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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/32601-8.txt b/32601-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c2c2676 --- /dev/null +++ b/32601-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5236 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Legends of Ma-ui--a demi god of Polynesia, +and of his mother Hina, by W. D. Westervelt + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Legends of Ma-ui--a demi god of Polynesia, and of his mother Hina + +Author: W. D. Westervelt + +Release Date: May 30, 2010 [EBook #32601] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEGENDS *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + +[Illustration: Hale-a-ka-la Crater, the House of the Sun.] + + + + + LEGENDS + OF + MA-UI--A DEMI GOD + OF + POLYNESIA + AND OF + HIS MOTHER HINA. + + BY + W. D. WESTERVELT. + + HONOLULU: + THE HAWAIIAN GAZETTE CO., LTD. + 1910 + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. Maui's Home 3 + + II. Maui the Fisherman 12 + + III. Maui Lifting the Sky 31 + + IV. Maui Snaring the Sun 40 + + V. Maui Finding Fire 56 + + VI. Maui the Skillful 78 + + VII. Maui and Tuna 91 + + VIII. Maui and His Brother-in-Law 101 + + IX. Maui's Kite-Flying 112 + + X. Oahu Legends of Maui 119 + + XI. Maui Seeking Immortality 128 + + XII. Hina of Hilo 139 + + XIII. Hina and the Wailuku River 146 + + XIV. The Ghosts of the Hilo Hills 155 + + XV. Hina, the Woman in the Moon 165 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + OPPOSITE + PAGE + + Frontispiece--Haleakala Crater + + "Rugged Lava of Wailuku River" 7 + + Leaping to Swim to Coral Reefs 12 + + Sea of Sacred Caves 14 + + Spearing Fish 21 + + Here are the Canoes 29 + + Iao Mountain from the Sea 43 + + Haleakala 53 + + Hawaiian Vines and Bushes 74 + + Bathing Pool 84 + + Coconut Grove 96 + + Boiling Pots--Wailuku River 100 + + Outside were other Worlds 107 + + Hilo Coast--Home of the Winds 115 + + Bay of Waipio Valley 121 + + The Ieie Vine 125 + + Rainbow Falls 147 + + Wailuku River--The Home of Kuna 151 + + On Lava Beds 163 + + + + +HELPS TO PRONUNCIATION + + +There are three simple rules which practically control Hawaiian +pronunciation: (1) Give each vowel the German sound. (2) Pronounce each +vowel. (3) Never allow a consonant to close a syllable. + +Interchangeable consonants are many. The following are the most common: +h=s; l=r; k=t; n=ng; v=w. + + + + +PREFACE + + +Maui is a demi god whose name should probably be pronounced Ma-u-i, _i. +e._, Ma-oo-e. The meaning of the word is by no means clear. It may mean +"to live," "to subsist." It may refer to beauty and strength, or it may +have the idea of "the left hand" or "turning aside." The word is +recognized as belonging to remote Polynesian antiquity. + +MacDonald, a writer of the New Hebrides Islands, gives the derivation of +the name Maui primarily from the Arabic word "Mohyi," which means +"causing to live" or "life," applied sometimes to the gods and sometimes +to chiefs as "preservers and sustainers" of their followers. + +The Maui story probably contains a larger number of unique and ancient +myths than that of any other legendary character in the mythology of any +nation. + +There are three centers for these legends, New Zealand in the south, +Hawaii in the north, and the Tahitian group including the Hervey Islands +in the east. In each of these groups of islands, separated by thousands +of miles, there are the same legends, told in almost the same way, and +with very little variation in names. The intermediate groups of islands +of even as great importance as Tonga, Fiji or Samoa, possess the same +legends in more or less of a fragmentary condition, as if the three +centers had been settled first when the Polynesians were driven away +from the Asiatic coasts by their enemies, the Malays. From these +centers voyagers sailing away in search of adventures would carry +fragments rather than complete legends. This is exactly what has been +done and there are as a result a large number of hints of wonderful +deeds. The really long legends as told about the demi god Ma-u-i and his +mother Hina number about twenty. + +It is remarkable that these legends have kept their individuality. The +Polynesians are not a very clannish people. For some centuries they have +not been in the habit of frequently visiting each other. They have had +no written language, and picture writing of any kind is exceedingly rare +throughout Polynesia and yet in physical traits, national customs, +domestic habits, and language, as well as in traditions and myths, the +different inhabitants of the islands of Polynesia are as near of kin as +the cousins of the United States and Great Britain. + +The Maui legends form one of the strongest links in the mythological +chain of evidence which binds the scattered inhabitants of the Pacific +into one nation. An incomplete list aids in making clear the fact that +groups of islands hundreds and even thousands of miles apart have been +peopled centuries past by the same organic race. Either complete or +fragmentary Maui legends are found in the single islands and island +groups of Aneityum, Bowditch or Fakaofa, Efate, Fiji, Fotuna, Gilbert, +Hawaii, Hervey, Huahine, Mangaia, Manihiki, Marquesas, Marshall, Nauru, +New Hebrides, New Zealand, Samoa, Savage, Tahiti or Society, Tauna, +Tokelau and Tonga. + +S. Percy Smith of New Zealand in his book Hawaiki mentions a legend +according to which Maui made a voyage after overcoming a sea monster, +visiting the Tongas, the Tahitian group, Vai-i or Hawaii, and the +Paumotu Islands. Then Maui went on to U-peru, which Mr. Smith says "may +be Peru." It was said that Maui named some of the islands of the +Hawaiian group, calling the island Maui "Maui-ui in remembrance of his +efforts in lifting up the heavens." Hawaii was named Vai-i, and Lanai +was called Ngangai--as if Maui had found the three most southerly +islands of the group. + +The Maui legends possess remarkable antiquity. Of course, it is +impossible to give any definite historical date, but there can scarcely +be any question of their origin among the ancestors of the Polynesians +before they scattered over the Pacific ocean. They belong to the +prehistoric Polynesians. The New Zealanders