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the water, to be baptised, and after the ceremony prayers were offered to make him sacred, and clean from all impurities; but when it was completed, his father, Makea-tutara, felt greatly alarmed, because he remembered that he had, from mistake, hurriedly skipped over part of the prayers of the baptismal service, and of the services to purify Maui; he knew that the gods would be certain to punish this fault, by causing Maui to die, and his alarm and anxiety were therefore extreme. At night-fall they all went into his house.

"Maui, after these things, returned to his brothers to tell them that he had found his parents, and to explain to them where they dwelt."

The legend, then, goes on to relate other achievements of Maui, such as his slaying his first victim, the daughter of Maru-te-whare-aitu, and destroying by enchantment the crops of that personage. He then again visits his parents and comes in contact with a great ancestress, called Muri-ranga-whenua, who, as he approached, "sniffed and sniffed until she thought she smelt something coming, and she was very much exasperated, and her stomach began to distend itself, that she might be ready to devour Maui as soon as he

came.

On discovering who he is, however, this unpleasant preparation for Maui's reception is abated, and—

"When the stomach of Muri-ranga-whenua had quietly sunk down to its usual size, her voice was again heard saying, 'Art thou Maui?' and he answered, 'Even so.'

"Then she asked him, 'Wherefore hast thou served thy old ancestress in this deceitful way?' and Maui answered, 'I was anxious that thy jaw-bone, by which the great enchantments can be wrought, should be given to me.'

"She answered, 'Take it, it has been reserved for thee.' And Maui took it, and having done so, returned to the place where he and his brothers dwelt."-pp. 34, 35.

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gan to think that it was too soon after the rising of the sun that it became night again, and that the sun again sank down below the horizon, every day, every day; in the same manner the days appeared too short for him. So at last, one day he said to his brothers, 'Let us now catch the sun in a noose, so that we may compel him to move more slowly, in order that mankind may have long days to labour in to procure subsistence for themselves;' but they answered him, Why, no man could approach it on account of its warmth, and the fierceness of its heat; but the young hero said to them, 'Have you not seen the multitude of things I have already achieved? Did you not see me change myself into the likeness of every bird of the forest? You and I equally had the aspect and appearance of men, yet I, by my enchantments, changed suddenly from the appearance of a man, and became a bird, and then, continuing to change my form, I resembled this bird or that bird, one after the other, until I had by degrees transformed myself into every bird in the world, amall or great and did I not, after all this again, assume the form of a man? [This he did soon after he was born, and it was after that he snared the sun.] Therefore, as for that feat, oh, my brothers, the changing myself into birds, I accomplished it by enchantments, and I will by the same means accomplish also this other thing which I have in my mind. When his brothers heard this, they consented on his persuasions to aid him in the conquest of the sun.

"Then they began to spin and twist ropes to form a noose to catch the sun in, and in doing this they discovered the mode of plaiting flax into stout square-shaped ropes (tuamaka), and the manner of plaiting flat ropes (paharahara), and of spinning round ropes; at last, they finished making all the ropes which they required. Then Maui took up his enchanted weapon, and he took his brothers with him, and they carried their provisions, ropes, and other things with them, in their hands. They travelled all night, and as soon as day broke, they halted in the desert, and hid themselves that they might not be seen by the sun; and at night they renewed their journey, and before dawn they halted, and hid themselves again; at length they got very far, very far, to the eastward, and came to the very edge of the place out of which the sun rises.

"Then they set to work and built on each side of this place a long high wall of clay, with huts of boughs of trees at each end to hide themselves in; when these were finished, they made the loops of the noose, and the brothers of Maui then lay in wait on one side of the place out of which the sun rises, and Maui himself lay in wait upon the other side.

"The young hero held in his hand the enchanted weapon, the jaw-bone of his ancestress - - of Muriranga-whenua, and said to

his brothers,

Mind now, keep yourselves hid, and do not go showing yourselves foolishly to the sun; if you do, you will frighten him; but wait patiently until his head and fore legs have got well into the snare, then I will shout out; haul away as hard as you can on the ropes on both sides, and then I'll rush out and attack him, but do you keep your ropes tight for a good long time (while I attack him), until he is nearly dead, when we will let him go; but mind now, my brothers, do not let him move you to pity with his shrieks and screams.'

