THE TWO RACES WHICH PEOPLED POLYNESIA. 
43 
Maori. The former could not select his own wife, this was 
done for him by the government ; so also with the Maori, the 
wife is chosen by the Runanga or council of the place, 
without the parties having anything to do with it, beyond 
giving their consent. Amongst the Maori, polygamy was 
universally practised. The chiefs ranked in a great measure 
according to the number and dignity of their wives ; a great 
chief had from six to ten, but more generally only two. 
The treatment of their wives was very different from that of 
the Moslems ; they had quite as much liberty as with us, if 
not more. A chief by marrying a great number of ladies of 
rank greatly extended his means of hospitality ; each wife 
residing on her own land, and cultivating it with her slaves, 
was thus not only able to entertain her husband when he 
visited the place, but when parties of strangers came to see 
him, he also had the means of liberally entertaining them ; 
for, according to the Maori proverb, “ a man with many wives 
never wants food, but with only one can never receive his 
friends according to their rank/' They also worked mats and 
garments, and made green stone ornaments. However many 
wives a chief might have, they generally lived most amicably 
together. Amongst the lady wives the first married took 
precedence, and was styled Te Wahine Matua , the mother 
lady, the others were called Te Muri Manu, the birds that 
followed. In war the chief, generally added to the number. 
These were called slave wives, nga wahine iti. But although 
treated as inferiors, their children ranked the same as the 
others, and if a slave wife’s child happened to be the first- 
born it enjoyed all the privileges belonging to it as the 
Matamua, or first-born. The Maori had no marriage service 
or rites. 
Another similarity was, the cultivating the land for their 
chiefs. The Peruvians tilled it for the Incas ; this was 
done with great ceremony, the whole population in a body 
at early dawn were summoned together, they went through 
the labours of the day with the same joyous spirit, chanting 
their popular ballads j * so with the Maori, all used to unite 
* Prescott'' s Peru . 
