Best. — On Maori Origins. 467 



poets, the explorers, the propagators of new ideas are habi- 

 tually to be found among the young. . . . Therefore, if 

 we assume men of middle and of mature age to add the 

 influence of numbers to that which they already get from 

 seniority, it is difficult to suppose that the history of the 

 world will not be a great deal tamer in the future than it has 

 been in the past. That life should be sadder and greyer than 

 it has been may mean very t little; that it should be less 

 capable of energy and reform, more prone to entrench itself in 

 an established order, will undoubtedly mean that it is passing 

 into its old age, and that those whom the present does not 

 satisfy will have nothing to hope from what is to come." 



Art. LVIII. — Maori Origins : Part II* 



By Elsdon Best. 



[Bead before the Auckland Institute, 15th October, 1900.] 



Origin of Man. 



The origin of man, according to the old Maori mythology, is 

 mixed up with that of animals, birds, and fish, inasmuch as 

 all are descended from Bangi, the Sky Father, and Papa, the 

 Earth Mother. Tane-nui-a-rangi, son of these lordly beings, 

 was the progenitor of the human race. His first action was 

 to produce the various trees of the forest, after which he 

 married Hine-rauamoa and begat man. 



Rangi = Papa 

 I 



I I I 



Tane Taogotango = Waiaui 



III I I I 



Te Ra Te Mamma Nga Whetu Te Hinatore Pari-kiokio Hine-rau- 

 amoa 



Here we see that two of the children of Rangi and Papa 

 produced Te Ra (the sun), Te Marama (the moon), Nga 

 Whetu (the stars), Te Hinatore (phosphorescent light), Pari- 

 kiokio, and Hine-rauamoa. Pari-kiokio is the origin of the 

 kiokio, a forest fern, Hine-rauamoa is the mother or origin 

 of man. 



After Tane had forced his parents apart and lighted the 

 world he then sought to produce man. He took Hine-tu- 



* For Part I., see vol. xxxii , page 294. 



