nfairies come and see that you have covered everything over with kokowai,\nthey will be afraid to enter into your house at night to steal the woman.\u2019\n\nSo in the morning Ruarangi and his wife went forth and gathered kokowai\nearth (the sacred red ochre of the Maoris), and, mixing it, painted the\nwhole of the inside of the house and the lintel-posts and the door, and\nalso painted their bodies with it, and as evening came on they lit a fire\nin the house and awaited the coming of the fairy.\n\nAnd at night, in the black darkness, there came to the house of Ruarangi\nthe fairy chief from the misty mountain-top. He stood in the marae\noutside the door, and, as he looked into the house and saw the red\nkokowai on the posts and walls and on the bodies of the man and woman\nwho sat by the fire repeating incantations, he grew afraid, and remained\noutside in the courtyard. He raised his voice in a song of lamentation,\nfor he loved Tawhaiatu, but he could not prevail against the sacred\nkokowai and the powerful spells of Ruarangi. And then the fairy returned\nsorrowing to his dwelling on lofty Pirongia.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd,\u201d said the pakeha, \u201cRuarangi and his wife lived happily together for\nthe rest of their days.\u201d\n\n\u201cAe ra\u201d (\u201cYes,\u201d) gravely returned the Maori. \u201cAnd who should know if not\nI? For Ruarangi and Tawhaiatu were my own ancestors. And perhaps I am\nhalf a Patu-paiarehe myself. Who can tell?\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nXV\n\nTIHI-O-TE-RANGI\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\u201cThe Path of the Spirits\u201d--the mind of the young Maoris runs far now from\nbattle and bloodshed, and but few bear the blood of the warriors in their\nveins, that blood which suddenly boils into powerful deeds.\n\nFew carry the blood of the Rangatiras, who were masters over the\nbloodthirsty savages, or of the women, who were slaves, but who were\nsometimes Tohungas and powerful masters over the savage passions.\n\nOut on the sea is the tribe, enjoying life and fishing under the\nsummer sky; the pa (village) is lifeless, and the semi-darkness of the\nwhare-puni broods lonelily over the past. The past, full of history for\nNgawai--Hine-aroha, the friend: it is the whare-puni of her ancestors.\nCarved is there Tama-te-Kapua, the great Chief--Tohunga, her ancestor,\nwho came from Hawaiki.\n\nSilent is the whare-puni; silent are the carved ancestors; and silent\nis Ngawai, watching the mist covering the snow-clad mountains in the\ndistance.\n\nIt is the hour of the fairies and the spells; the hour when the sun\nhides; and Tawhiri-matea, the God of the Winds, is resting--the happy\nhour when man forgets his wishes, and the path of his mind is guided by\nthe spirits of his destination: it is the hour when the woman-Rangatira\nknows that she is a woman, and will be a slave.\n\nNgawai\u2019s ancestors live in her veins, and her spirit wanders along the\npath of the past. She stretches out her arms commanding the spirits; her\nmind perceives; and speaks:\n\n\u201cLook, friend: many men and many women of my people lived and died,\nyes, a great many, since Tu-poho came, the great chief of the Nga-puhi\ntribe--ah, great was the number of his warriors--they came in the\ndarkness of night, and their hearts were full of rage. Ah, a very great\nmany were the slain of my people, and many were offered to the God of War\nby Tu-poho.\n\nDay upon day lasted the feasting, for great was the hate of the Nga-puhi\ntoward my people, and they ate them, and scattered the bones of my\nancestors; ah, my friend!--The joy of the Nga-puhi was great, when they\nfound Matike the beautiful sister of Tihi-o-te-Rangi; and they made her a\nslave.\n\nTihi-o-te-Rangi, the warrior and ariki, ah, he was in the mountains\nwhilst this battle happened, and he was hunting for kiwis and pigeons\nwhilst the women of the Nga-puhi tribe, day after day, were preparing the\nfood for their warriors off the slain of his people, killing the women\nand children to feast the enemy.\n\nAh, terror would have been Tu-poho\u2019s! Tihi would have offered his blood\nto the War God; he would have swallowed his eyes; he would have eaten him\nand scattered his bones!--ah, Tihi was in the mountains; Tihi was in the\nmountains.--Ah, my friend.\n\nAt last a message came to him. Two women of his tribe came to him; they\ncame naked and torn, the white flower of the clematis in their hair. By\nnight they came and brought the head of their husband; they lit a fire\nbefore Tihi\u2019s house, and commenced their frightful tale of woe. They were\ncutting their faces and breasts with sharp stones, so that blood covered\nthem all over, and terrible was their weeping and wailing.\n\nFearful to behold were the blood-covered women, calling for help and\nrevenge, filling with fire of rage the heart of Tihi-o-te-Rangi.\n\nHe killed the little bird Ma-tata, and offered his blood to the War God\nMaru, that the war-tapu might come over him, and then he went his way to\nfind Tu-poho.\n\nMatike, the sister of Tihi-o-te-Rangi, was given to Te-marama, Tuwhare\u2019s\ndaughter, as her slave, and great was the beauty of the two maidens.\nMatike, with her long flowing hair and tall figure, was the flower of the\nmountains; but the great eyes and soft swaying movements of Te-marama was\nthe beauty of the flowers of the Pohutukawa, swaying on the shores on the\nNorth.\n\nCrossing the rivers and walking along the shores of the sea was the tribe\nof the Nga-puhi, when they were followed by Tihi-o-te-Rangi.\n\nHe had held the Tangi over his burned pa and the bones of his tribe, and\nthen he went and followed his enemies to free his sister. When he found\nthe great party, he mingled with the slaves and carried baskets of food,\nand did the work of the slaves--ah, my friend, Tiki, the chief of great\nmana, carrying food like a slave!