claim Maui as an ancestor of +their most ancient tribes and sometimes class him among the most ancient +of their gods, calling him "creator of land" and "creator of man." +Tregear, in a paper before the New Zealand Institute, said that Maui was +sometimes thought to be "the sun himself," "the solar fire," "the sun +god," while his mother Hina was called "the moon goddess." The noted +greenstone god of the Maoris of New Zealand, Potiki, may well be +considered a representation of Maui-Tiki-Tiki, who was sometimes called +Maui-po-tiki. + +Whether these legends came to the people in their sojourn in India +before they migrated to the Straits of Sunda is not certain; but it may +well be assumed that these stories had taken firm root in the memories +of the priests who transmitted the most important traditions from +generation to generation, and that this must have been done before they +were driven away from the Asiatic coasts by the Malays. + +Several hints of Hindoo connection is found in the Maui legends. The +Polynesians not only ascribed human attributes to all animal life with +which they were acquainted, but also carried the idea of an alligator or +dragon with them, wherever they went, as in the mo-o of the story +Tuna-roa. + +The Polynesians also had the idea of a double soul inhabiting the body. +This is carried out in the ghost legends more fully than in the Maui +stories, and yet "the spirit separate from the spirit which never +forsakes man" according to Polynesian ideas, was a part of the Maui +birth legends. This spirit, which can be separated or charmed away from +the body by incantations was called the "hau." When Maui's father +performed the religious ceremonies over him which would protect him and +cause him to be successful, he forgot a part of his incantation to the +"hau," therefore Maui lost his protection from death when he sought +immortality for himself and all mankind. + +How much these things aid in proving a Hindoo or rather Indian origin +for the Polynesians is uncertain, but at least they are of interest +along the lines of race origin. + +The Maui group of legends is preëminently peculiar. They are not only +different from the myths of other nations, but they are unique in the +character of the actions recorded. Maui's deeds rank in a higher class +than most of the mighty efforts of the demi gods of other nations and +races, and are usually of more utility. Hercules accomplished nothing to +compare with "lifting the sky," "snaring the sun," "fishing for +islands," "finding fire in his grandmother's finger nails," or "learning +from birds how to make fire by rubbing dry sticks," or "getting a magic +bone" from the jaw of an ancestor who was half dead, that is dead on one +side and therefore could well afford to let the bone on that side go for +the benefit of a descendant. The Maui legends are full of helpful +imaginations, which are distinctly Polynesian. + +The phrase "Maui of the Malo" is used among the Hawaiians in connection +with the name Maui a Kalana, "Maui the son of Akalana." It may be well +to note the origin of the name. It was said that Hina usually sent her +retainers to gather sea moss for her, but one morning she went down to +the sea by herself. There she found a beautiful red malo, which she +wrapped around her as a pa-u or skirt. When she showed it to Akalana, +her husband, he spoke of it as a gift of the gods, thinking that it +meant the gift of Mana or spiritual power to their child when he should +be born. In this way the Hawaiians explain the superior talent and +miraculous ability of Maui which placed him above his brothers. + +These stories were originally printed as magazine articles, chiefly in +the Paradise of the Pacific, Honolulu; therefore there are sometimes +repetitions which it seemed best to leave, even when reprinted in the +present form. + + + + +I. + +MAUI'S HOME + + "Akalana was the man; + Hina-a-ke-ahi was the wife; + Maui First was born; + Then Maui-waena; + Maui Kiikii was born; + Then Maui of the malo." + + --Queen Liliuokalani's Family Chant. + + +Four brothers, each bearing the name of Maui, belong to Hawaiian legend. +They accomplished little as a family, except on special occasions when +the youngest of the household awakened his brothers by some unexpected +trick which drew them into unwonted action. The legends of Hawaii, +Tonga, Tahiti, New Zealand and the Hervey group make this youngest Maui +"the discoverer of fire" or "the ensnarer of the sun" or "the fisherman +who pulls up islands" or "the man endowed with magic," or "Maui with +spirit power." The legends vary somewhat, of course, but not as much as +might be expected when the thousands of miles between various groups of +islands are taken into consideration. + +Maui was one of the Polynesian demi-gods. His parents belonged to the +family of supernatural beings. He himself was possessed of supernatural +powers and was supposed to make use of all manner of enchantments. In +New Zealand antiquity a Maui was said to have assisted other gods in the +creation of man. Nevertheless Maui was very human. He lived in thatched +houses, had wives and children, and was scolded by the women for not +properly supporting his household. + +The time of his sojourn among men is very indefinite. In Hawaiian +genealogies Maui and his brothers were placed among the descendants of +Ulu and "the sons of Kii," and Maui was one of the ancestors of +Kamehameha, the first king of the united Hawaiian Islands. This would +place him in the seventh or eighth century of the Christian Era. But it +is more probable that Maui belongs to the mist-land of time. His +mischievous pranks with the various gods would make him another Mercury +living in any age from the creation to the beginning of the Christian +era. + +The Hervey Island legends state that Maui's father was "the supporter of +the heavens" and his mother "the guardian of the road to the invisible +world." + +In the Hawaiian chant, Akalana was the name of his father. In other +groups this was the name by which his mother was known. Kanaloa, the +god, is sometimes known as the father of Maui. In Hawaii Hina was his +mother. Elsewhere Ina, or Hina, was the grandmother, from whom he +secured fire. + +The Hervey Island legends say that four mighty ones lived