Best. — The Maori Genius for Personification. 7 



illustrates the struggle between summer and winter, which occurs often, 

 but is never final. Tama-uawhiti, also known as Hiringa, represents 

 Whakaahu — that is, summer. He is the same as Tama-nui-te-ra — that 

 is to say, the sun — and he represents desire for knowledge, industry in 

 procuring food-supplies, and other important activities. He is termed te 

 puna o te matauranga (the source of knowledge). An old saying is, " Kotahi 

 tangata hi Hawaiki, ko Whakatau anake ; kotahi tangata ki Aotearoa, ko 

 Tama-uawhiti ,, (There is only one person at Hawaiki — namely, Whakatau ; 

 there is one person at Aoteroa, Tama-uawhiti). This is equivalent to saying, 

 " The most important being at Hawaiki is Whakatau ; the most important 

 thing in New Zealand is the sun " — as it probably was to a people coming 

 from the tropics. It is probable that Whakatau is a personification, 

 possibly of winter, for we have a sentence in the above myth that runs 

 thus : " Whakatau was a warrior, equalling Oipiriwhea." We have already 

 seen that Whaitiri, Wahieroa, and Tawhaki, of Polynesian myth, are 

 personifications, and Hema is a name for the south wind at Hawaii. 



Whakaahu, Takurua, and Rehua are also star-names, whilst Oipiri 

 seems to be connected with Pipiri, a double star that appears in June. 



Tioroa represents winter, and Takurua is employed in a similar sense. 

 Spring is personified in Mahuru. 



We have seen that Hiringa (or Tane-i-te-hiringa) represents knowledge, 

 but the acquisition of knowledge and the power of thought, mental activi- 

 ties, are personified in Rua-i-te-pukenga, Rua-i-te-hiringa, Rua-i-te-mahara, 

 Rua-i-te-wananga, &c. 



Space is personified in Watea and Rongomai-tu-waho, and misfortune 

 in Aitua. 



In personified forms of clouds we have Hine-kapua, Tu-kapua, Aoaonui, 

 Aoaoroa, Uhirangi, and Takerewai, and these all dwell in the house called 

 the Ahoaho o Tukapua (the open space of Tukapua). Here they ever 

 dwell, for they are in fear of Huru-mawake, Huru-atea, Huru-nuku, and 

 Huru-rangi (personified forms of the four winds), fearing to be jostled and 

 swept away to the bounds of Rangi-nui (the heavens). 



The two principal personified forms of wind are Tawhirimatea and 

 Tawhiri-rangi. These personified winds in general, but each wind has its 

 own personified form. The personified forms of ice. snow, and frost we have 

 already encountered ; they dwell upon the summit of Mahutonga (an 

 emblematical term for the south), in the realm of Paraweranui. The Wind 

 Children of Tawhirimatea bring hither the semblance of those offspring in 

 the drifting snow and driving hail. One Tonganui-kaea took to wife 

 Paraweranui (personified form of the bitter south wind) and produced 

 some two dozen offspring, all of whom are personifications of different 

 forms of wind. These are the Whanau Puhi, the Wind Children, who bore 

 Tane to the twelfth heaven when he went to obtain the three baskets of 

 occult knowledge. 



The Wind Children abide at the Tihi o Manono, in Rangi-naonao-ariki 

 (the tenth heaven, counting upwards), where also dwell their elder brethren, 

 the personified forms of the four winds — north, south, east, and west. For 

 there dwell Paraweranui, Tahu-makaka-nui, Tahu-mawake-nui, and the 

 other elders ; all live in the houses Pumaire-kura, Rangitahua, Rangi- 

 mawake, and Tu-te-wanawana-a-hau. 



The plaza of the Wind Children is known as Marae-nui, as Tahuaroa, 

 as Tahora-nui-atea. It is the marae of Hine-moana, the Ocean Maid, the 

 vast expanse of the great ocean. This plaza is the playground of the Wind 



