COOK AND COOK: NAMES OF SWEET POTATOES 345 



stands in the same relation to the ocean and the fish thereof as does 

 Tane to forests and birds. 3 



In this, as in many other myths and traditions of the Maoris, 

 the sweet potato has precedence over all other crops and plants, 

 and it may be significant that the bottle-gourd, another plant 

 that the Polynesians shared with the natives of South America, 

 is in this case the second in order of consideration, before the 

 taro or other plants cultivated by the Maoris. 



Tregear has made a careful study of the ancient religious 

 myths of the Polynesians and finds many that are closely paral- 

 lel to those of the Mediterranean countries. He compares the 

 god Maui of New Zealand with the Egyptian Osiris, and his wife 

 Hina or Pani with Isis, Ceres, Diana, and other goddesses of 

 agriculture and fecundity among the Asiatic and Mediterranean 

 peoples. Maui is associated with the sun and Hina with the 

 moon. Kura-a-Maui is recorded as a poetic name of the sweet 

 potato among the New Zealanders, kura meaning red or royal, 

 or a wreath of red flowers, as worn by the ancient heroes, ac- 

 cording to the traditions. There was also a sacred or priestly 

 name of the sweet potato, kurawhiti. Maui was invoked in 

 planting kumaras, but the formal incantation was addressed to 



3 Best, E. Notes on Maori mythology. Journal of the Polynesian Society, 

 8: 95. 



The kumara figures in many of the myths of this collection, including several 

 that have to do with the sun and stars, as in the following passages: 



"The sun has two wives. One wife lives in the south; her work is the culti- 

 vation of food, and her name is Aroaro-a-manu or Raumati (Warmth or Summer). 

 The other wife is Hine-takurua (Winter) ; she dwells on the ocean, and her task 

 is the taking of fish. In the winter the Sun goes to the ocean and dwells with 

 Hine-takurua. In the month O-toru [of the Maori year] the sun returns to land 

 to his wife Raumati, who cultivates the kumara. It is then summer." 



"Hoko-kumara is a name for Matariki (Pleiades). When Matariki rises in 

 the east the kumara is sown." 



"When Whanui [the star Vega] is seen flashing above the eastern horizon as 

 autumn approaches, then the cry resounds : 'Ko Whanui E-El Ko Wahnui!' For 

 that is the sign for taking up the kumara crop. If the kumara [sweet potato] 

 be not dug then, the crop will be spoilt and will not keep. Such kumara as are 

 left in the ground become houhunga, good to eat but will not keep. Potatoes are 

 dug in the month Pou-tu-te-rangi. If left too late they will be spoilt, in which 

 state they are termed tauhere or puakiweu." 



