150 Transactions. 



an old Native, who was explaining to me the origin of death, 

 " The people of the sky [i.e., the heavenly bodies], they do not 

 decay, neither do they fall ; they are not like the people of this 

 world. As for the origin of decay among the people of this 

 world, it was caused by the act of Tane in seeking the female 

 element. Rangi, our parent [the Sky] said to Tane. ' The female 

 element is below. Above is the realm of life, of immortality; 

 below is the realm of death, of decay, of misfortune.' Hence, 

 through that quest of Tane, came decay into the world. Had 

 he not sought the female element, then would man have been 

 like unto the multitude in the sky above — he would have lived 

 for ever." 



Here we see that the Maori traces his descent from a primal 

 pair, Sky and Earth, the male and female nature respectively, 

 and also that the deathless Shining Ones, the heavenly bodies, 

 had a similar origin. He saw that all these were immortal — 

 " they do not decay, neither do they fall " — hence something 

 must have happened in the dawn of time which caused man 

 to decay, something that caused death to enter the world. The 

 mind of the primitive Maori was equal to the task of explaining 

 that cause. He evolved the myth of Maui and the Goddess of 

 Death. The dead person is often referred to in funeral speeches 

 as having been caught in the snare of Hine-nui-te-Po, the guardian 

 of Te Po (Hades, the realm of darkness), she who drags men down 

 to death. It was this Hine who first proposed that decay and 

 death should be the lot of man (see first page of this article), and 

 her proposal was opposed by Tane, or, according to some autho- 

 rities, by Maui. " In regard to natural decay and death, it was 

 proposed by our ancestors that man should die as the moon 

 dies ; for when the moon wanes and comes near to death he hies 

 him to Te Wai-ora-o-Tane [the life-giving waters of Tane], in 

 which he bathes and so recovers his youth and strength. Our 

 ancestors said, ' Let man so decay and revive, that he may re- 

 turn to this world.' But Hine would have none of this. She 

 said, ' Not so ; for man would not be mourned. Let man die 

 as earth-born creatures die ; let him return to our Earth Mother, 

 even that he may be mourned and lamented' {'me matemate a 

 one, kia mihia ai. kia tangihia a*')." Then came the struggle 

 between Hine and Maui, the attempt of Maui to gain eternal 

 life for man being thwarted by the Goddess of Death. 



An old-time saying of the Maori people (published by Sir 

 George Grey in his "Maori Proverbs") is this— " Me tangi, 

 ka pa ko le mate i te marama " ; which he translates, " Let us 

 weep over him; he has departed for ever; if he had disap- 

 peared like the old moon we would not have mourned — lie 

 would have appeared to us anew after a time." 



