E—No. 7

LECTURES ON and desired him to punish her husband. Tangaroa collected his forces and made an attack on the settlement in which the deserting husband resided. The fish gained a victory over the men of the settlement, and, as a recompense for their valour, Tangaroa granted the request which any of the fish might make. The gurnet wished to be red, and to be able to groan like a dying man ; hence the colour of this fish, and the groan which it makes when caught. The skate saw a boy's kite, and became, by request, like it. The guardfish saw a spear, and asked for a spear to his nose. Each fish, having been transformed by its own request, became the propagator of the manyvarieties now known. To return, —Tawhirimatea next sought for Rongo and Haumia, two others of the rebels, but these had been hidden by the earth, Kongo having been turned into the Kumara, and Haumia into fern-root, which occasioned Tawhiri to seek for them in vain. He then made an attack on Tumatauenga, who retained his deity, from which circumstance he was enabled to elude him. After this war was ended, Tumatauenga was continually annoyed by the search for him ; his brothers having, as we related, transformed themselves into trees, shrubs, birds, and fish, in order to elude their pursuers ; Tumatauenga thereupon determined to be revenged on them. He therefore caught fish and birds, dug up fern-root and kumaras, (finding the latter by the tops of the plant, which were supposed to be the hair from the god's head). These he ate as he found or caught them, uttering at the same time a different incantation over each one. Hence the origin of the incantations and ceremonies repeated and performed on all such occasions by the Maori. As he had thus eaten his brothers, the natives have from this derived their practice of cannibalism. He also composed a form of invocation to heaven, asking for rain, sunshine, and wind; and Another for himself, which was entirely designed to depreciate his brothers and exalt himself. This is the origin of the Maketu or witchcraft and the ceremonies of war. Having shown the origin of the Maori faith relative to a portion of the creation, to place it in order, we pause to notice a tradition relative to the flood, which took place before the creation of man, during the reign of these rival gods, which is as follows:— Some time after the god Tumatauenga had eaten his brothers, Tawhiri (the one who would not consent to divide the earth and heaven) and Rangi called their sons together, named Uanui, Uawhatu, Uanganga, which we call rain, sleet, and hail, to make a final onslaught on the earth. These gods—hail, rain, and sleet —descended and drowned the world, save one spot. Tumatauenga, who occupied this spot, fought vigorously against, but could not fully overcome them, from which circumstance the natives account for the continuance of rain, squalls, gales, and hurricanes. But Tumatauenga gave himself the names of Tukariri, Tv the fighter, Tukanguha, Tv the bruiser, Tukaitaua, Tv the war eater, Tuwhakaheke tangata, Tv the man-consumer, Tumatawhaiti, Tv of the small face : having five brothers, he gave himself these five additional names, in opposition to theirs, as a proof that he concentrated in himself a power even superior to their combined force. Hence, the frequent use of these names in war songs. To resume, their tradition of the creation of man forms a striking analogy to that contained in the Bible. Soon after the flood, Tiki, a son of Tv, made man, by kneading clay with his own blood ; and forming it after his own image, he danced before it, then breathed on it, and it became a living being, whose name was Kauika. After this, men began to multiply; but the children of Kauika performed nothing worthy of note in their different generations until the time of the four Maui, his descendants. In their time, the days were short. The sun which ruled the day was tho firstborn of heaven, and was ordered to go round the world for the purpose of noticing the actions of the rebellious five gods; and the stars, the minor sons of heaven, were to watch during the night. Mauipotiki, the youngest of the Mavis, being desirous that the days should be longer, suggested to a number of his associates, that they should go with him and try to stop the sun, so that there might be more daylight. They proceeded in the night and journeyed eastward, and after many nights and days, they came to a spot which was the brink of the world, where the sun had to pass. Here they built a mound of earth, and hung a noose over the brink of the world. "Now," said Maui, to the men posted behind the mound, "when the sun gets into the noose, I will tell you. Do not startle him." They caught the sun, and Maui beat him severely with the jawbone of Lis grandfather, Murirangiwhenua. The sun inquired, "Why do you beat me? I am the firstborn of Heaven; my name is Tama-nui-te-Ra, the great source of light and heat." However, he was so belaboured that he went away quite a cripple, and effectually prevented from ever travelling as fast as he had been wont to do, for which reason the day became longer. We now come to the tradition in which New Zealand is spoken of as having been fished up out of the ocean. Soon after the sun had been so severely beaten, Maui's brothers complained that he, Maui Potiki, was very idle, that he would not go to fish; the women and the old men joining in the complaint. This caused Maui to make his grandfather's jawbone into a fishhook, which he kept concealed in his garment. On going out with his brothers to fish, they laughed at him; asking why he went with them, as he had no fishing tackle. He answered by requesting them to go out further to sea, and still further, until they lost sight of land; his brothers murmured louder than before against him for this daring act; they sailed on, however, and Maui let down his line and hook, which was ornamented with pearl and carving; the hook caught the house of Tonganui the son of Tangaroa, the god of fish. This house was built at the bottom of the ocean; Maui pulled, however, and the house, with all the earth around it, coming up together, caused a great bubbling in the sea.