MYTHOLOGY. 
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the remaining toe. Mauika said, No, Maui, you have some 
bad design towards me. Maui then tossed the fire from his 
hand, and burned Mauika with it, as well as the land and the 
trees. Maui himself was all but consumed; he fled in one direc¬ 
tion, and the fire pursuing him there, then he fled in another; 
but the consuming flames still followed him, and finding no 
refuge on earth, he flew up into the air, and called for the small 
rain; but still being encircled with flames, he called for the greater 
rain, and that not sufficing, he then called for the heavy rain, 
which came pouring down in torrents, and soon extinguished 
the flames, and flooded the land. When the waters reached the 
tiki tiki or top-knot of Mauika’s head, the seeds of fire which had 
taken refuge there, fled to the Rata, Hinau, Kaikatea, Rimu, 
Matai, and Miro ; but these trees would not admit them. They 
then fled to the Patete, Kaikomako, Mahohe, Totara, and 
Puketea, and they received them. These are the trees from 
which fire is still to be obtained by friction. 
Emboldened by his success in thus destroying Mauika, 
and extinguishing his fire, he next tried to put out the sun 
and moon. He set snares to catch them, and kept repeating 
his work, but in vain ; for as often as he placed his traps, 
the powerful rays of the sun bit them in two. After all 
this hot work, Maui naturally became very thirsty; he, 
therefore, asked the Tieke to go and bring him some water. 
The bird paid no attention to his request; he threw it into the 
water. He then called another bird, the Hihi: and asked it 
to go and bring him some water; it also took no notice of his 
request: he cast it into the fire, and its feathers were burned in 
the flames, which accounts for its color. He next tried the Toto- 
ara, but it did not comply with his request: he placed a streak 
of white near its nose, as a mark for its incivility. Maui next 
asked the Kokako; that bird was immediately obedient to his 
wish. When it reached the water it filled its ears ; and 
then returned to Maui; he drank and quenched his thirst: 
as a reward he pulled the birds legs to make them long, 
because he was attentive to his wish and brought him water. 
His last work was to do away with death. He noticed that 
the sun and moon were not to be killed, because they bathed 