"At last the sun came rising up out of his place, like a fire spreading far and wide over the mountains and forests: he rises up, his head passes through the noose, and it takes more and more of his body, until his fore-paws pass through; then are pulled tight the ropes, and the monster began to struggle and roll himself about, whilst the snare jerked backwards and forwards as he struggled. Ah! was not he held fast in the ropes of his enemies!

Then forth rushed that bold hero, Mauitikitiki-o-Taranga, with his enchanted weapon. Alas! the sun screams aloud be roars Maui strikes him fiercely with many blows; they hold him for a long time, at last they let him go, and then weak from wounds, the sun crept slowly along its course. Then was learnt by men the second name of the sun, for in its agony the sun screamed out, 'Why am I thus smitten by you! oh, man? do you know what you are doing? Why should you wish to kill Tamanui-te-Ra ?' Thus was learnt his second name. At last they let him go. Oh, then, Tama-nui-te-Ra went very slowly and feebly on his course."

There is then told a story of Maui's fishing up the dry land, from the bottom of the sea, when on a fishing excursion with his brother. This origin for the dry land is, we believe, the one universally assigned throughout Polynesia; and the story in one form or other is met with in all the accounts of the mythology of the several islands. It came up as a fish; and the inequalities of the ground are ascribed to its struggles. He then has a great adventure with another great ancestress, Mahu-ika, the goddess of fire; after which he transforms his brother-inlaw, Irawaru, into a dog, and he became the progenitor of all dogs. The hero finishies his career in the following singular manner :

"Maui now felt it necessary to leave the village where Irawaru had lived, so he returned to his parents, and when he had been with them for some time, his father said to him one day, 'Oh, my son, I have heard VOL. XLVI.-NO. CCLXXI.

from your mother and others that you are very valiant, and that you have succeeded in all feats that you have undertaken in your own country, whether they were small or great; but now that you have arrived in your father's country, you will, perhaps, at last be overcome.'

And

"Then Maui asked him, 'What do you mean? what things are there that I can be vanquished by?' And his father answered him, 'By your great ancestress, by Hine-nuite-po, who, if you look, you may see flashing, and, as it were, opening and shutting there, where the horizon meets the sky.' Maui replied, Lay aside such idle thoughts, and let us both fearlessly seek whether men are to die or live for ever.' And his father said, My child, there has been an ill omen for us; when I was baptising you, I omitted a portion of the fitting prayers, and that I know will be the cause of your perishing.'

"Then Maui asked his father, What is my ancestress Hine-nui-te-po like?" And he answered,What you see yonder shining so brightly red are her eyes, and her teeth are as sharp and hard as volcanic glass; her body is like that of a man; and as for the pupils of her eyes, they are jasper; and her hair is like the tangles of long sea-weed, and her mouth is like that of a baracouta.' Then his son answered him, 'Do you think her strength is as great as that of Tama-nui-te-Ra, who consumes man, and the earth, and the very waters, by the fierceness of his heat? was not the world formerly saved alive by the speed with which he travelled? If he had then, in the days of his full strength and power, gone as slowly as he does now, not a remnant of mankind would have been left living upon the earth, nor, indeed would anything else have survived. But I laid hold of Tama-nui-te-Ra, and now he goes slowly, for I smote him again and again, so that he is now feeble, and long in travelling his course, and he now gives but very little heat, having been weakened by the blows of my enchanted weapon; I then, too, split him open in many places, and from the wounds so made many rays now issue forth, and spread in all directions. So, also, I found the sea much larger than the earth; but by the power of the last born of your children, part of the earth was drawn up again, and dry land came forth.' And his father answered him That is all very true, O, my last born, and the strength of my old age; well, then, be bold - go and visit your great ancestress who flashes so fiercely there, where the edge of the horizon meets the sky.'

