

12 Transactions. 



a mystic by nature. He ever felt that he was part of a living world in 

 which nothing is truly inanimate. He looked upon Mother Earth as the 

 nourisher of mankind, her offspring ; his outlook upon life and upon his 

 surroundings differed much from ours ; he possessed a feeling of kinship 

 with nature, and a curious form of mental vitality, utterly unknown to 

 the dweller by city streets. 



The curious practice of attributing sex to things that possess none is 

 very noticeable in Maori myths, and we ourselves have retained some 

 survivals of this habit. The Maori held very singular beliefs as to the 

 protective and destructive powers of sex, beliefs that seem to be also held 

 by certain races of India. Animatism is marked by mental concepts of a 

 very strange nature, which in many instances are most difficult to under- 

 stand ; of this fact many illustrations might be given. 



These peculiarities of Maori mentality have the effect of making genuine 

 old traditions, recitals, poems, and speeches of much interest, simply 

 because they were reflected in the language of the people. The mytho- 

 poetic concepts passed into the common tongue ; hence such matter as 

 mentioned above teemed with allusions to personifications, with metaphor 

 and allegory, with aphorisms and occult expressions. Here we encounter 

 in a living language the figurative expressions and quaint sayings in which 

 is preserved the mentality of uncultured man. Here are the fossilized 

 thoughts of long-gone peoples, of past ages, being uttered by persons of our 

 own day. 



The better-class Maori was ever careful to acquire a knowledge of tribal 

 history, of myth, tribal aphorisms and poetry, in order to adorn and point 

 his speech. These folk were born orators, most punctilious in their 

 utterance, and their formal speeches were marked by rhythm, by peculiar 

 modes of diction, and by archaic and poetical expressions. 



When Whare-matangi took leave cf his mother, Uru-te-kakara, at 

 Kawhia, in setting forth to search for his father, he said to her, " Farewell ! 

 Grieve not for me. Should I survive, then the sea-spray will assuredly 

 return me to your side. Two nights hence, look you to the south ; should 

 the gleam of Venus be plainly seen, it will be my token to you that I have 

 safely reached my destination. If you see it not. then know that Aitua 

 has struck me down, by the hand of man or by Maikiroa. Then do you 

 send me kindly greeting by means of the kura awatea* that I may be 

 comforted by it in Rarohenga " (the spirit world). 



When Ngarue and his wife were separated, and he departed for Tara- 

 naki, he said to her, " Farewell, the breast-clinging spouse ! Shame gnawa 

 at me like unto the gnawing of the Ocean Maid into the flanks of the 

 Earth Mother. It is like a fire burning within me. Even my love for 

 you pales before it. Farewell ! Remain at your home with your elders. 

 Think not of me, though I will ever greet the mists that hang over Pari- 

 ninihi and conceal you from me. And now the swift-running stream can 

 never return to its source. Farewell ! The gnawing of affection is a 

 grievous affliction, but by Te Ihorangi was Mahuika destroyed. Farewell ! 

 In the summer of our days we part as the Dawn Maid parted from the 

 Sun God." 



In these notes we have endeavoured to explain the Maori genius for 

 personification, and to throw some light on his modes of thought. For 



* The kura awatea is the solar halo. The Maori believed that certain persons 

 possessed the power to produce this phenomenon, and that they utilized it in signalling 

 to a distance. 



