2 Transactions. 



Though the primal being of Maori myth was Io, the supreme god, yet 

 it was not taught that he begat any other being, but, in some unexplained 

 manner, he caused earth and sky to exist. These are personified in Rangi, 

 the Sky Parent, and Papa, the Earth Mother, and these were the primal 

 parents. Their progeny amounted to seventy, all of whom were atua, or 

 supernatural beings, and among them was Tane, or Tane the Fertilizer, he 

 who fertilized the Earth Mother, and who was the origin of man, of birds, 

 fish, vegetation, minerals, &e. 



All things that exist, saith the Maori, are a part of Rangi and Papa, 

 the primal parents — that is to say, they originated with them. Nothing- 

 belongs to the earth alone, or to the heavens alone ; all sprang from that 

 twain, even unto the heavenly bodies that gleam on high, and the heavenly 

 bodies of all the other skies above the one we see : and all those bodies are 

 worlds. 



It was taught in the tapu school of learning that water is one of the 

 chief constituents or necessities of life. It is moisture that causes growth 

 in all things, other necessary agents being the sun, the moon, and the stars. 

 Lacking moisture, all things would fail on earth, in the heavens, in the suns, 

 the moons, and the stars of all realms. Clouds are mist-like emanations 

 originating in the warmth of the body of the Earth Mother. All things 

 possess warmth and cold, all things contain the elements of life and of 

 death, each after the manner of its kind. It was Tane (personified form of 

 the sun) and Tawhirimatea (personified form of winds) who sent back the 

 mists to earth in the form of rain, as a means of cherishing and benefiting 

 all things, for all things absorb moisture, each after the manner of its kind. 

 Air, moisture, warmth, with various forms of sustenance, were the origin 

 of the different forms around us, of the differences in such forms, as in 

 trees, in herbage, in insects, birds, fish, stones, and soils ; these things 

 control such forms, and their growth. Hence death assails all things on 

 earth, in the waters, in the sun, the moon, and the stars, in the clouds, 

 mists, rain, and winds ; all things contain the elements of decay, each after 

 the manner of its kind. 



Again, there is no universal mode of life and growth among all things ; 

 each lives, moves, or grows after the manner of its kind. All things possess 

 a home, or receptacle, or haven of some kind, even as the earth is the home 

 of many things. Even the wairua (spirit) has its abode in all things ; there 

 is no one thing that does not possess a spirit or soul, each after the manner 

 of its kind. And inasmuch as each and every thing possesses an indwelling- 

 spirit or soul, then assuredly everything possesses the elements of warmth, 

 each after the manner of its kind. 



Now, as all things in all the realms of the numberless worlds are 

 so constituted, it follows that the female element pertains to all things. 

 Everything has its male and female element. Lacking the female element, 

 nothing could survive, for by such, combined with moisture, do all things 

 acquire form, vitality, and growth. Warmth is another element by means 

 of which things are nurtured, and earth supports all. Even stone is formed 

 of earth, moisture, and heat, and so endowed with life and growth after 

 the manner of its kind. 



Now, as such was the intention of Io (the supreme being) — that is, to 

 arrange the functions of all things— even so the denizens of the heavens 

 were appointed as guardians and directors of all things in all the heavens, 

 on earth, and in the heavenly bodies. The twelve heavens are connected 

 with the moons, but the sun is above all— it is the controller of all things. 