in the old +world from which their ancestors came. This old world bore the name +Ava-iki, which is the same as Hawa-ii, or Hawaii. The four gods were +Mauike, Ra, Ru, and Bua-Taranga. + +It is interesting to trace the connection of these four names with +Polynesian mythology. Mauike is the same as the demi-god of New Zealand, +Mafuike. On other islands the name is spelled Mauika, Mafuika, Mafuia, +Mafuie, and Mahuika. Ra, the sun god of Egypt, is the same as Ra in New +Zealand and La (sun) in Hawaii. Ru, the supporter of the heavens, is +probably the Ku of Hawaii, and the Tu of New Zealand and other islands, +one of the greatest of the gods worshiped by the ancient Hawaiians. The +fourth mighty one from Ava-ika was a woman, Bua-taranga, who guarded the +path to the underworld. Talanga in Samoa, and Akalana in Hawaii were the +same as Taranga. Pua-kalana (the Kalana flower) would probably be the +same in Hawaiian as Bua-taranga in the language of the Society Islands. + +Ru, the supporter of the Heavens, married Bua-taranga, the guardian of +the lower world. Their one child was Maui. The legends of Raro-Tonga +state that Maui's father and mother were the children of Tangaroa +(Kanaloa in Hawaiian), the great god worshiped throughout Polynesia. +There were three Maui brothers and one sister, Ina-ika (Ina, the fish). + +The New Zealand legends relate the incidents of the babyhood of Maui. + +Maui was prematurely born, and his mother, not caring to be troubled +with him, cut off a lock of her hair, tied it around him and cast him +into the sea. In this way the name came to him, Maui-Tiki-Tiki, or "Maui +formed in the topknot." The waters bore him safely. The jelly fish +enwrapped and mothered him. The god of the seas cared for and protected +him. He was carried to the god's house and hung up in the roof that he +might feel the warm air of the fire, and be cherished into life. When he +was old enough, he came to his relations while they were all gathered in +the great House of Assembly, dancing and making merry. Little Maui crept +in and sat down behind his brothers. Soon his mother called the children +and found a strange child, who proved that he was her son, and was taken +in as one of the family. Some of the brothers were jealous, but the +eldest addressed the others as follows: + +"Never mind; let him be our dear brother. In the days of peace remember +the proverb, 'When you are on friendly terms, settle your disputes in a +friendly way; when you are at war, you must redress your injuries by +violence.' It is better for us, brothers, to be kind to other people. +These are the ways by which men gain influence--by laboring for +abundance of food to feed others, by collecting property to give to +others, and by similar means by which you promote the good of others." + +[Illustration: Rugged Lava of Wailuku River.] + +Thus, according to the New Zealand story related by Sir George Grey, +Maui was received in his home. + +Maui's home was placed by some of the Hawaiian myths at Kauiki, a +foothill of the great extinct crater Haleakala, on the Island of Maui. +It was here he lived when the sky was raised to its present position. +Here was located the famous fort around which many battles were fought +during the years immediately preceding the coming of Captain Cook. This +fort was held by warriors of the Island of Hawaii a number of years. It +was from this home that Maui was supposed to have journeyed when he +climbed Mt. Haleakala to ensnare the sun. + +And yet most of the Hawaiian legends place Maui's home by the rugged +black lava beds of the Wailuku river near Hilo on the island Hawaii. +Here he lived when he found the way to make fire by rubbing sticks +together, and when he killed Kuna, the great eel, and performed other +feats of valor. He was supposed to cultivate the land on the north side +of the river. His mother, usually known as Hina, had her home in a lava +cave under the beautiful Rainbow Falls, one of the fine scenic +attractions of Hilo. An ancient demigod, wishing to destroy this home, +threw a great mass of lava across the stream below the falls. The rising +water was fast filling the cave. + +Hina called loudly to her powerful son Maui. He came quickly and found +that a large and strong ridge of lava lay across the stream. One end +rested against a small hill. Maui struck the rock on the other side of +the hill and thus broke a new pathway for the river. The water swiftly +flowed away and the cave remained as the home of the Maui family. + +According to the King Kalakaua family legend, translated by Queen +Liliuokalani, Maui and his brothers also made this place their home. +Here he aroused the anger of two uncles, his mother's brothers, who were +called "Tall Post" and "Short Post," because they guarded the entrance +to a cave in which the Maui family probably had its home. + +"They fought hard with Maui, and were thrown, and red water flowed +freely from Maui's forehead. This was the first shower by Maui." Perhaps +some family discipline followed this knocking down of door posts, for it +is said: + + "They fetched the sacred Awa bush, + Then came the second shower by Maui; + The third shower was when the elbow of Awa was broken; + The fourth shower came with the sacred bamboo." + +Maui's mother, so says a New Zealand legend, had her home in the +under-world as well as with her children. Maui determined to find the +hidden dwelling place. His mother would meet the children in the evening +and lie down to sleep with them and then disappear with the first +appearance of dawn. Maui remained awake one night, and when all were +asleep, arose quietly and stopped up every crevice by which a ray of +light could enter. The morning came and the sun mounted up--far up in +the sky. At last his mother leaped up and tore away the things which +shut out the light. + +"Oh, dear; oh, dear! She saw the sun high in the heavens; so she hurried +away, crying at the thought of having been so badly treated by her own +children." + +Maui watched her as she pulled up a tuft of grass and disappeared in the +earth, pulling the grass back to its place. + +Thus Maui found the path to the under-world. Soon he transformed himself +into a pigeon and flew down, through the cave, until he saw a party of +people under a sacred