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"Hardly was this conversation concluded with his father, when the young hero went forth to look for companions to accompany him upon this enterprise: and so there came to him for companions, the small robin, and the large robin, and the thrush, and the yellow-hammer, and every kind of little bird, and the water-wagtail, and these all assem

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bled together, and they all started with Maui in the evening, and arrived at the dwelling of Hine-nui-te-po, and found her fast asleep.

"Then Maui addressed them all, and said, 'My little friends, now if you see me creep into this old chieftainess, do not laugh at what you see-nay, do not, I pray you; but when I have got altogether inside her, and just as I am coming out of her mouth, then you may shout with laughter if you please.' And his little friends, who were frightened at what they saw, replied, 'Oh, sir, you will certainly be killed.' And he answered them, If you burst out laughing at me as soon as I get inside her, you will wake her up, and she will certainly kill me at once; but if you do not laugh until I am quite inside her, and am on the point of coming out of her mouth, I shall live, and Hine-nui-te-po will die.' And his little friends answered, Go on, then, brave sir, but pray take good care of yourself.'

"Then the young hero started off, and twisted the strings of his weapon tight round his wrist, and went into the house, and stripped off his clothes, and the skin on his hips looked mottled and beautiful as that of a mackarel, from the tattoo marks cut on it with the chisel of Uetonga-and he entered the old chieftainess.

"The little birds now screwed up their tiny cheeks, trying to suppress their laughter; at last the little Tiwakawaka could no longer keep it in, and laughed out loud, with its merry cheerful note: this woke the old woman up, she opened her eyes, started up, and killed Maui.

"Thus died this Maui we have spoken of; but before he died he had children, and sons were born to him; some of his descendants yet live in Hawaiki, some in Aotearoa (or in these islands); the greater part of his descendants remained in Hawaiki, but a few of them came here to Aotearoa. According to the traditions of the Maori,* this was the causé of the introduction of death into the world (Hine-nui-te-po being the goddess of death: if Maui had passed safely through her, then no more human beings would have died, but death itself would have been destroyed), and we express it by saying, 'The water-wagtail laughing at Maui-tikitiki-o-Taranga made Hine-nui-te-po squeeze him to death.' And we have this proverb 'Men make heirs, but death carries them off.'

"Thus end the deeds of the son of Makea

tutara, and of Taranga, and the deeds of the sons of Ranginui, and of Papa-tu-a-Nuku. This is the narrative about the generations of the ancestors of the inhabitants of New Zealand, and, therefore, we, the people of that country, preserve closely these traditions of old times, as a thing to be taught to the generations that come after us so we

repeat them in our prayers, and whenever we relate the deeds of the ancestors from whom each family is descended, and upon other similar occasions."-p. 54.

The legend of Tawhaki follows that of Maui. He, returning from fishing with two of his brothers-in-law, is attacked by them, supposed to be killed, and buried, without any apparent reason or object, in a way that is characteristic of Polynesian, and especially of New Zealand nature. His wife, finding he did not return with her brothers, immediately suspects they have killed him, searches till she finds his grave, and digs him up again, and recovers him. We have then this remarkable passage:

"As soon as Tawhaki had recovered from his wounds, he left the place where his faithless brothers-in-law lived, and went away, taking all his own warriors and their families with him, and built a fortified village upon the top of a very lofty mountain, where he could easily protect himself-and they dwelt there. Then he called aloud to the gods, his ancestors, for revenge, and they let the floods of heaven descend, and the earth was overwhelmed by the waters, and all human beings perished; and the name given to that event was, 'The overwhelming of the Mataaho,' and the whole of that race perished." pp. 60, 61.

He then proceeded to take revenge on a race called the Ponaturi, who had killed his father. Now, the Ponaturi inhabited a country underneath the waters, but always came to the dry land at night to sleep, where they had a large house, called Manawa Tarre. Tawhaki and his younger brother reach this place, and find their mother, Uratonga, who had been carried off captive by the Ponaturi, and the bones of their father, which were hung up under the high, sloping roof of the house, rattled loudly together for gladness when they heard Tawhaki repeating his incantations as he hour of revenge was now come." By came along for they knew that the aid of their mother they concealed themselves in the thatch of the house; and having luckily escaped the smelling powers of the scout who preceded the Ponaturi, they stopped up all the crevices of the house during the night,

* Inhabitants of New Zealand.

so as to keep it dark till after sunrise. Deceived by the assurances of Uratonga that it was not yet dawn, the Ponaturi lay on till the sun rose, when the stopping being suddenly withdrawn from the crevices, and the door opened, the sun's rays killed the whole of that strange race that lived beneath the waters, slept upon the land, but perished if the sun shone on them.

