274 JOSHUA RUTLAND, ESQ., ON 
In some countries (the United States for example) this 
separation is more complete than in England, while in 
others it has not advanced so far; thus society is evidently 
progressing on the same lines. Amongst the Polynesian 
nations the civil and religious rulers were one, priests 
directing, and laymen executing. Besides discharging their 
civil and religious functions, the Polynesian priests had to 
preserve the histories of their tribe, and were the 
astronomers, geographers, and navigators, without whom the 
widely scattered people could not have reached the islands 
they occupied or kept up the intercourse to which their 
language testified. We learn from tradition that when the 
Arawa canoe was prepared to leave Hawiki for New 
Zealand she could not put to sea owing to the want of a 
skilful pilot, and that Tama-te-kapua, the owner of the canoe, 
having inveigled the priest Ngatoro and his wife on board, 
immediately weighed anchor, and set sail. How these 
ancient mariners found their way across the ocean and how 
they determined the position of places discovered are lost 
arts; only a few disconnected fragments of the knowledge 
they possessed have been collected and recorded. We are 
aware that they knew the position of the equator, which 
they called Piko-o-wukea, and that after crossing it south- 
ward the North Star disappeared, southern constellations, 
for all of which they had names, coming in sight. By 
means of the stars and dead reckoning, based on the 
distance traversed by a canoe in twenty-four hours, these 
old navigators went from island to island and from group to 
group. Throughout Eastern Polynesia various divisions of 
time were in vogue, all being natural, or the result of 
observations. Thus the year was divided into two portions, 
one commencing when the Pleiades rose immediately before 
sunset and called Matarii i nia, the other when the group 
rose just before sunrise and called Matarii i rare. ‘The year 
consisted of thirteen lunar months, a distinct name being 
given to each day of the month. Before the introduction of 
Christianity the division of time into weeks was unknown. 
Recognizing that the solar year, which was divided into 
seasons corresponding with the ripening of the bread-fruit, 
differed from the lunar year, means were adopted to rectify 
the discrepancy. In addition to their astronomical know- 
ledge the Polynesian priests had a system of enumeration 
so perfect that Ellis thus commented on it :—“ The precision, 
regularity, and extent of their numbers has often astonished 