tree, like those growing in the ancient first +Hawaii. He flew to the tree and threw down berries upon the people. They +threw back stones. At last he permitted a stone from his father to +strike him, and he fell to the ground. "They ran to catch him, but lo! +the pigeon had turned into a man." + +Then his father "took him to the water to be baptized" (possibly a +modern addition to the legend). Prayers were offered and ceremonies +passed through. But the prayers were incomplete and Maui's father knew +that the gods would be angry and cause Maui's death, and all because in +the hurried baptism a part of the prayers had been left unsaid. Then +Maui returned to the upper world and lived again with his brothers. + +Maui commenced his mischievous life early, for Hervey Islanders say that +one day the children were playing a game dearly loved by +Polynesians--hide-and-seek. Here a sister enters into the game and hides +little Maui under a pile of dry sticks. His brothers could not find him, +and the sister told them where to look. The sticks were carefully +handled, but the child could not be found. He had shrunk himself so +small that he was like an insect under some sticks and leaves. Thus +early he began to use enchantments. + +Maui's home, at the best, was only a sorry affair. Gods and demigods +lived in caves and small grass houses. The thatch rapidly rotted and +required continual renewal. In a very short time the heavy rains beat +through the decaying roof. The home was without windows or doors, save +as low openings in the ends or sides allowed entrance to those willing +to crawl through. Off on one side would be the rude shelter, in the +shadow of which Hina pounded the bark of certain trees into wood pulp +and then into strips of thin, soft wood-paper, which bore the name of +"Tapa cloth." This cloth Hina prepared for the clothing of Maui and his +brothers. Tapa cloth was often treated to a coat of cocoa-nut, or +candle-nut oil, making it somewhat waterproof and also more durable. + +Here Maui lived on edible roots and fruits and raw fish, knowing little +about cooked food, for the art of fire making was not yet known. In +later years Maui was supposed to live on the eastern end of the island +Maui, and also in another home on the large island Hawaii, on which he +discovered how to make fire by rubbing dry sticks together. Maui was the +Polynesian Mercury. As a little fellow he was endowed with peculiar +powers, permitting him to become invisible or to change his human form +into that of an animal. He was ready to take anything from any one by +craft or force. Nevertheless, like the thefts of Mercury, his pranks +usually benefited mankind. + +It is a little curious that around the different homes of Maui, there is +so little record of temples and priests and altars. He lived too far +back for priestly customs. His story is the rude, mythical survival of +the days when of church and civil government there was none and worship +of the gods was practically unknown, but every man was a law unto +himself, and also to the other man, and quick retaliation followed any +injury received. + + + + +II. + +MAUI THE FISHERMAN + + "Oh the great fish hook of Maui! + Manai-i-ka-lani 'Made fast to the heavens'--its name; + An earth-twisted cord ties the hook. + Engulfed from the lofty Kauiki. + Its bait the red billed Alae, + The bird made sacred to Hina. + It sinks far down to Hawaii, + Struggling and painfully dying. + Caught is the land under the water, + Floated up, up to the surface, + But Hina hid a wing of the bird + And broke the land under the water. + Below, was the bait snatched away + And eaten at once by the fishes, + The Ulua of the deep muddy places." + + --Chant of Kualii, about A. D. 1700. + + +One of Maui's homes was near Kauiki, a place well known throughout the +Hawaiian Islands because of its strategic importance. For many years it +was the site of a fort around which fierce battles were fought by the +natives of the island Maui, repelling the invasions of their neighbors +from Hawaii. + +[Illustration: Leaping to Swim to Coral Reefs.] + +Haleakala (the House of the Sun), the mountain from which Maui the +demi-god snared the sun, looks down ten thousand feet upon the Kauiki +headland. Across the channel from Haleakala rises Mauna Kea, "The White +Mountain"--the snow-capped--which almost all the year round rears its +white head in majesty among the clouds. + +In the snowy breakers of the surf which washes the beach below these +mountains, are broken coral reefs--the fishing grounds of the Hawaiians. +Here near Kauiki, according to some Hawaiian legends, Maui's mother Hina +had her grass house and made and dried her kapa cloth. Even to the +present day it is one of the few places in the islands where the kapa is +still pounded into sheets from the bark of the hibiscus and kindred +trees. + +Here is a small bay partially reef-protected, over which year after year +the moist clouds float and by day and by night crown the waters with +rainbows--the legendary sign of the home of the deified ones. Here when +the tide is out the natives wade and swim, as they have done for +centuries, from coral block to coral block, shunning the deep resting +places of their dread enemy, the shark, sometimes esteemed divine. Out +on the edge of the outermost reef they seek the shellfish which cling +to the coral, or spear the large fish which have been left in the +beautiful little lakes of the reef. Coral land is a region of the sea +coast abounding in miniature lakes and rugged valleys and steep +mountains. Clear waters with every motion of the tide surge in and out +through sheltered caves and submarine tunnels, according to an ancient +Hawaiian song-- + + "Never quiet, never failing, never sleeping, + Never very noisy is the sea of the sacred caves." + +Sea mosses of many hues are the forests which drape the hillsides of +coral land and reflect the colored rays of light which pierce the +ceaselessly moving waves. Down in the beautiful little lakes, under +overhanging coral cliffs, darting in and out through the fringes of +seaweed, the purple mullet and royal red fish flash before the eyes of +the fisherman. Sometimes the many-tinted glorious fish of paradise +reveal their beauties, and then again a school of