6 Transactions. 



in Hine-whaitiri, the Thunder Maid. It will be noted that a considerable 

 number of personified forms are of the female sex. Hine-kapua is the 

 Cloud Maid. 



Personifications of the rainbow are Kahukura, Uenuku, and Ha ere 

 Uenuku was originally a person of this world. He dwelt on earth, where 

 he attracted one Tairi-a-kohu (personified form of mist), who had come 

 down from celestial regions in order to bathe in the waters of the world. 

 She visited Uenuku only during the hours of darkness, and strictly forbade 

 him to make her known to his people. So beautiful was she that Uenuku 

 felt compelled to disobey her. By a cunning trick he delayed the departure 

 of the Mist Maid, and so exposed her to the people, whereupon she deserted 

 him and never again returned to earth. Uenuku was now disconsolate, 

 and he set off in search of her. He traversed distant regions and many 

 realms, but never again beheld the Mist Maid. Finally death came to him 

 as he still sought her, and his aria, or visible form, is the rainbow we see in 

 the heavens. Parallels of this curious myth are widely known in Europe 

 and elsewhere, as shown in the writings of the late Andrew Lang. 



A rainbow composed of bands of different colours has as many personi- 

 fied forms, each colour bearing its own name. 



Hine-korako is the personified form of a lunar halo or bow. 



Personified forms of the comet are Wahieroa, Tunui-a-te-ika. Upokoroa, 

 Auahi-tu-roa, Taketake-kikuroa, Meto, Auroa, Unahiroa, and possibly 

 Puaroa.* 



Fire is sometimes termed Te Tama a Upokoroa (the son of Upokoroa, 

 the long-headed one), because the seed of fire was brought to earth by 

 a comet, and hence Mahuika produced the Fire Children. These comet- 

 names are suggestive in their meanings, as " long-headed " and " long- 

 tailed.': 



Personifications of meteors are Tamarau and Rongomai. 



Hine-pukohu-rangi and Tairi-a-kohu are personified forms of mist, and 

 Hinewai represents fine misty rain. 



Ruaumoko represents earthquakes. He is the youngest child of the 

 Earth Mother, but never came forth to this world. When he moves within 

 the body of Papa an earthquake results. 



Volcanic phenomena are represented by Hine-tuoi. Ioio-whenua, Hine- 

 tuarangaranga, Te Kuku (or Te Pupu), Te Wawau, and Tawaro-nui. 



The personified forms of wind and of rain are said to have cohabited, 

 and their issue, twelve in number, represent different forms of snow, frost, 

 hail, and ice. 



In Wero-i-te-ninihi, Wero-i-te-kokota, Maeke, Kunawiri, &c, we have 

 personifications of cold, and the first two are also star -names — stars marking 

 winter months. 



An old cosmogonic myth is that Te Ao (Day) and Te Po (Night) produced 

 as offspring Oipiri and Whakaahu, or Winter and Summer, who were born 

 in space ; both are females. Oipiri, whose full name is Oipiriwhea, pertains 

 to night, and her name has the same signification as that of Takurua- 

 hukanui, or Cold-engendering Winter ; she produces snow, ice, frost. 

 Whakaahu belongs to the day, or to this world, which she represents. Both 

 of these female personified forms were taken to wife by Rehua, he who 

 personifies the heat of summer. Their attendants are ever contending 

 against each other, but neither side ever gains a permanent victory. This 



Puaroa, cf. Pusaloa = comet (Samoa). 