\n\nOne evening he met Te-marama, the daughter of Tu-poho, and she looked\nat him disdainfully and spoke: \u2018Truly, of all the warriors you are the\nstrongest, and beautiful is the tattoo on your face and your body, and\nyou do the dirty work of slaves! Ha, you have the face of the War God;\nbut, truly you have the heart of a pigeon!\u2019 And he answered: \u2018You speak\ntruth: I am a slave till I free my sister Matike; but soon I will show\nyour warriors that they are women, for they fought women!\u2019 And Te-marama\nspoke: \u2018If you are Tihi-o-te-Rangi, truly then you are the best of all\nwarriors, for you lower yourself to a slave to free a woman; but listen,\nTihi: Matike is a slave no longer--for her beauty she is taken by the\nchief Takerangi to share his resting-place and his mana.\u2019 When Tihi heard\nTe-marama speaking thus, joy entered in his heart and he said: \u2018Sweet\nis it for the eyes to rest upon the Flower of the North, and her words\ngive gladness to my heart! Listen! When Tihi-o-te-Rangi shall carry the\npowerful war-weapon of his tribe before his wrathful warriors into the\nland of Tu-poho, to kill and revenge my people, to eat and destroy the\nNga-puhi, then shall revenge live in the one half of his heart, but\nit will carry peace in the other half, and joy and sweetness to the\nwhare-puni of the Flower of the North!\u2019\n\nIn the blackness of night he left the tribe, and went back to his\ndestroyed pa again. There he sent messengers to all the tribes in the\nmountains calling them to revenge themselves upon Tu-poho. Warhapu after\nWarhapu followed his call, and all came burning for revenge--ah, a great\nmany warriors all along the river were preparing for a great slaughter\nand a feasting on their enemy Tu-poho and his tribe, but the time for\ntravelling was not yet come.\n\nThe greatest rage was in the heart of Tihi, and he built high palisades\naround his pa, the strongest and highest in all the land;--but in the\nshade of the evenings his mind kept ever forming the image of the\nbeautiful maiden Te-marama: then his heart began to tremble, and the\nWar God was hidden by clouds. And he sat lonely, and made presents to\nthe Tohungas that they may hold incantations to the gods who govern the\nheart and desires of women. Ah, it was at that time that far in Nga-puhi\nTe-marama sat, listless and lonely, on the shores of the sea; ah, many\ndays and many nights did she sit there, listless and lonely.\n\nOne morning, while the sun was rising out of the sea, she could bear it\nno longer: she called her slave to put some food into a basket, and bade\nher follow her.\n\nAh, my friend, that was the beginning of Te-marama\u2019s great wandering over\nthe pathless land, through the dark forests, and along the endless shores.\n\nAh, she followed the gods whose help the incantations of Tihi had gained,\nfollowed them, on and on, living on the wild berries of the forest and\non the food that the shores of the sea offered her; sleeping under the\nrocks and upon the branches of the trees, always living in fear of the\nmultitude of bad spirits--ah, the incantations of Tihi sent courage in\nher heart and the longing to overcome all fear.\n\nAt last she came to the pa Kau-ara-paua, and there she asked for\nTihi-o-te-Rangi. But Tihi was living in his pa Tuke-a-maui; so she went\nup the river in a canoe, and the people of the pas on the shores were\ngood to her, and gave her food, and marvelled at her beauty.\n\nMany questions she asked as to where she might find Tihi-o-te-Rangi,\nand one evening, while resting in the whare of Rongo-mai, she related\nthe story of her long wandering, and told that she was Te-marama, the\ndaughter of Tu-poho--ah, my friend!\n\nThe face of Rongo-mai grew black! Ah, all his relatives were killed by\nTu-poho! Up he jumped, and walking up and down before the assembled\npeople he swung his Taiaha (war-weapon), and with rolling eyes and\nfrightful jumps and movements he chanted terrible words to the spirits of\nhis relations, who were still crying in the forest, for their bones were\nscattered over the world and their flesh was eaten, and their death never\nrevenged. His rage was terrible, and, suddenly jumping forward, he killed\nTe-marama with one powerful blow of his weapon!\n\nAh, his frightful words had filled the hearts of the people with rage\nand revenge, and terrible cries of wrath and spite filled the whare!\nThey took the heart of Te-marama, and offered a part of it to the\ncrying spirits of their relatives; then they cooked the remaining part\nfor Rongo-mai, who ate it in spiteful insult to Tuwhare. Then they\ncooked the body of the girl, who came to give gladness to the heart of\nTihi-o-te-Rangi, their most powerful chief, and feasted upon it!\n\nAh, my friend, Tihi was near, but the joy of his heart and the sweetness\nof his mind was killed; the heart, beating for Tihi, was offered to the\ngods of revenge--ah, my friend!\n\nThe slave escaped, and her tears were floods, and frightful her cries,\nand terrible her words of insult when she met Tihi: \u2018O, Tihi, look at\nTe-marama, who was truly your slave, look upon her, look; look upon her\nbones in the mouths of your people of dogs; go and look for the eyes of\nyour girl in the stomach of the dog Rongo-mai; go, that the dogs of your\npeople may devour you, you rangatira of a tribe of dogs!\u2019\n\n[Illustration: A TANGI]\n\nUp flamed the blood of Tihi, his eyes burned, his hands trembled; with\none blow of his mere he killed the slave that he might not hear more.\nHe cut his hair, and offered it to the gods who have the rage of man in\ntheir keeping, and then he went to revenge Te-marama! He killed Rongo-mai\nand all his family and his relatives and friends and all who took part\nin the feasting and all who were related to them; and he invited all his\ntribes to feast upon the slain, to shout insult and spite over the dead\nand their bones far into the world, and to curse their bones, to break\nthem, and scatter them all over the world!