black and gold +citizens of the reef follow the tidal waves around projecting crags and +through the hidden tunnels from lake to lake, while above the fisherman +follows spearing or snaring as best he can. Maui's brothers were better +fishermen than he. They sought the deep sea beyond the reef and the +larger fish. They made hooks of bone or of mother of pearl, with a +straight, slender, sharp-pointed piece leaning backward at a sharp +angle. This was usually a consecrated bit of bone or mother of pearl, +and was supposed to have peculiar power to hold fast any fish which had +taken the bait. + +[Illustration: In the Sea of Sacred Caves.] + +These bones were usually taken from the body of some one who while +living had been noted for great power or high rank. This sharp piece was +tightly tied to the larger bone or shell, which formed the shank of the +hook. The sacred barb of Maui's hook was a part of the magic bone he had +secured from his ancestors in the under-world--the bone with which he +struck the sun while lassooing him and compelling him to move more +slowly through the heavens. + +"Earth-twisted"--fibres of vines--twisted while growing, was the cord +used by Maui in tying the parts of his magic hook together. + +Long and strong were the fish lines made from the olona fibre, holding +the great fish caught from the depths of the ocean. The fibres of the +olona vine were among the longest and strongest threads found in the +Hawaiian Islands. + +Such a hook could easily be cast loose by the struggling fish, if the +least opportunity were given. Therefore it was absolutely necessary to +keep the line taut, and pull strongly and steadily, to land the fish in +the canoe. + +Maui did not use his magic hook for a long time. He seemed to understand +that it would not answer ordinary needs. Possibly the idea of making +the supernatural hook did not occur to him until he had exhausted his +lower wit and magic upon his brothers. + +It is said that Maui was not a very good fisherman. Sometimes his end of +the canoe contained fish which his brothers had thought were on their +hooks until they were landed in the canoe. + +Many times they laughed at him for his poor success, and he retaliated +with his mischievous tricks. + +"E!" he would cry, when one of his brothers began to pull in, while the +other brothers swiftly paddled the canoe forward. "E!" See we both have +caught great fish at the same moment. Be careful now. Your line is +loose. "Look out! Look out!" + +All the time he would be pulling his own line in as rapidly as possible. +Onward rushed the canoe. Each fisherman shouting to encourage the +others. Soon the lines by the tricky manipulation of Maui would be +crossed. Then as the great fish was brought near the side of the boat +Maui the little, the mischievous one, would slip his hook toward the +head of the fish and flip it over into the canoe--causing his brother's +line to slacken for a moment. Then his mournful cry rang out: "Oh, my +brother, your fish is gone. Why did you not pull more steadily? It was a +fine fish, and now it is down deep in the waters." Then Maui held up his +splendid catch (from his brother's hook) and received somewhat +suspicious congratulations. But what could they do, Maui was the smart +one of the family. + +Their father and mother were both members of the household of the gods. +The father was "the supporter of the heavens" and the mother was "the +guardian of the way to the invisible world," but pitifully small and +very few were the gifts bestowed upon their children. Maui's brothers +knew nothing beyond the average home life of the ordinary Hawaiian, and +Maui alone was endowed with the power to work miracles. Nevertheless the +student of Polynesian legends learns that Maui is more widely known than +almost all the demi-gods of all nations as a discoverer of benefits for +his fellows, and these physical rather than spiritual. After many +fishing excursions Maui's brothers seemed to have wit enough to +understand his tricks, and thenceforth they refused to take him in their +canoe when they paddled out to the deep-sea fishing grounds. Then those +who depended upon Maui to supply their daily needs murmured against his +poor success. His mother scolded him and his brothers ridiculed him. + +In some of the Polynesian legends it is said that his wives and children +complained because of his laziness and at last goaded him into a new +effort. + +The ex-Queen Liliuokalani, in a translation of what is called "the +family chant," says that Maui's mother sent him to his father for a hook +with which to supply her need. + + "Go hence to your father, + 'Tis there you find line and hook. + This is the hook--'Made fast to the heavens--' + 'Manaia-ka-lani'--'tis called. + When the hook catches land + It brings the old seas together. + Bring hither the large Alae, + The bird of Hina." + +When Maui had obtained his hook, he tried to go fishing with his +brothers. He leaped on the end of their canoe as they pushed out into +deep water. They were angry and cried out: "This boat is too small for +another Maui." So they threw him off and made him swim back to the +beach. When they returned from their day's work, they brought back only +a shark. Maui told them if he had been with them better fish would have +been upon their hooks--the Ulua, for instance, or, possibly, the +Pimoe--the king of fish. At last they let him go far out outside the +harbor of Kipahula to a place opposite Ka Iwi o Pele, "The bone of +Pele," a peculiar piece of lava lying near the beach at Hana on the +eastern side of the island Maui. There they fished, but only sharks were +caught. The brothers ridiculed Maui, saying: "Where are the Ulua, and +where is Pimoe?" + +Then Maui threw his magic hook into the sea, baited with one of the Alae +birds, sacred to his mother Hina. He used the incantation, "When I let +go my hook with divine power, then I get the great Ulua." + +The bottom of the sea began to move. Great waves arose, trying to carry +the canoe away. The fish pulled the canoe two days, drawing the line to +its fullest extent. When the slack began to come in the line, because of +the tired fish, Maui called for the brothers to pull hard against the +coming fish. Soon land rose out of the water. Maui told them not