154 Transactions. 



ana. Kihai i hata. No te tomokanga atu ki roto, katahi ka 

 kataina mat e te moho-tupereru, katahi ka whakakopia mai nga 

 nqa kuwha o taua ivahine, mate tonu iho a Maui. Ko Maui 

 tenei ka mate i a Hine-nui-te-Po.) 



In this version it is the moho bird which causes the disaster 

 to Maui and the genus homo. 



In an account of Maori magic given by an old Native of 

 Ngati-Awa (tribe) I note the following passage : " Me waiho ko 

 te tawhito o Hine-nui-te-Po, ko tena te atua i patua ai te tangata 

 nana i raweke a raua tamariki ko tona taina." The tawhito of 

 Hine-nui-te-Po was the demon that destroyed the person who 

 slew the children of her sister and self. Tins word " tawhito " is 

 a very ancient sacerdotal term for the organs of generation in 

 man (membrum virile). 



The object of Maui in entering the body of Hine was to gain 

 her manawa, a term which is applied to the heart, and also the 

 breath (manawa-ora, the life-breath). In failing to effect this 

 he lost the chance of acquiring eternal life for man, while Hine, 

 in triumph, not only slew Maui, but carried out her will as to the 

 introduction of universal death into this world. As her word 

 was to Tane of old, ever she drags man down to the realm of 

 death. 



Some Native authorities state that it was Maui who argued 

 with the Queen of Hades as to whether death should or should 

 not be allowed to enter the world, and also that Maui had 

 deeply offended her by interfering with her connection with 

 Tuna, the eel - god. Maui decided, they say, to slay Hine on 

 account of her practice of magic arts, by which means she 

 destroyed many people. Her word was, — 



Ka kukuti 



Ka kukuti nga puapua 

 O Hine-nui-te-Po 

 Ka whai toremi. 



The drop of Maui's blood obtained by Hine was used as an 

 ohonga. or connection between her rites of magic, and the person 

 of Maui. (See vol. xxxiv of the Transactions, p. 75, for an ex- 

 planation of this matter.) 



The meaning of this singular allegorical myth may not be 

 clear to our minds, for we have attained to a diffeient plane of 

 thought from that occupied by primitive man. We do not, 

 and never will, understand the inwardness of the primitive mind. 

 The time for us to do so has long passed away. But ever in 

 Maori magic rites — barbaric ritual of a deeply superstitious 

 people — maybe noted the stTange belief that the female genitary 

 organs are allied to death and misfortune, while the male organ 

 was resorted to in order to save man from disaster, from the 

 charms and spells of magicians. 