--\n\nAh, ah, my friend--but Tihi! Ah, from that time he sat alone at the fire\nin his whare-puni, brooding and sorrowing and crying; and happiness\nnever again entered his heart--Tihi-o-te-Rangi! But then, my friend, he\ncollected his warriors against the enemy Tu-poho, and from that time the\nfrightful war was waged between the two insulted chiefs of which the\npeople of both tribes know numberless doleful songs.\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nXVI\n\nTHE BATTLE OF THE GIANTS\n\n\nCalmness reigned over the world, and Ngawai\u2019s murmurings died away in the\nsilent night.\n\nIncantations.\n\nYes, Ngawai, your story was beautiful, your story of Te-marama and Tihi,\nthe warrior; but many hours has the night, and my mind wandered out\nto the Little Ones, the Patu-paiarehe, and they told me the spirit of\nTe-marama was not dead, but still wandered along the path that leads to\ngladden the heart of man; and her name was Ngawai.\n\nBut, Ngawai, look, the fire has burnt lower and lower, and no fresh wood\nhas been put on the embers----but look, there, yonder! Look how the snow\nof the mountain is hailing joyfully the Morning Sun.\n\n\u201cAh, too young is still the morning, my good friend, for the wanderings\nof man, rest and listen----\u201d\n\nBeautiful crimson and golden, and blue and silver-white, with hushing\nshades and flashing lights rises the mountain-world into the new-born\nday. Like God\u2019s own messenger of peace towers the snow-clad giant over\nthe world, breathing his grandness into the universe.\n\nHow small is man, wandering over the endless base of the giant, over\nthe dead and burnt stone-wilderness! No green, no grass--the friend of\nman--enlivens the vastness out of which the eternal silence is growing\ninto the lonely magnificence.\n\nThis is Ngawai\u2019s story:\n\n\nTHE GIANTS\n\nOnce the volcanoes Taranaki, Ruapehu, and Tongariro dwelled together.\nThat was the time when Tongariro in her wonderful beauty had captured\nthe fiery hearts of the two giants, so that their joy filled the heavens\nwith majestic outbursts and covered the earth with their dark-glowing\nheart-blood of fiery lava and molten stones.\n\nSoftly then answered the gently ascending Steam-column of Tongariro,\nsmiling and swaying, gold-bordered by the setting sun; smiling at both\nher suitors.\n\nAh, Tongariro was a woman!\n\nBoth, the straight and simple Taranaki and the rugged and strong Ruapehu,\ntheir cloud-piercing heads covered with spotless snow, or adorned in\ntheir passion-glowing lava-streams, were beloved by Tongariro; but the\nsnows of the winter and the suns of the summer came and went from the\nfirst time, to the hundredth time, to the thousandth time, and still\nTongariro was undecided whom she would prefer for a husband.\n\nShe became the sacred mountain of the Maori people; her beauty captured\nthe hearts of all, so that she became the possessor of the highest tapu,\nand no foot dared walk upon her, and only the eyes of the new-born were\ndirected towards her; and the eyes of the departing rested full love upon\nher beauty, whilst they wandered to the Reinga.\n\n[Illustration: A GIANT]\n\nThe eyes of generations upon generations of man.\n\nBeautiful to behold from all the lands was the great love of the giants;\nnow all covered with glittering snow, now hiding in the clouds and\nbursting forth, covered with strange and wonderful beauty; now girdling\ntheir bodies with clouds and lifting their endless heads into the golden\nheavens; and now again breaking forth into terrible passions, covering\nthe earth with blackness.\n\nAh, Tongariro roused the passions of the giants: she made the volcanoes\ntremble! Their blood of fire and boiling stones shook them, the\nthundering of their voices, roaring insults at each other, made the earth\ntremble. Streams of lightning pierced the nights, and black smoke of\ndeadly hate darkened the days, and the ears of man were filled with the\nroaring hate of the giants, and their wondering eyes beheld the beauty of\nTongariro, smiling at both!\n\nAt last the two rivals decided to fight for Tongariro!\n\nNow followed days of silence. The giants stood there grim and silent to\nthe world, but they were gathering strength, and were melting stones in\ntheir insides, and lit terrible fires, their powerful weapons. So they\nstood silent and grim; the sun gilding their beautiful garments of snow,\nand Tongariro smiled at them with her graceful swaying column of steam;\nand the Maori people looked wonderingly upon the peaceful landscape.\n\nThen a rolling grew into the nights, and rolling filled the days; louder\nand louder, night after night, day after day--a terrible groaning, damp\nand deep. Suddenly a crashing thunder shook the earth, and bursting forth\nfrom the mouth of Ruapehu a fiery mass of molten stones and black hate\nand fury fell upon Taranaki, covering him with a terrible coat of fire,\nwhilst the flying winds howled and the melted snow-waters fled thundering\ndown into the valleys.\n\nA beautiful straight form gave the mass of fire and ashes to\nTaranaki--but he shook in terrible rage! He tore himself out of the\nground, shaking the earth and breaking the lands asunder; he tried to\nfly at Ruapehu, to kill him with his weight. But Ruapehu made the water\nof his lake, high up in the snows, boil, and, hurling it down, it filled\nall the rends Taranaki had made in the earth, and burned all the inside\nof the earth and of Taranaki himself. He now, tearing the air with his\nroaring cries of pain and thundering howling of rage, threw a tremendous\nmass of stones at his enemy, and broke the highest cone, the loftiest\npeak of Ruapehu, so that his looks were not so majestic, and his reach\nnot so far into the skies.\n\nRuapehu now, in deadly hate, swallowed his broken cone and melted it; he\nlit terrible fires in his inside, which spread to the lake Roto-aira, so\nthat it rose and boiled, the steam covering all the world and blinding\nTaranaki. Then Ruapehu filled himself with the boiling water, and,\nthrowing it out of his mouth down upon Taranaki, it filled all the\ncrevices, and it lifted him, for he himself had loosened his bonds with\nthe earth; and now, darkening day into night, he sent the molten mass\nof his swallowed cone against his enemy, so that he was compelled to\nretreat: blinded by steam, burned in his inside by the boiling water, and\ncovered with the molten mass of the cone of Ruapehu he himself had broken.