to look +back or the fish would be lost. One brother did look back--the line +slacked, snapped, and broke, and the land lay behind them in islands. + +One of the Hawaiian legends also says that while the brothers were +paddling in full strength, Maui saw a calabash floating in the water. He +lifted it into the canoe, and behold! his beautiful sister Hina of the +sea. The brothers looked, and the separated islands lay behind them, +free from the hook, while Cocoanut Island--the dainty spot of beauty in +Hilo harbor--was drawn up--a little ledge of lava--in later years the +home of a cocoanut grove. + +The better, the more complete, legend comes from New Zealand, which +makes Maui so mischievous that his brothers refuse his +companionship--and therefore, thrown on his own resources, he studies +how to make a hook which shall catch something worth while. In this +legend Maui is represented as making his own hook and then pleading with +his brothers to let him go with them once more. But they hardened their +hearts against him, and refused again and again. + +Maui possessed the power of changing himself into different forms. At +one time while playing with his brothers he had concealed himself for +them to find. They heard his voice in a corner of the house--but could +not find him. Then under the mats on the floor, but again they could not +find him. There was only an insect creeping on the floor. Suddenly they +saw their little brother where the insect had been. Then they knew he +had been tricky with them. So in these fishing days he resolved to go +back to his old ways and cheat his brothers into carrying him with them +to the great fishing grounds. + +Sir George Gray says that the New Zealand Maui went out to the canoe and +concealed himself as an insect in the bottom of the boat so that when +the early morning light crept over the waters and his brothers pushed +the canoe into the surf they could not see him. They rejoiced that Maui +did not appear, and paddled away over the waters. + +They fished all day and all night and on the morning of the next day, +out from among the fish in the bottom of the boat came their troublesome +brother. + +They had caught many fine fish and were satisfied, so thought to paddle +homeward; but their younger brother plead with them to go out, far out, +to the deeper seas and permit him to cast his hook. He said he wanted +larger and better fish than any they had captured. + +[Illustration: Spearing Fish.] + +So they paddled to their outermost fishing grounds--but this did not +satisfy Maui-- + + "Farther out on the waters, + O! my brothers, + I seek the great fish of the sea." + +It was evidently easier to work for him than to argue with +him--therefore far out in the sea they went. The home land disappeared +from view; they could see only the outstretching waste of waters. Maui +urged them out still farther. Then he drew his magic hook from under his +malo or loin-cloth. The brothers wondered what he would do for bait. The +New Zealand legend says that he struck his nose a mighty blow until the +blood gushed forth. When this blood became clotted, he fastened it upon +his hook and let it down into the deep sea. + +Down it went to the very bottom and caught the under world. It was a +mighty fish--but the brothers paddled with all their might and main and +Maui pulled in the line. It was hard rowing against the power which held +the hook down in the sea depths--but the brothers became enthusiastic +over Maui's large fish, and were generous in their strenuous endeavors. +Every muscle was strained and every paddle held strongly against the sea +that not an inch should be lost. There was no sudden leaping and darting +to and fro, no "give" to the line; no "tremble" as when a great fish +would shake itself in impotent wrath when held captive by a hook. It was +simply a struggle of tense muscle against an immensely heavy dead +weight. To the brothers there came slowly the feeling that Maui was in +one of his strange moods and that something beyond their former +experiences with their tricky brother was coming to pass. + +At last one of the brothers glanced backward. With a scream of intense +terror he dropped his paddle. The others also looked. Then each caught +his paddle and with frantic exertion tried to force their canoe onward. +Deep down in the heavy waters they pushed their paddles. Out of the +great seas the black, ragged head of a large island was rising like a +fish--it seemed to be chasing them through the boiling surf. In a little +while the water became shallow around them, and their canoe finally +rested on a black beach. + +Maui for some reason left his brothers, charging them not to attempt to +cut up this great fish. But the unwise brothers thought they would fill +the canoe with part of this strange thing which they had caught. They +began to cut up the back and put huge slices into their canoe. But the +great fish--the island--shook under the blows and with mighty earthquake +shocks tossed the boat of the brothers, and their canoe was destroyed. +As they were struggling in the waters, the great fish devoured them. The +island came up more and more from the waters--but the deep gashes made +by Maui's brothers did not heal--they became the mountains and valleys +stretching from sea to sea. + +White of New Zealand says that Maui went down into the underworld to +meet his great ancestress, who was one side dead and one side alive. +From the dead side he took the jaw bone, made a magic hook, and went +fishing. When he let the hook down into the sea, he called: + + "Take my bait. O Depths! + Confused you are. O Depths! + And coming upward." + +Thus he pulled up Ao-tea-roa--one of the large islands of New Zealand. +On it were houses, with people around them. Fires were burning. Maui +walked over the island, saw with wonder the strange men and the +mysterious fire. He took fire in his hands and was burned. He leaped +into the sea, dived deep, came up with the other large island on his +shoulders. This island he set on fire and left it always burning. It is +said that the name for New Zealand given to Captain Cook was Te ika o +Maui, "The fish of Maui." Some New Zealand natives say that he fished up +the island on which dwelt "Great Hina of the Night," who finally +destroyed Maui while he was seeking immortality. + +One legend says that Maui fished up apparently from New Zealand the +large island of the Tongas. He used this chant: + + "O Tonga-nui! + Why art Thou + Sulkily biting, biting below? + Beneath the earth + The power is felt, + The foam is seen, + Coming. + O thou loved grandchild + Of Tangaroa-meha." + +This is an excellent poetical description of the great fish delaying the +quick hard bite. Then the island comes to the surface and Maui, the +beloved grandchild of the Polynesian god Kanaloa, is praised. + +It was part of one of the legends that Maui changed himself into a bird +and from the heavens let down a line with which he drew up land, but the +line broke, leaving islands rather than a mainland. About two hundred +lesser gods went to the new islands in a large canoe. The greater gods +punished them by making them mortal. + +Turner, in his book on Samoa, says there were three Mauis, all brothers. +They went out fishing from Rarotonga. One of the brothers begged the +"goddess of the deep rocks" to let his hooks catch land. Then the island +Manahiki was drawn up. A great wave washed two of the Mauis away. The +other Maui found a great house in which eight hundred gods lived. Here +he made his home until a chief from Rarotonga drove him away. He fled +into the sky, but as he leaped he separated the land into two islands. + +Other legends of Samoa say that Tangaroa, the great god, rolled stones +from heaven. One became the island Savaii, the other became Upolu. A god +is sometimes represented as passing over the ocean with a bag of sand. +Wherever he dropped a little sand islands sprang up. + +Payton, the earnest and honored missionary of the New Hebrides Islands, +evidently did not know the name Mauitikitiki, so he spells the name of +the fisherman Ma-tshi-ktshi-ki, and gives the myth of the fishing up of +the various islands. The natives said that Maui left footprints on the +coral reefs of each island where he stood straining and lifting in his +endeavors to pull up each other island. He threw his line around a large +island intending to draw it up and unite it with the one on which he +stood, but his line broke. Then he became angry and divided into two +parts the island on which he stood. This same Maui is recorded by Mr. +Payton as being in a flood which put out one volcano--Maui seized +another, sailed across to a neighboring island and piled it upon the top +of the volcano there, so the fire was placed out of reach of the flood. + +In the Hervey Group of the Tahitian or Society Islands the same story +prevails and the natives point out the place where the hook caught and a +print was made by the foot in the coral reef. But they add some very +mythical details. Maui's magic fish hook is thrown into the skies, where +it continuously hangs, the curved tail of the constellation which we +call Scorpio. Then one of the gods becoming angry with Maui seized him +and threw him also among the stars. There he stays looking down upon his +people. He has become a fixed part of the scorpion itself. + +The Hawaiian myths sometimes represent Maui as trying to draw the +islands together while fishing them out of the sea. When they had pulled +up the island of Kauai they looked back and were frightened. They +evidently tried to rush away from the new monster and thus broke the +line. Maui tore a side out of the small crater Kaula when trying to draw +it to one of the other islands. Three aumakuas, three fishes supposed to +be spirit-gods, guarded Kaula and defeated his purpose. At Hawaii +Cocoanut Island broke off because Maui pulled too hard. Another place +near Hilo on the large island of Hawaii where the hook was said to have +caught is in the Wailuku river below Rainbow Falls. + +Maui went out from his home at Kauiki, fishing with his brothers. After +they had caught some fine fish the brothers desired to return, but Maui +persuaded them to go out farther. Then when they became tired and +determined to go back, he made the seas stretch out and the shores +recede until they could see no land. Then drawing the magic hook, he +baited it with the Alae or sacred mud hen belonging to his Mother Hina. +Queen Liliuokalani's family chant has the following reference to this +myth: + + "Maui longed for fish for Hina-akeahi (Hina of the fire, his mother), + Go hence to your father, + There you will find line and hook. + Manaiakalani is the hook. + Where the islands are caught, + The ancient seas are connected. + The great bird Alae is taken, + The sister bird, + Of that one of the hidden fire of Maui." + +Maui evidently had no scruples against using anything which would help +him carry out his schemes. He indiscriminately robbed his friends and +the gods alike. + +Down in the deep sea sank the hook with its struggling bait, until it +was seized by "the land under the water." + +But Hina the mother saw the struggle of her sacred bird and hastened to +the rescue. She caught a wing of the bird, but could not pull the Alae +from the sacred hook. The wing was torn off. Then the fish gathered +around the bait and tore it in pieces. If the bait could have been kept +entire, then the land would have come up in a continent rather than as +an island. Then the Hawaiian group would have been unbroken. But the +bait broke--and the islands came as fragments from the under world. + +Maui's hook and canoe are frequently mentioned in the legends. The +Hawaiians have a long rock in the Wailuku river at Hilo which they call +Maui's canoe. Different names were given to Maui's canoe by the Maoris +of New Zealand. "Vine of Heaven," "Prepare for the North," "Land of the +Receding Sea." His fish hook bore the name "Plume of Beauty." + +On the southern end of Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, there is a curved ledge +of rocks extending out from the coast. This is still called by the +Maoris "Maui's fish-hook," as if the magic hook had been so firmly +caught in the jaws of the island that Maui could not disentangle it, but +had been compelled to cut it off from his line. + +There is a large stone on the sea coast of North Kohala on the island of +Hawaii which the Hawaiians point out as the place where Maui's magic +hook caught the island and pulled it through the sea. + +In the