6 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



tremely limited, and which is one of the fundamental beliefs 

 on which the whole fabric of the Maori social system was 

 built up — namely, the mysterious primal curse of woman or 

 of the female nature. The ancient Maori held most interest- 

 ing and unique ideas regarding the sexes, some of which are 

 referred to here. " Tane said to Rangi, ' Where is the uhaV 

 Rangi (the Sky Parent) replied, ' Kei raw te ulna, te whare o 

 aitua ; e hamama i runga, Ico te whare tena o te ora.' Now, 

 this remark lias two applications. The whare o aitua means 

 the female procreative organs (tara, tore, dc), and is also 

 applied to Mother Earth, because her children (man) die and 

 are taken back to her bosom — i.e., buried ; also because of 

 the mysterious primal curse of sex — female — which is ancient 

 beyond compare, and appears in the most ancient myths of 

 the ancient tribes of New Zealand. All troubles, misfortune^ 

 sickness, come from the ichare o aitua (whence man enters 

 the world) — i.e., from the female sex. On the other hand,, 

 the children of the primal pair who remained on high (the 

 sun, moon, stars, &c.) perish not, but live for ever. They 

 represent eternal life, hence the term tuhare o te ora applies to 

 them. The ure tane (penis), the sacerdotal term for which is 

 tatchito ('the ancient one'), is another whare o te ora, or repre- 

 sentative of life. The tawhito is the salvation of man : it gives 

 mana* to his karakia and saves him from sickness and death. 

 A man clasped his penis while repeating karakia to ward cif 

 magic spells. The tara wahine, or female genital organs, 

 were, as we have just pointed out, the cause of deatn enter- 

 ing the world. Maui entered the womb of Hine-nui-te-po 

 (goddess or personification of death) via the tara, in order to 

 gain eternal life for man, but the puapua (sphincter vaginae?) 

 of Hine closed upon Maui and killed linn ; hence death came 

 to man. Thus the female genitals represent death, while the 

 male organ signifies life. The first woman, in the Maori 

 mythology, drags down her offspring to Po (night), meaning to 

 death, aim the first woman in the Greek mythology, Pandora, 

 introduces all kinds of afflictions as an heritage for hers." 

 The key to so many Maori customs and superstitions is to be 

 found in their cosmogonic myths, and that portion relating to 

 the creation of woman, and her fall, resulting in the intro- 

 duction of death and disease into the world, may be briefly 

 summarised here. 



Commencing with a primitive state of darkness, night, 

 morn, heaven (Rangi), earth (Papa), the winds, were pro- 

 duced in succession, ami later Tiki, the first man. Rangi and 

 Papa had numerous children, one of whom was named Tane- 

 nui-a-rangi. This Tane, desiring a wife, made an image in the 



■ Mima — force, power, authority, &0. 