\n\nHe groaned, and rose, and tumbled, and shook himself; and he felt for a\nway to the sea to cool his burning pain; howling in unbearable pain he\nhad to run, in order to get out of reach of Ruapehu, deeply hollowing his\npath through the lands. But his conqueror, Ruapehu, melting all his ice\nand snow, sent it as boiling water into this deep path, that his enemy\nmight not come back again, for his strength also was exhausted.\n\nOn to the sea went Taranaki, and, when his pain had left him a little,\nhe looked back at his conqueror, and saw how his three peaks were again\ncovered with fresh snow, and how he was now the supreme lord over all the\nlands and the husband of Tongariro. They two were now the arikis over\nall the land; but it was waste now, and dead, for the terrible fight had\nkilled all the people and the living beings all around. Once more a burst\nof black anger broke forth from Taranaki, and again it was answered by\na wonderful swaying and smiling steam-column from Tongariro; and then\nhe went and wandered along the coast till he had found a place for his\nsorrow. There he stands now, brooding on revenge.\n\n\u201cAnd my people know that one day he will come back in a straight line, to\nfight Ruapehu again; and none of my people will ever live or be buried\nin that lime; for one day he will come back to fight for Tongariro--who\nknows?\u201d\n\nBut the path of Taranaki to the sea is now the Wanganui River.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration: THE BATTLE]\n\n\n\n\nXVII\n\nTHE COMING OF THE MAORI.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA long double sailing-canoe, with a connecting platform and a thatched\ndeck-house amidships, put off one day long ago into the Great Ocean of\nKiwa from the palm-clad shores of Tahiti the Golden, in the far South\nSeas. A multitude of brown people stood on the shining beach, with loud\ncries bidding farewell to the brave band of kinsmen who were adventuring\ninto the vast unknown places in search of a new and wider land. In their\nmidst, leaning on his staff, was the patriarchal chief Hou-mai-tawhiti.\nBent by the weight of years was the ancient man, and his long white\nbeard swept his breast. And as the canoe-paddles took the water and she\ngathered way, a voice of Hou\u2019 was heard crying his poroporoaki, his\nfarewell to the crew. \u201cGo! Go! Depart to your new land. Leave war and\nstrife behind you. Follow not after the God of War; hold to the deeds of\nRongo the Peaceful. Haere! Haere! Haere atu ra!\u201d\n\nAnd then the sails of the great canoe were hoisted, the foresail, the\nmain and the mizzen, for she had three masts--lofty triangular mat-sails\nwith the apex downwards. Like a huge sea-bird she swept across the\nblue lagoon to the reef-opening; then she bravely mounted up on the\ngreat ocean-rollers, te-whare-hukahuka-a-Tangaroa (\u201cthe sea-god\u2019s foamy\ndwelling\u201d). The brisk trade-wind filled her sails, and away she bounded\ninto the south-west, growing smaller and smaller--a mere speck upon the\ngreat waters, until she faded from the vision of the keenest watcher on\nthe shore.\n\nThis was the Arawa, most famous of all the historic fleet of canoes\nthat voyaged thousands of miles across the Pacific to this new land\nAo-tea-roa, the Great White World. Her commander was Tama-te-Kapua (Son\nof the Clouds), the son of the venerable Hou-mai-Tawhiti. And of Tama\u2019s\ndoings and the perils that befell the Maori Mayflower I shall briefly\ntell.\n\nTama-te-Kapua was a bold and cunning man. He invited the high-priest\nNgatoro-i-Rangi on board the Arawa to perform the sacred rites\nappropriate on the occasion of putting to sea, and then refused to allow\nhim on shore again. He carried him off across the ocean to be the Arawa\u2019s\npriest, knowing that Ngatoro\u2019 was under the protection of the atuas and\nancestral spirits of the race, and that he was indeed almost a god in\nhimself.\n\nWhile crossing the ocean in search of the new land Ao-tea-roa,\nTama-te-Kapua clandestinely gained the affections of the lady Kearoa, the\nwife of Ngatoro-i-Rangi, who had accompanied her husband. When Ngatoro\u2019\ndiscovered this, he resolved to destroy the canoe and all that were on\nboard. So to this end he directed the bow of the Arawa straight towards\nthe Waha-o-te-Parata, the Mouth of the Sea-monster, a terrible whirlpool,\nor maelstrom, in mid-ocean, which had sucked down many a vessel to\ndestruction. The sea-battered craft entered the outer circle of the\nmaelstrom, swiftly approached the fatal spot where the Ocean God drew\ndown the waters with an awful, roaring noise. The people in their terror\ncried to Ngatoro-i-Rangi to save them, but he heeded not. Then stood up\nIka, one of the chiefs on board, and recited a karakia to Rangi, the Sky\nGod, praying him to save the canoe, te-kaokao-o-Tane, the ribs of Tane\nthe Tree God, and beat down the angry waves of Tangaroa.\n\nBut the ears of the gods were closed, and downwards surged the Arawa. The\nroaring of the Waha-o-Parata grew more terrifying, and the men and women\nand children on board cried again to Ngatoro-i-Rangi to save them. And\nthe high-priest rose, and in a wild chant he invoked Tangaroa the Ocean\nGod, and called upon many a deified ancestral spirit. Loud pealed his\nawa-moana, his rhythmic storm-assuaging incantation (beginning \u201cUnuhia,\nunuhia te pou tapu, ko te pou mua, ko te pou roto\u201d). He besought the gods\nto draw out the canoe from the dread tumult of water, the sacred canoe\nthat once grew as a tree (pou-tapu) in the enchanted Forests of Tane--to\nsave from the throat of the Ogre of the Depths the ship of Ngatoro\u2019. He\ncalled upon the spirits of Ruarangi, of Maui-tiki-tiki-o-Taranga, to\ndescend by the path of Tawhaki the God-man from the heavens, and \u201cclear\nfrom perils all the ocean track of Ngatoro\u2019.