Does not the reader feel almost sure that there is some true and remarkable history concealed and distorted among these mists and clouds of fable? The legend then proceeds:

"The fame of Tawhaki's courage in thus destroying the race of Ponaturi, and a report also of his manly beauty, chanced to reach the ears of a young maiden of the heavenly race who live above in the skies; so one night she descended from the heavens to visit Tawhaki, and to judge for herself whether these reports were true. She found him lying sound asleep, and after gazing on him for some time, she stole to his side, and laid herself down by him. He, when disturbed by her, thought it was only some female of this lower world, and slept again; but before dawn the young girl stole away again from his side, and ascended once more to the heavens. In the early morning Tawhaki awoke and felt all over his sleeping place with both his hands, but in vain he could nowhere find the young girl.

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"From that time Tango-tango, the girl of the heavenly race, stole every night to the side of Tawhaki, and lo! in the morning she was gone, until she found that she had conceived a child, who was afterwards named Arabuta; then full of love for Tawhaki, she disclosed herself fully to him, and lived constantly in this world with him, deserting, for his sake, her friends above; and he discovered that she who had so loved him belonged to the race whose home is in the heavens."—pp. 66, 67.

Tango-tango, however, takes offence at Tawhaki's complaining of the bad smell of their little baby, and flies away again to heaven. Tawhaki resolves to follow her, and after some adventures and meeting with his grandmother in a mysterious manner, he climbs up the tendrils that hang down from heaven at a certain place, and thus, like Jack and the beanstalk, reaches an upper country, where, however, things seem pretty much the same as they are below. He here disguises himself as an old man of the common sort, and is treated as a slave by his brothers-in-law, whom he finds dubbing out a canoe; and is not re

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"She asked him, Tell me, are you Tawhaki?' He murmured Humph' in assent, still walking on until he reached the side of his wife, and then he snatched up his little daughter, and, holding her fast in his arms, pressed her to his heart. The persons present all rushed out of the courtyard of the house to the neighbouring courtyards - for the whole place was made tapu by Tawhaki, and murmurs of gratification and surprise arose from the people upon every side at the splendour of his appearance; for in the days when he had been amongst them as an old man, his figure was very different from the resplendent aspect which he presented on this day.

"Then he retired to rest with his wife, and said to her, 'I came here that our little daughter might be made to undergo the ceremonies usual for the children of nobles, to secure them good fortune and happiness in this life; then Tango-tango consented.

"When in the morning the sun arose, they broke out an opening through the end of the house opposite to the door, that the little girl's rank might be seen by her being carried out that way instead of through the usual entrance to the house; and they repeated the prescribed prayers when she was carried through the wall out of the house.

"The prayers and incantations being fi nished, lightnings flashed from the arm-pits of Tawhaki; then they carried the little girl to the water, and plunged her into it, and repeated a baptismal incantation over her." - pp. 79, 80.

In the following story there is an account of a pet whale called Putunui, that came at the call of its master, Pinirau, and allowed steaks to be cut from its sides. This whale was stolen by a magician called Kae, and dragged ashore by his people, and cooked and eaten. But the savoury smell was wafted across the sea to Pinirau, and this circumstance was the cause of a

war.

In another legend there is another highly characteristic anecdote, showing how sport, and murder, and cannibalism mingled in their life, and the way

in which a whole tribe instantly committed themselves to the consequences of an individual act of one of their number, and a war arose in which they were all eventually destroyed:

"When Mairatea grew up, she was married to the son of a chief named Poporokewa, the chief of the Ati-Hapai tribe, and she accompanied her husband to his home; but Tuwhakaro remained at his own village, and after a time he longed to see his sister, and thought he would go and pay her a visit; so he went, and arrived at a very large house belonging to the tribe Poporokewa, the name of which was Uru-o-Manono; all the family and dependants of Poporokewa lived in that house, and Tuwhakararo remained there with them. It happened that a young sister of his brother-in-law, whose name was Maurea, took a great fancy to him, and showed that she liked him, although, at the very time, she was carrying on a courtship with another young man of the Ati-Hapai tribe.

