ASTRONOMY OF THE NATIVES. 169 
that each of these had a distinct atmosphere, and 
was enclosed in the same manner as they thought 
the heavens surrounded their own islands. 
Hence they spoke of foreigners as those who 
came from behind the sky, or from the other side 
of what they considered the sky of their part of 
the world. 
What their opinions were, as to the material of 
the heaven to which they gave such definite boun¬ 
daries, I could never learn; but, according to their 
mythology, there was a series of celestial strata, 
or tua , ten in number, each stratum being the 
abode of spirits or gods, whose elevation was regu¬ 
lated by their rank or powers; the tenth, or last 
heaven, which was perfect darkness, being called 
te rai haamama of tane, and being the abode of 
the first class only. 
We often experienced a degree of confusion 
in our ideas connected with their use of the 
termpo, night or darkness, and its various com¬ 
pounds. They usually, but not invariably, spoke 
of the region of night as i raro , or below. 
In this instance, in describing the highest hea¬ 
ven, the purest region, they spoke of it also as 
the po. After describing the nine heavens, or 
stratum of clouds or light, inhabited by the differ¬ 
ent orders of inferior deities, they represent the 
tenth, or most remote from the earth, and the 
abode of the principal gods, as te rai haamama no 
tane , &c. the opening or unfolding to the po, or 
perpetual darkness. From this mode of .repre¬ 
sentation, it appears that the islanders imagined 
the universe to be chaotic, and that in its vast im¬ 
mensity their islands and ocean, with the sky arch¬ 
ing over them, were enclosed, and that below the 
foundation of the earth, on which they stood, and 