\u201d\n\n \u201cO Ngahue!\n Here am I in Parata\u2019s Mouth.\n Rise, O Tangaroa, rise!\n Rise, O canoe and glide along!\n We gather way;\n \u2019Tis a propitious tide;\n The danger\u2019s o\u2019er!\n (Ek\u00e9, ek\u00e9, Tangaroa!\n Ek\u00e9, panuk\u00e9!\n Hui-\u00e9!\n Taiki-\u00e9!)\u201d\n\n[Illustration: HAWAIKI]\n\n[Illustration: THE JOURNEY]\n\nAnd the mana tapu, the supernatural influence of that awa-moana, and of\nthe Tohunga, was such that the terrific lashing of the sea was calmed,\nthe gaping whirlpool closed again; the great billows ceased to tumble,\nthe heavens grew light, and the canoe sailed on once more in safety over\nthe long heaving swell of the Ocean of Kiwa. Magical indeed was that\nringing sea-chant of Ngatoro\u2019, as potent in its peace-compelling numbers\nas that mermaid\u2019s song of which Oberon discoursed to Puck in _A Midsummer\nNight\u2019s Dream_:--\n\n \u201cThou rememberest since once I sat upon a promontory,\n And heard a mermaid on a dolphin\u2019s back\n Utter such dulcet and harmonious breath\n That the rude sea grew civil at her song,\n And certain stars shot madly from their spheres\n To hear the sea-maid\u2019s music.\u201d\n\nIt was midsummer when the sea-worn pilgrims at last made landfall on\nthe far-extending coast of the Long White World. As they drew close in\nto the shores, near the East Cape of the North Island, they saw that\nthe cliffs, shining like chalk in the sun, were fringed with beautiful\ntrees, the pohutukawa. Groves of these trees, too, grew right down to\nthe tide-edge, and the rich crimson flowers which covered them were\nreflected in glowing red (ura) in the calm and glassy waters. Several of\nthe people in the canoe wore red ornaments, relics of Hawaiki, in their\nhair. On seeing the beautiful red flowers they impulsively threw their\nown head-ornaments into the sea, and, when they leaped ashore they ran to\ngather the blossoms of the pohutukawa to deck their hair, only to find to\ntheir disappointment that they fell to pieces at a touch.\n\nThe first place where they landed was Whanga-paraoa (Whale Harbour),\nso called because they found a great sperm-whale stranded there. Here\nwere performed the ceremonies of thanksgiving for safe arrival, the\noffering of seaweed--the spoils of Tangaroa--and of the earth of the new\ncountry to the gods. The sacred fire was kindled and the sacred kumara\nroasted, in burnt sacrifice to the spirits of this vast strange land.\nThey coasted along, and finally hauled the canoe ashore at Maketu, whence\nthey travelled inland, exploring and making homes for themselves. It is\ntheir descendants who now people the Geyserland district of Ao-tea-roa,\nextending from the Bay of Plenty southwards to the great central lake of\nTaupo. Ngatoro-i-Rangi the high-priest and his wife took up their abode\non the island of Motiti. From Ngatoro\u2019 sprang a line of powerful priests\nof Ariki rank, and one of his direct descendants is Te Heuheu Tukino, the\npresent head chief of Taupo.\n\nTama-te-Kapua wandered wide and far over the face of the Long White\nWorld, and at last made his home on the bold mountainous headland which\nthe pakeha calls Cape Colville, guarding the Hauraki Gulf and its cloud\nof islands. Here Tama\u2019 died, and here his sons buried him, on the\nforested ridge of Moehau. On the lofty mountain-top was the chieftain\nlaid to rest, and his sons as they performed the last rites said:\n\n\u201cLet him slumber here, where his spirit can gaze far over the ocean and\nover the land of Ao-tea-roa. And the winds that sweep across the Great\nOcean of Kiwa, they shall ever sing his oriori, his wild lullaby.\u201d\n\nAnd to this day the mountain-cape where the Captain of the Arawa was\nburied is called by the Maoris Te-Moe-hau-o-Tama-te-Kapua (Tama\u2019s Windy\nSleeping-Place).\n\n\n\n\nXVIII\n\nTRADITION--TAMA-TE-KAPUA\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAlong a narrow path through the flowering manuka-shrub led Ngawai; round\ngroaning, rolling, bursting, and steaming mud-craters wound the path,\nand steam hissed everywhere from out the ground--now on to the larger\ncrater-basins full of boiling water, green, blue, white, and always\nwonderfully transparent. Out of the middle of the basins rose vast\nboiling columns out of the unmeasurable depth to the surface, there to\nburst, bubbling and boiling. A beautiful but terror-inspiring spectacle\nare these crater-pools: silent, heartless, death-bringing, boiling from\nall beginning--from the time that Ngatoro-i-Rangi had called them from\nHawaiki by his incantations: boiling, boiling, boiling; crowned with a\nthin cloud of steam, framed by the dripping, overhanging manuka-bushes.\n\nPitiless, eternal water-graves are these dark-green boiling seas, and\nthe everlasting gargling of the water is like a death-song of lost souls\nhovering over them.\n\nDizzily narrow now led the path between two craters. Silently steamed the\nlarge basin to the right, its neighbour gargled and bubbled. Suddenly,\nas if by enchantment, the gargling water disappeared, and a moment\nafterwards shot a majestic column of water from out of the funnel, the\nair filling with vast clouds of steam. The whole column then broke in\nitself together, roaring and splashing; the boiling water overflowed the\nGeyser-crater and filled the large steaming basin, which is only by a\nthin wall separated from the Geyser, with a fresh supply of hot water in\nwhich the Maoris and their white friends enjoy their bath, their chat,\nand their smoke, especially when the winds blow down from the snow-fields\nof the mountains.\n\nDuring the night the geysers groaned and burst and splashed all around:\nthe noises accompanied the stories of the old friend--sometimes\ninterrupting his murmurings, and sometimes lending power and truth to his\nwords.