36 THE TWO RACES WHICH PEOPLED POLYNESIA. 
The Maori has traditions which can scarcely be referred 
to any other part than China. One of these evidently re- 
lates to the horse, that some of their forefathers came from 
a country where they had large animals, on which they rode. 
When Governor King first presented them with some large 
Irish pigs they fancied that they must have been the ani- 
mals alluded to, being the largest they had ever seen, and 
actually killed one or two out of the three given, in their 
efforts to realize the tradition ; but when they afterwards saw 
the horse, and Mr. Marsden riding upon it, great was their 
admiration, they exclaimed, “ Ah, now we see what our 
forefathers said was true.” Another tradition evidently re- 
ferred to the use of iron in the Jand they came from. It 
was that their ancestors had Toki’s axes, which were not 
tied on to the handle as their stone ones were, but had the 
handle thrust through an eye in the axe, and so fastened ; this 
they could not believe, until Captain Cook came, and when 
he gave them some small iron hatchets their astonishment 
knew no bounds. 
China may likewise be regarded as the country where 
ancestral worship has its chief seat. This also presents 
a strong point of resemblance between the Maori and Chi- 
nese ; they worshipped their ancestors, and regarded them as 
gods ; in fact, it is difficult to say which of their gods were 
not ancestors, even their very houses were in some respects 
ancestral temples ; their fronts are ornamented with carved 
representations of ancestors, one stands on the top of the gable 
end, by which they enter, as if to guard the approach ; the 
post which supports the wahamahau, verandah of the chiePs 
house, is carved at its base, another ancestor keeps watch over 
the door. The ground plate which supports the house is carved 
to represent the prostrate bodies of slaves who had been 
sacrificed ; on them the figures of ancestors stood, and en^ 
tering the house, beneath the highly ornamented maihi, the 
curved facing board of the house, the first object inside 
is the grand post which supports the building, carved at 
the base to represent the chief ancestor of the family or 
tribe, at his feet is the fire-place, made by four flagstones. 
