372 Transaction*. — Miscellaneous. 



had himself contrived that he should be struck by the stone his 

 father threw ; for, but by his own choice, no one could have hit 

 him. He was struck exactly upon his left leg, and down he 

 fell, and as he lay fluttering and struggling upon the ground, 

 they all ran to catch him, but lo, the pigeon had turned into a 

 man ! 



" Then all those who saw him were frightened at his fierce 

 glaring eyes, which were red, as if painted with red ochre, and 

 they said : ' Oh, it is now no wonder that he so long sat still up 

 in the tree ; had he been a bird he would have flown off long 

 before, but he is a man ;' and some of them said, ' No, indeed, 

 rather a god— just look at his form and appearance, the like has 

 never been seen before, since Eangi and Papa-tu-a-nuku were 

 torn apart.' Then Taranga said, ' I used to see one who looked 

 like this person every night when I went to visit my children, but 

 what I saw then excelled what I see now : just listen to me. 

 Once as I was wandering upon the sea- shore, I prematurely 

 gave birth to one of my children, and I cut off the long tresses 

 of my hair and bound him up in them, and threw him into the 

 foam of the sea, and after that he was found by his great ancestor 

 Tama-nui-ki-te-Kangi ; ' and then she told his story nearly in 

 the same words that Maui-the-infant had told it to herself and 

 his brothers in their house, and, having finished his history, 

 Taranga ended her discourse to her husband and his friends. 



" Then his mother asked Maui, who was sitting near her, 

 ' Where do you come from ? from the westward '?' and he 

 answered, ' No. ' ' From the north-east, then ? ' ' No. ' 

 ' From the south-east, then?' 'No.' 'From the south, then?' 

 ' No.' ' Was it the wind which blows upon me, which brought 

 you here to me, then ?' When she asked this, he opened his 

 mouth and answered, 'Yes.' And she cried out, 'Oh, then, 

 this is indeed my child,' and she said ' Are you Maui-taha ?' 

 He answered, ' No.' Then said she, ' Are you Maui-tikitiki-o- 

 Taranga ?' and he answered ' Yes.' And she cried aloud, 

 ' This is indeed my child. By the winds and storms and wave- 

 uplifting gales he was fashioned and became a human being : 

 welcome, oh my child, welcome ! by you shall hereafter be 

 climbed the threshold of the house of your great ancestor, 

 Hine-nui-te-po, and death shall henceforth have no power over 

 man.' " 



I now pass over the parts of the legend treating of the 

 wonderful feats performed by Maui, and take up the thread of 

 the tradition concerning the search for fire. 



" The hero now thought that he would extinguish and 

 destroy the fires of his ancestress Mahu-ika. So he got up in 

 the night, and put out the fires left in the cooking-houses of each 

 family in the village : then, quite early in the morning, he called 