\n\n[Illustration: THE FIRST OFFERING TO THE GODS]\n\n[Illustration: Ngatoro-i-Rangi e Tama-te-Kapua]\n\n\nTRADITION.\n\nNgatoro-i-Rangi is the Sun.\n\nTama-te-Kapua, the cloud invites the Sun to travel in his canoe, and\nNgatoro-i-Rangi, coming from the east, follows the invitation and brings\nhis wife, the Earth; for with the rising of the Sun out of darkness rises\nalso the Earth.\n\nDuring the journey Ngatoro climbs up to the Height of the Midday, tying\nthe earth to him by his sun-rays; but Tama-te-Kapua unties the sun-rays\nwhich bind the earth to the Sun--the cloud flies over the earth--and\ntakes her to his wife.\n\nWhen Ngatoro now suddenly descends from on high, and bursts through the\nclouds, then is it too late: his rays are too feeble to tie them quickly\nagain to the Earth.\n\nWrathful over the insult Tama-te-Kapua had done to him, Ngatoro now\nsteers the canoe into the western precipice: the Sun is setting, and\nnight swallows the canoe; and in vain does Tama-te-Kapua call for help\nfrom Ngatoro: everything is swallowed in darkness. But at last Ngatoro\ntakes pity and saves the canoe: the Sun ascends again in the East, and\nsteers the canoe against the West, to Ao-tea-roa. Far from Hawaiki now\nthey landed.\n\nNgatoro takes possession of the land.\n\nWherever he ascends a hill, he stamps water out of the ground, and he\nputs the fairies, the Patu-paiarehe, upon the hills.\n\nAt last he ascends Tongariro, but his companions, whom he had left\nbehind, saw that he became paler and paler as he reached the summit of\nTongariro: the sun was frozen in the ice-cold atmosphere of the sacred\nmountain. At last, nearly dead, Ngatoro offers incantations to the gods\nat Hawaiki, and they send the fire to him.\n\nIt came through the paths of the Lower World and it burst through the\nearth on many places: at Roto-ehu, Roto-rua, Tarawera, and at many more\nplaces; but at last it ascended Tongariro, and created a volcano, and the\nfire and heat of the volcano saved Ngatoro-i-Rangi from a frightful death.\n\n\u201cNgatoro-i-Rangi, my listener is the ancestor of the tribe of the\nNgati-tu-wharetoa; we all are the descendants of Ngatoro-i-Rangi, and the\nsacred Tongariro is the guardian of my people.\u201d\n\nOut of a wonderful spectacle of colours springs the new day into life.\n\nThe rising sun condenses the steam which is hanging, a large white cloud,\nover the landscape. Like granades are the geysers shooting into the mass\nof steam, and from everywhere is steam ascending thickening the silvery\nmass, which hangs swaying and broadening, and bordered with a golden rim,\nover our heads. Under the cloud glitters on the near hilltops the fresh\nfallen snow.\n\nNow the heart of our old friend feels also joy and happiness.\n\nOn the edge of the warm crater basin he squats, covered in his mat, and\nlooking far into the beautiful day, he commenced his last narrative--\n\n\u201cThe bursting open of the gates of heaven\u201d--so finished the old Tohunga\nhis last song of creation--\u201cwas the work of Tamatea.\n\nDim was the light at first, but faster and more powerful became the\nblows of Tamatea upon the hangi (oven) in which all that was left of\nTu-taka-hina-hina, a mighty ancestor of the Maori people, was roasting;\nand at last his blows burst the gate that closed in the days. And day\ncame, and the full and long day came. The people of the world, now freed\nfrom darkness, looked around, and they could see how many had died during\nthe everlasting darkness; and they could see how very few survived.\n\nAt last they saw with wonder how Tamatea, instead of Tangaroa, now took\nthe Dawn of Morning in his keeping, and they knew that the time of the\nMany Days had come, and they cried full of joy and gladness: \u2018Truly,\nTamatea, this is the Dawn of our days!\u2019\u201d\n\nThen the old friend pointed with a bony finger towards the Sun and spoke\nno more.\n\n[Illustration: THE BREAKING OPEN OF THE GATES OF HEAVEN]\n\n\n\n\nXIX\n\nA TANGI\n\n\n[Illustration: TE HEU-HEU]\n\nLike a filled sponge is the air lying over the pa, heavy and\nsorrowful--filled with desolate cries. Dismal wails issue from the groups\nwhich surround the dead chief, men and women howling, dancing, and\ndistorting their faces.\n\nThe wailing lies like a cloud upon the earth, and hangs like fog around\nthe groups. A sharp shriek pierces the air, or a shouted sentence in\nhonour of the dead chief cuts the fog; and again everything unites into a\nmonotonous, heart-breaking lament.\n\nThe dead chief was a Rangatira-Tohunga, and deep is the sorrow of his\npeople from the mountains and his people from the lake. The women of his\nnext relatives cut their breasts with sharp-edged shells, bleeding, and\nhowling in their pain and sorrow.\n\nTribe upon tribe nears with dismal lament: all are received by the old\nwomen with the long-drawn, piercing cry of welcome to the Tangi. The\nwomen march in front; they have flowers wound around their heads, and\nwave flowers and twigs and leaves in their outstretched arms up and down,\nup and down--a sign of sorrow. Crying and sobbing follow the men, whose\nheads are bent and whose gestures betoken the deepest grief--warlike\nfigures, with tattoed faces bestrewn with tears.\n\nIn long lines they approach. Canoe after canoe brings ever new hapus\n(parties), and each approaches in a long line loudly howling: louder and\nlouder grow the howls till the hapu stands before the dead chief, who is\ncovered with the red feather-mat of his rank; and there the whole mass of\npeople is uniting in terrible dirge, dancing and distorting their faces,\nin which each new arrival joins. All nature seems to lament: the wide\nlake, the hills, the forests upon the hills and the cloud-covered heads\nof the mountains--all is united in grief.\n\nSlowly night descends and covers the dirge in darkness.\n\nGreat was the mana of the dead Rangatira; terrible was his death; and\ngreat sorrow fills the hearts of his people.