54 
THE TWO RACES WHICH PEOPLED POLYNESIA. 
were measured from evening to evening. In tlie first chapter 
of Genesis it is said, “ the evening and the morning were the 
first day,” thus appearing to count days by the nights. 
This was the case with the Polynesians, they counted by 
nights, but instead of having an hebdomadal division they 
had a monthly one, or, perhaps, might be said to count by 
four sevens. They had names for the twenty-eight nights 
of the moon, the night of the full moon being he Atua } God. 
The names of the nights varied even in Hew Zealand as also 
amongst the Polynesians, still all counted time in the same 
way. 
2. The Hebrew months also were lunar, like those of the 
Maori. 
3. The moon was more regarded than the sun; it regu- 
lated all their festivals and fasts. This, as far as is known, 
is the same throughout Polynesia. 
4. The new moon was celebrated by trumpets and especial 
sacrifice in the temple. The only approach to a festival 
amongst the Maori was, when the new moon first appeared. 
The women assembled and bewailed those who had died 
since the last one, uttering the following lament : (C Alas ! 
alas ! thou, O moon, hast returned to life, but our departed 
beloved ones have not. Thou hast bathed in the living 
water of Tane, and had thy life renewed, but there has been 
no fountain of living water to restore life to our departed 
ones. Alas ! alas ! ” 
The dead were lamented by professional mourners ; wailing 
for the dead is also a Maori practice. 
Another race remains to be briefly alluded to, more par- 
ticularly belonging to the north western parts of Polynesia, 
which includes the natives of the Fiji Islands to the west, and 
the Samoan group to the east. The range of this race may 
be said to extend from New Caledonia in the south, to the 
Solomon Isles in the north, and even still further. Its 
characteristic marks are the colour of the hair and skin ; 
the former being of a decidedly reddish hue, frizzly and 
crisp, not woolly. The men wear their hair in a singular 
way, each separate lock being bound up with a fine string 
