Best. — Maori Eschatology. 237 



ture dance) known as manawa wera (seared heart), or ivhakatea. 



The performers indulge in much grimacing at the survivors, 



with other tokens of contempt, vexation, and indignation, on 



account of those slain. The following is a specimen of the 



words of the haka : — 



Te kotiritiri, te kotaratara 



O tai, o huki, o hope — e 



Whakatitaka rawa te waha o te kupenga 



Kia tairi 



A-ha-lia ! 



Hoki niai, hold inai — e 



Kia kawea koe ki tera whenua, 



Ki era tangata 



Nana i ki mai 



Uhi, uhi — e — e 



A-ha-ha ! 



In regard to the Maui myths, one of which — that relating to 

 the mythical origin of death — we have already given : There 

 can be no doubt but that the date at which this popular hero 

 flourished must be placed much further back than that usuallv 

 allotted to him by the Maori — about thirty-five generations 

 —that is, if there ever was such a person. Max Muller held 

 that Maui was a personification of the sun. If so, then his 

 contest with Hine-nui-te-Po resolves itself into a struggle for 

 mastery between Light and Darkness, between Life and Death. 

 The sun entered the womb of Night to obtain life eternal. 



Now, observe, in a paper by Mr. Tregear on " Asiatic Gods 

 in the Pacific,"* speaking of the ancient Egyptians, he says, 

 " One of their gods was Mouif . . . and this Moui had also 

 the name of Ao, which we have seen is the Maori word for 

 ' daylight,' " &c. But turning to page 66 of the same volume 

 we find that " moui " is a Polynesian word (Niue dialect) mean- 

 ing " life, living," and evidently connected with New Zealand 

 " mauri " and " mouri " = " seat of life." In volume ii of the 

 same journal, page 77, we see that Taranga, parent of Maui 

 among New Zealand Natives, is in the Hawaiian isles the name 

 of Paradise, or Eden, home of the first parents. Hence "Maui" 

 may be, or originally have been, a synonym for or personifica- 

 tion of life or eternal life, which strove with the personification 

 of death (Hine-nui-te-Po) for mastery. 



In the Rarotongan genealogy given at page 48, " Journal of 

 Polynesian Society," volume viii, we see Maui given a place 

 seventy-two generations back from the present time. 



In some Polynesian myths Maui is said to have married 



* "'Journal of the Polynesian Society," vol. ii, pp. 139-140. 

 ■f- The letters " o " and " u " are interchangeable in the Polynesian 

 dialects, as mau = mou and pou = pau. 



