Best. — Maori Marriage Customs. 19 



waters thereof. She was captured by Uenuku, who kept her 

 as his wife, but she only remained with him during the hours 

 of darkness, returning at dawn to celestial regions. But 

 Uenuku revealed her to his people, and she then left him, 

 returning nevermore. And Uenuku wandered to far lands in 

 search of his lost bride until death came to him. But ever he 

 is seen in the form of a rainbow when Tairi-a-kohu, the Mist 

 Goddess, appears. 



Before leaving the realm of myth there is one other singu- 

 lar item of folklore to be mentioned — viz., the animising of 

 natural objects. For instance, there are strange legends con- 

 cerning the mountains of the Taupo district and their doings 

 in the misty past. Rangi (see aiite, the Sky Parent) married 

 Tongariro (a male mountain) to Pihanga (a female), and the 

 result of that union was rain, sleet, snow, and gales. Among 

 these mountains quarrels arose, hence Taranaki (Mount Eg- 

 inont) migrated westward, while Kakara-mea, Maunga-pohatu, 

 and others went towards the Bay of Plenty. Putauaki* had a 

 great admiration for Maunga-pohatu, and expressed his love 

 by means of a song. This affair does not seem to have ended 

 very happily, for those two mountains still stand many leagues 

 apart. Another singular and more modern instance of moun- 

 tain-marriage occurred about eighty years ago, when the long 

 war between Tuhoe and Kahungunu Tribes came to an end. 

 To bind the peacemaking Hipara, a chief of the latter tribe, 

 gave his daughter, one Hine-ki-runga, as wife to a Tuhoe chief. 

 Also, to make the matter more secure, two big hills near 

 Waikare-moana were married ; the one, Turi-o-Kahu, was 

 "set up" as a male, the other, Kuha-tarewa, as a female. 

 Thus these solid hills were joined together as a sign and 

 token of enduring peace. 



We will now turn to the marriage Maori, and describe the 

 ancient customs of the mountaineers of Tuhoeland in regard 

 to these matters. 



As TO Exogamy and Endogamy. 



When making inquiries as to the marriage customs of 

 primitive peoples it is desirable to first ascertain as to whether 

 the system of marriage is exogamous or endogaraous, after 

 which the lines of inquiry are the more easily ascertained and 

 followed. In regard to the Maori people of New Zealand, they 

 maybe termed an " endogamous " people, albeit exogamous 

 marriages are of more frequent occurrence now than they 

 were in former times, before European settlement put an end 

 to the intertribal warfare and broke down to a certain extent 

 the barriers which existed between the various tribes ; for the 



* Putauaki is the native name of Mount Edgecumbe. 