"Whilst Tuwhakararo was on this visit to his brother-in-law, some of the young men of the Ati-Hapai tribe asked him one day to wrestle with them, and he, agreeing to this, stood up to wrestle, and the one who came forward as his competitor was the sweetheart of his brother-in-law's young sister. Tuwhakararo laid hold of the young man, and soon gave him a severe fall. That match being over, they both stood up again, and Tuwhakararo, lifting him in his arms, gave him another severe fall; and all the young people of the Ati-Hapai tribe burst out laughing at the youth, for having had two such heavy falls from Tuwhakararo, and he sat down upon the ground looking very foolish, and feeling exceeding sulky and provoked at being laughed at by everybody.

"Tuwhakararo, having also finished wrestling, sat down too, and began to put on his clothes again, and whilst he was in the act of putting his head through his cloak, the young man he had thrown in wrestling ran up, and just as his head appeared through the cloak threw a handful of sand in his eyes. Tuwhakararo, wild with pain, could see nothing, and began to rub his eyes, to get the dust out and to ease the anguish; the young man then struck him on the head, and killed him. The people of the AtiHapai tribe then ran in upon him and cut his body up, and afterwards devoured it; and they took his bones, and hung them up in the roof, under the ridge-pole of their house Te Uru-o-Manono."-pp. 99–101.

As a contrast to all this battle, murder, and sudden death, we must give a condensed account of the charming story of Hine-Moa, the maiden of Rotorua, which is the last for which we have space-A lady of the name of Ranezi

Uru, the wife of Whakane-Kaipapa, by whom she had several children, ran away with another chief, by whom she had a son called Tutanekai. She afterwards, however, returned to her husband, bringing this Tutanekai, who was well received by Whakane, and treated as his own son, and they all lived comfortably together on the island of Mokoia. This island is apparently one in the Lake of Rotorua, near what we call the Bay of Penty, in the North Island of New Zealand:.

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"Now there reached them here a great report of Hine-Moa, that she was a maiden of rare beauty, as well as of high rank, for Umukaria (the great ancestor of the Ngati Unui-karia-hapu, or sub-tribe) was her father; her mother's name was Hine-Marn. When such fame attended her beauty and rank, Tutanekai and each of his elder brothers desired to have her as a wife.

"About this time Tutanekai built an elevated balcony, on the slope of that hill just above you there, which is called Kaiweka. He had contracted a great friendship for a young man named Tiki; they were both fond of music - Tutanekai played on the horn, and Tiki on the pipe; and they used to go up into the balcony and play on their instruments in the night; and in calm evenings the sound of their music was wafted by the gentle land-breeze across the lake to the village at Owhata, where dwelt the beautiful young Hine-Moa, the younger sister of Wahiao.

"Hine-Moa could then hear the sweetsounding music of the instruments of Tutanekai and of his dear friend Tiki, which gladdened her heart within her. Every night the two friends played on their instruments in this manner; and Hine-Moa then ever said to herself, Ah! that is the music of Tutanekai which I hear.'

"For although Hine-Moa was so prized by her family, that they would not betroth her to any chief, nevertheless she and Tutanekai had met each other on those occasions when all the people of Rotorua came together.

"In those great assemblies of the people Iine-Moa had seen Tutanekai, and as they often glanced each at the other, to the heart of each of them the other appeared pleasing, and worthy of love, so that in the breast of each there grew up a secret passion for the other. Nevertheless, Tutanekai could not tell whether he might venture to approach Hine-Moa to take her hand, to see would she press his in return, because, said he, 'Perhaps I may be by no means agreeable to her.' On the other hand, Hine-Moa's heart said to her, If you send one of your female friends to tell him of your love, perchance he will not be pleased with you.'

"However, after they had thus met for

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