GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE POLYNESIANS,. 805 
ancient one—formerly applied to New Zealand, but there is some 
uncertainty as to whether this particular Nuwuroa (in Maori, 
Nukuroa) is intended for New Zealand. The fact of its being 
the home of Tangaroa is rather against it ; for although Tangaroa 
was one of the great primary gods of New Zealand, he never 
occupied the supreme place of god and creator, as he did in Samoa, 
Tahiti, and Hawaii. With the Maoris, Tangaroa is the god of 
the sea—Neptune, in fact—presiding over all voyagers, fishing, 
or matters relating to the sea. Fornander has shown that the 
supremacy of Tangaroa in Hawaii is due to that god’s particular 
cult having been introduced into the group during the period 
between twenty-four and thirty generations ago, when Hawaii 
received from Samoa and Tahiti large numbers of immigrants who 
finally became predominant, and then succeeded in ousting from 
the supreme position the original god Tane, who was also the 
principal god of the Maoris, but who, as war became more and 
more prevalent in New Zealand, was in a great measure super- 
seded by Tu—“ Scarlet belted Tu”—the god of war. 
In the first part of this paper, it was shown that Nukuroa, 
besides being an ancient name for New Zealand, was also that of 
some country known traditionally to the Maoris, probably some 
land far to the west—perhaps the continent of Asia. The name 
means “long land,” “ extensive land,” or “distant land.” It is 
possible that the following Tahitian chant refers to this ancient 
Nukuroa, and not to New Zealand, or the little island of Mitiaro 
of the Cook group, the old name of which was also Nukuroa. 
THE GODS AND THEIR ORIGINS. 
Tupu te atua, tupu te fenua ; 
E tupura ’a fenua, e fanaura ’a atua. 
O Ta’aroa te atua, o Nu’uroa te 
fenua, 
O Tu te atua, o Tai-nuna te fenua. 
O Tane te atua, o Rai-hamama te 
fenua. 
O Hau te atua, o Papa-tea te fenua. 
O Oro te atua, o Opoa i Havaii te 
fenua. 
O Hiro te atua, o Uporu te fenua. 
Gods grew, and lands grew ; 
There was growth of lands, and 
birth of gods. 
Ta’aroa was the god, Nu’uroa was 
the land. 
Tu was the god, Tai-nuna Island 
was the land. 
Tane was the goed, Ra’i-hamama (or 
Rairoa) was the land. 
Hau was the god, Papatea (Maatea, 
or Makatea) was the land. 
Oro was the god, Opoa in Havaii 
was the land. 
Hiro was the god, Uporu was the 
land. 
