MYTHOLOGY. 
35 
or her peculiar department, and they have been succeeded 
by the male and female saints of the Greek and Roman 
churches, which have thus carefully preserved a close rela¬ 
tionship to their venerated heathen ancestors. 
There is one of the native gods who bears a remarkable 
resemblance to Mars. Like him, Maru is the god of war; 
he was killed and eaten when on earth, but his divinity flew 
up to heaven, and the planet Mars, from his fiery color, is 
called Maru. This god had many names, as 
Mara i te Aewa 
,, — Koeta 
„ — Anaimau 
,, — Waka tamara 
,, — Tahuri mai 
,, — Takotua 
,, — Tawakarere 
„ —- Kiri 
„ — Nguha 
,, — Mataitai 
These names were descriptive of his various evil qualities; 
his going to and fro as an adversary ; chattering defiance ; 
looking down malignantly; causing disease; flaming with 
wrath; full of anger and bitterness. We can scarcely have 
a more perfect description of the evil spirit. Maru was 
a god of the Sandwich Isles. This deity being constantly 
engaged in evil, had no time to grow food, and was indig¬ 
nant if he were not liberally supplied, and with the best. He 
must have been a god highly esteemed by his priests, who 
grew fat in his service. 
A native history of one of these gods will be a specimen of 
all, and such narratives furnish a faithful index of the national 
mind. No god figures more in the Maori mythology of later 
ages than Tawaki. Originally men were not aware that he was a 
god, until one day he ascended a lofty hill, and some one who was 
cutting brush wood, saw him throw aside his vile garments, and 
clothe himself with the lightning: they then knew he was a god. 
When Waitiri (his grandmother) descended from heaven, 
the fame of Kai-tangata and his bravery reached her ; on her 
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