\n\nThe star-lit night is wonderfully clear, and looks down upon the dead\nchief in his red garment of the Rangatira, surrounded by the treasures of\nhis people; in his hand the beautiful greenstone weapon, the famous mere\nPahi-kaure.\n\nSlowly the moon ascends over the murmuring waves of the lake, and streams\npeacefully her soft light down upon the thousands who are sleeping around\nher dead Rangatira.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nTE REINGA, THE MAORI SPIRIT-LAND\n\n The empty forms of men inhabit there;\n Impassive semblances, images of air.--_The Odyssey._\n\nIn the extreme north of the North Island of New Zealand is the\nMuri-whenua, the Land\u2019s End, where the never-resting surges thunder\nat the feet of the bare rocky capes, and the giant sea-kelp swirls in\nlong snaky masses round the fabled gateway to the Maori spirit-land.\nFor here is Te Reinga, otherwise called Te Rerenga-Wairua, or the Place\nwhere the Spirits take their Flight. Te Reinga is a long craggy ridge\nthat dips down to the ocean, ending in a rocky point whence the ghosts\nof the departed take their final plunge into the realms of darkness and\noblivion. The souls (wairua) of the dead, the moment they are released\nfrom their earthly tenements, travel northwards until they arrive at the\nLand\u2019s End of Ao-tea-roa. As they near the Reinga, crossing sand-dune and\nstony cliff, treading with viewless feet the wild precipices whose bases\nare ever licked ravenously by the wilder ocean, the spirits bethink them\nof their old homes. And they pause awhile on the wind-swept heights, and\ngaze backwards over the long and dreary way by which they came; and they\nwail aloud, and lacerate themselves after the fashion of the mourners\nof this world, with sharp splinters of volcanic glass (mata-tuhua), and\nin proof thereof these mata are to be seen there to this day by living\nman. They deck their heads with par\u00e9par\u00e9, or mourning chaplets of green\nleaves, and their weird, ghostly wails for the Land of Light they are\nleaving mingle with the melancholy voice of the ocean winds. The long\nflax leaves which spring from the rocky soil on these heights above the\nReinga are often found knotted and twisted together in a peculiar manner.\nThe pakeha says this is the work of the ever restless winds and eddying\ngales which sweep the Land\u2019s End. But to the Maori those knotted leaves\nare the work of the sad spirits of their departed, tied by the ghosts\nas they pass along to the gates of Po, to show their sorrowing friends\nthe way they took in leaving this world of day. And the waterfalls cease\ntheir sound as the ghosts flit by;\n\n Trembling the spectres glide, and plaintive vent\n Thin hollow screams, along the steep descent.\n\nDown along the narrow ridge to the tideway they move, until they reach\nthe ghostly leaping-place, tapu to the _manes_ of the innumerable\nmultitude of dead. Here grew a venerable pohutukawa tree, gnarled and\nknotty, with great ropy roots trailing to the tide. By these roots the\nspirits dropped to the sea, loosing their last grip of Ao-tea-roa to\nthe dirge of the screaming sea-birds and the moaning waves. Below, the\ntossing sea-kelp opens a moment to receive the wairua, and then the dark\nwaters close over them for ever. This is the Tatau-o-te-Po, the Door of\nDeath, which is the entrance to the gloomy Kingdom of Miru, the Goddess\nof Eternal Night.\n\nMany an Ossianic concept, many a weird and poetic fancy, is woven by the\nMaoris round this haunted spot. This is a fragment of an ancient lament\nfor the dead, sung to this day at Maori tangis:\n\n[Illustration: TE REINGA]\n\n \u201cE tomo, e Pa\n Ki Murimuri-te-Po,\n Te Tatau-o-te-Po.\n Ko te whare tena\n O Rua-Kumea,\n O Rua-toia,\n O Miru ra-e!\n O tuhouropunga,\n O kaiponu-kino.\n Nana koe i maka\n Ki te kopae o te whare i!\u201d\n\n (\u201cEnter, oh sire,\n The gates of that last land,\n So dread and dark;\n The Gates of the Endless Night.\n For that is the dwelling\n Of Rua-kumea,\n Of Rua-toia,\n Of the grim goddess Miru,\n The ever-greedy one.\n \u2019Tis she who hurleth thee\n To the deep shadows of her gloomy house.\u201d)\n\nAnd, again, the tribal bards, lamenting over their dead, chant this\ncenturies-old poem:\n\n \u201cNow like an angry gale,\n The cold death-wind pierceth me through.\n O chiefs of old,\n Ye have vanished from us like the moa-bird,\n That ne\u2019er is seen of man.\n O lordly totara-tree!\n Thou\u2019rt fallen to the earth,\n And naught but worthless shrubs remain.\n I hear the waves\u2019 loud tangi\n On the strand of Spirit Land,\n Where souls, borne from this world of light,\n Cast one last look behind.\n The rolling seas surge in at Taumaha\n Singing their wave-song for the dead\n Who have forever vanished from our eyes.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nXX\n\nNGAWAI.\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nDreamily is Ngawai staring into the embers, whilst the pale new morning\nis crawling through the spaces between the fern-stems which form the\nwalls of the mountain-whare (hut).\n\nCold and pale at first appear the long stripes painted over the floor,\ntill they change slowly into warmer and more glowing colours, lighting\nup the calabashes, the nets, the paddles, and the mats, which hang on\nthe walls smoke-blackened under the raupo roof. The stripes of daylight\nare able, too, to light up Ngawai\u2019s eyes, which stare into the nearly\nburnt-out embers. More fiery glow the stripes, and suddenly they flood\nthe whare with wonderful golden light: it is pure gold, through which,\nlike music, the blue smoke ascends to the roof. Now the Sunshine pours\nin at the door, and with it the wonderful picture of the mountain-lake,\nreflecting the mountain giants, to the astonished eye. And in all the\nbeautiful world life commences again with laughter and happiness--the\nlaughter and happiness of the parting day.