88 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
and each night of the month or moon. They do 
not, however, reckon time by days, but by nights. 
Hence, instead of saying, How many days since ? 
they would inquire, Rui hia aenei? u How many 
nights ?” The following are the different nights of 
each moon. 
The Nights of the Moon. 
1. Ohirohifci. 
2. Hoata. 
3. Hami-ami-mua* 
4. Hami-ami-roto. 
5. Hami-ami-mur6. 
6. Ore-ore-mua. 
7. Ore-ore-murio 
8. Tamatea. 
9. Ohuna. 
10. Oari. 
11. Omaharu. 
12. Ohua. 
13. Omaitu. 
14. Ohotu. 
16. Oturu-tea. 
17. Raau-mua. 
18. Raau-roto. 
19. Raau-murh 
20. Ore-ore-mua. 
21. Ore-ore-roto. 
22. Ore-ore-murL 
23. Taaroa-mua. 
24. Taaroa-roto. 
25. Taaroa-muri. 
26. O-Tane. 
27. O-Roomie. 
28. O-Roomaori. 
29. O-mutu. 
15. Omarae. — Te-marama- ^20. O-Terieo.—This is the 
ati, or the moon with a night or day the moon dies, 
round and full face. or is changed. 
The seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth 
nights, or nights immediately succeeding the full 
moon, were considered as seasons when spirits 
wander more than at any other time; they were 
also favourable to the depredations of thieves. 
They do not appear to have divided their months 
into weeks, or to have had any division between 
months and days. Totally ignorant of clocks or 
watches, they could not divide the day into hours. 
They, however, marked the progress of the day 
with sufficient exactness, by noticing the position 
of the sun in the firmament, the appearance of 
the atmosphere, and the ebbing and flowing of 
the tide. 
