TiiBGEAR. — Polyjiesian Knoivlcdge of Cattle. 451 



ox, bull, cattle. This word is considered by philologists as 

 equivalent in Greek, Latin, &c., to the ga2i, go, huh, cozy word 

 of Sanscrit and Scandinavian. The change of ^ to ^ is rather an 

 unusual one, and I will consider "bo" and "cow" as separate 

 words (at first), although the separation, in sense, will not be 

 material to the argument. The Tongan word bo, meaning 

 " night," &c., is pronounced as ^;o in most of the other Poly- 

 nesian islands, and I shall use the ]) form as the most gene- 

 rally received, especially asking that it should be borne in 

 mind that h is probably a late letter in Aryan speech.* In 

 the Maori of New Zealand po means — (1.) (A mythological 

 word hard to define.) Origin ; the potentiality of the 

 material universe ; a darkness holding light and all else 

 hidden within it. (2.) Hades; the shadow-land; the place 

 whence comes the spirit of the new-born child, and to 

 which the spirit of the dead man returns. (3.) A season, 

 or space of time. (4.) Niglit, darkness. (5.) The night, 

 by which (instead of days) periods were counted. f The 

 cosmogony of the Maoris commences with Po — Te Po, 

 then Te Po-teki, then Te Po-terea, &c. : from these in due 

 course are born Ata (morn), Au-tu-roa (abiding day), &c.| 

 "The great mysterious cause of all things existing in the 

 cosmos was, as he (the Maori) conceived it, the generative 

 power. Commencing with a primitive state of Darkness, he 

 conceived Po (= night) as a person capable of begetting a race 

 of beings resembling itself. "§ This is the mythological 

 development natural to man, and is so stated in almost every 

 ancient cosmogony. The powers of Darkness were first. 

 The Edda makes Day the child of Night. || In the Big- Veda 

 (iv., 14) Indra throws his adversary into the "black abyss of 

 night, into the birthplace of this sky."1l The first prin- 

 ciple of the Egyptians (according to the Platonist Damas- 

 cenius) was inconceivable Darkness, whence Light was 

 born. In the Izdubar legends of Babylon, the great 

 goddess Ishtar is called " She who is Darkness, the 

 Mother, the Producer of the Dawn, she is Darkness." The 

 dread and fear of the dark was the first impression before 

 which the simple hearts of savage men bowed down. But 

 this superstitious fear was translated into words of cattle- 

 speech (their only speech) by men when they first gained 



* " Introduction to Greek and Latin Etymology," Peile, p. 126. 



t In old Aryan fashion — fortnight, se'nnight, &c. 



J For varying genealogies, see Shortland's "Maori Religion," p. 12; 

 Taylor's " Te Ika-a-Maui," 110 ; Grey's poems, 263. 



§ Shortland's " Maori Religion and Mythology," p. 10. 



11 Grimm, " Teutonic Mythology," ii., 735. 



II See Max Miiller's " Lectures on Origin and Growth of Religions," 

 p. 283. 



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