\n\nSlowly is the sun wandering his way in the skies; up to the height of\nmidday he wanders; the shades grow longer, and Rangi-o-mohio, a very old\nwoman, the daughter of the famous Rangatira Te Heu-heu, is still relating:\n\n\u201cListen: A great procession is ascending with much noise and shouting and\nfrolic the barren wilderness around the stone-body of Tongariro--a great\nprocession of Tohungas, warriors, women, and children.\n\nAh, Iwikau the Rangatira is leader, and they carry the bones of Te\nHeu-heu, my father.--Ah, Te Heu-heu, he was my father! Ah, with his bones\nwe wander and crawl and climb over the lonely wilderness. Ah, he was the\nRangatira over the lands--but, my son, look upon the greatest Rangatira\nof all the lands: look upon the Tongariro-tapu!\u201d\n\nNgawai listens to the narrative of the old Rangi-o-mohio whilst her eyes\nare gazing upon the sacred Tongariro. The moon has risen over the lake,\nand a fine silvery gleam is glittering upon the snow of the mountain,\nwhich is sending its beautiful column of silver high up into the skies.\nThen once more Ngawai looks sorrowfully back, and goes on her way to her\npeople in the distant pa.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nTHE BURIAL OF TE HEU-HEU ON TONGARIRO\n\nThis is Rangi-a-mohio\u2019s story:\n\nIwikau, the brother of the dead Rangatira Te Heu-heu, and chief now over\nthe tribe of the Ngati-tu-wharetoa, is the leader of a large procession\nof sorrowing, weeping people of the tribe. The four greatest warriors of\nthe tribe carried the carved box which contained the bones of Te Heu-heu;\nit was painted red, and adorned with white albatross-feathers.\n\nThe whole tribe had decided to give their dead Rangatira the mightiest\nburial-ground in all Ao-tea-roa--the crater of Tongariro-tapu!\n\nTruly, the mountain Tongariro shall swallow the bones of the Rangatira,\nthat they never may fall in the hands of man--perhaps enemies.\n\nThe sharp-edged coke-rocks cut the feet of the bearers, and the sulphur\nin the air is the deadliest foe to frolic--and what can be properly done\nwithout frolic in Maoriland? The feet of the bearers begin to bleed, the\nincantations of the Tohungas grow weaker; less overbearing, too, become\nthe songs of defiance which Iwikau is shouting to the gods: silence and\nghostly fright fall upon the multitude.\n\nDeeper now are the precipices, steeper the rocks, and hellish the\nsulphurous fumes; but high above still towers the crater, the summit of\nTongariro, the mighty grave of the Rangatira! The sacred mountain shall\nswallow the bones of the sacred chief--as the base of the mountain, in a\nfrightful landslip, has swallowed his life!\n\nGreat is the conception, and bravely they try to carry it into effect\nbeneath the mighty column of steam and sulphur which Tongariro is\nstreaming out and which the heaven is pressing down again upon the\npeople, in wrathful defiance of its sanctity.\n\nDistant thunder rolls, shaking the ground, and the sulphur-fumes press\nfiercely beneath the broadening steam-column. Hard and heavy breathe the\nbearers; terror at the temerity of the undertaking, which violates the\nsacredness of the mountain, grows in the heart of their leader.\n\nThe vast world stretches all around, and the people who surround the dead\nRangatira seem tiny and powerless as the mountain defends his sacred\ncrater with mighty bursts of steam and smoke and rolling thunder and\nsuffocating fumes. Overawed by terror the strength of the bearers fails:\nthey let fall their burden upon a rock; the hearts of the bravest are\ntrembling.\n\nThe sanctity of Tongariro-tapu cannot be violated; no, not even by the\nsacred bones of the Rangatira; and fear grows overpowering beneath the\nstill high-towering, angry crater-summit.\n\nNone dares touch the remains of Te Heu-heu again; one and all let them be\nwhere they are, upon the rock, overtowered and defended by the majestic\nsummit, with its rolling, thundering, steaming crater--and down they\ntumble, down, down, helter skelter, in wild and fearful fright they run,\na shouting, shrieking body of men, possessed by overpowering terror of\nthe sacred giant. Down, down.\n\nBut high up in the sacred regions of Tongariro lie bleaching the bones of\nthe greatest Rangatira of the mountain people----\n\nMaui Pomare, M.D., the grandson of a famous chief, gave me, at parting,\nthis lament composed by the wife of his ancestor:\n\n \u201cBehold! far off, the bright evening star\n Rises--our guardian in the dark,\n A gleam of light across my lonely way.\n Belov\u2019d, wer\u2019t thou the Evening Star,\n Thou wouldst not, fixed, so far from me remain.\n Let once again thy spirit wander back,\n To soothe my slumbers on my restless couch,\n And whisper in my dreams sweet words of love.\n Oh! cruel Death, to damp that beauteous brow\n With Night\u2019s cold softly falling dews.\n Rau-i-ru, Keeper of Celestial Gates,[3]\n There comes to thee a lovely bride\n Borne from me on Death\u2019s swollen tide.\n Belov\u2019d, thy wandering spirit now hath passed\n By pendant roots of clinging vine\n To Spirit Land, where never foot of man\n Hath trod--whence none can e\u2019er return--\n Paths to the Gods which I not yet have seen.\n Belov\u2019d, if any of that host of Heaven\n Dare ask of thee thy birth or rank,\n Say thou art of that great tribe\n Who, sacred, sprang from loins of Gods.\n As stands lone Kapiti, a sea-girt isle,\n And Tararua\u2019s solitary range,\n So I to-day stand lonely midst my grief.\n My bird with sacred wings hath flown away\n Far from my ken, to Spirit Land.\n I would I were a Kawau, resolute\n To dive into the inmost depths of time,\n To reappear at my beloved\u2019s side\n Amidst the throng upon the further shore.\n Belov\u2019d, I soon will join thee there!\n I come! Await me at the gates!\n My spirit frets; how slow is time.\u201d\n\n[3] The god who receives the spirits.\n\n[Illustration: THE BURIAL]\n\nTHE END\n\n[Illustration]\n\n Printed at\n The Edinburgh Press\n 9 and 11 Young Street","title":"Te Tohunga: The ancient legends and traditions of the Maoris","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":28736}