Tonga Islands, a place known as Hounga is pointed out by the +natives as the spot where the magic hook caught in the rocks. The hook +itself was said to have been in the possession of a chief-family for +many generations. + +[Illustration: Here are the Canoes.] + +Another group of Hawaiian legends, very incomplete, probably referring +to Maui, but ascribed to other names, relates that a fisherman caught a +large block of coral. He took it to his priest. After sacrificing, and +consulting the gods, the priest advised the fisherman to throw the coral +back into the sea with incantations. While so doing this block became +Hawaii-loa. The fishing continued and blocks of coral were caught and +thrown back into the sea until all the islands appeared. Hints of this +legend cling to other island groups as well as to the Hawaiian Islands. +Fornander credits a fisherman from foreign lands as thus bringing forth +the Hawaiian Islands from the deep seas. The reference occurs in part of +a chant known as that of a friend of Paao--the priest who is supposed to +have come from Samoa to Hawaii in the eleventh century. This priest +calls for his companions: + + "Here are the canoes. Get aboard. + Come along, and dwell on Hawaii with the green back. + A land which was found in the ocean, + A land thrown up from the sea-- + From the very depths of Kanaloa, + The white coral, in the watery caves, + That was caught on the hook of the fisherman." + +The god Kanaloa is sometimes known as a ruler of the under-world, whose +land was caught by Maui's hook and brought up in islands. Thus in the +legends the thought has been perpetuated that some one of the ancestors +of the Polynesians made voyages and discovered islands. + +In the time of Umi, King of Hawaii, there is the following record of an +immense bone fish-hook, which was called the "fish-hook of Maui:" + +"In the night of Muku (the last night of the month), a priest and his +servants took a man, killed him, and fastened his body to the hook, +which bore the name Manai-a-ka-lani, and dragged it to the heiau +(temple) as a 'fish,' and placed it on the altar." + +This hook was kept until the time of Kamehameha I. From time to time he +tried to break it, and pulled until he perspired. + +Peapea, a brother of Kaahumanu, took the hook and broke it. He was +afraid that Kamehameha would kill him. Kaahumanu, however, soothed the +King, and he passed the matter over. The broken bone was probably thrown +away. + + + + +III. + +MAUI LIFTING THE SKY. + + +Maui's home was for a long time enveloped by darkness. The heavens had +fallen down, or, rather, had not been separated from the earth. +According to some legends, the skies pressed so closely and so heavily +upon the earth that when the plants began to grow, all the leaves were +necessarily flat. According to other legends, the plants had to push up +the clouds a little, and thus caused the leaves to flatten out into +larger surface, so that they could better drive the skies back and hold +them in place. Thus the leaves became flat at first, and have so +remained through all the days of mankind. The plants lifted the sky inch +by inch until men were able to crawl about between the heavens and the +earth, and thus pass from place to place and visit one another. + +After a long time, according to the Hawaiian legends, a man, supposed to +be Maui, came to a woman and said: "Give me a drink from your gourd +calabash, and I will push the heavens higher." The woman handed the +gourd to him. When he had taken a deep draught, he braced himself +against the clouds and lifted them to the height of the trees. Again he +hoisted the sky and carried it to the tops of the mountains; then with +great exertion he thrust it upwards once more, and pressed it to the +place it now occupies. Nevertheless dark clouds many times hang low +along the eastern slope of Maui's great mountain--Haleakala--and descend +in heavy rains upon the hill Kauwiki; but they dare not stay, lest Maui +the strong come and hurl them so far away that they cannot come back +again. + +A man who had been watching the process of lifting the sky ridiculed +Maui for attempting such a difficult task. When the clouds rested on the +tops of the mountains, Maui turned to punish his critic. The man had +fled to the other side of the island. Maui rapidly pursued and finally +caught him on the sea coast, not many miles north of the town now known +as Lahaina. After a brief struggle the man was changed, according to the +story, into a great black rock, which can be seen by any traveler who +desires to localize the legends of Hawaii. + +In Samoa Tiitii, the latter part of the full name of Mauikiikii, is used +as the name of the one who braced his feet against the rocks and pushed +the sky up. The foot-prints, some six feet long, are said to be shown +by the natives. + +Another Samoan story is almost like the Hawaiian legend. The heavens had +fallen, people crawled, but the leaves pushed up a little; but the sky +was uneven. Men tried to walk, but hit their heads, and in this confined +space it was very hot. A woman rewarded a man who lifted the sky to its +proper place by giving him a drink of water from her cocoanut shell. + +A number of small groups of islands in the Pacific have legends of their +skies being lifted, but they attribute the labor to the great eels and +serpents of the sea. + +One of the Ellice group, Niu Island, says that as the serpent began to +lift the sky the people clapped their hands and shouted "Lift up!" +"High!" "Higher!" But the body of the serpent finally broke into pieces +which became islands, and the blood sprinkled its drops on the sky and +became stars. + +One of the Samoan legends says that a plant called daiga, which had one +large umbrella-like leaf, pushed up the sky and gave it its shape. + +The Vatupu, or Tracey Islanders, said at one time the sky and rocks were +united. Then steam or clouds of smoke rose from the rocks, and, pouring +out in volumes, forced the sky away from the earth. Man appeared in +these clouds of steam or smoke. Perspiration burst forth as this man +forced his way through the heated atmosphere. From this perspiration +woman was formed. Then were born three sons, two of whom pushed up the +sky. One, in the north, pushed as far as his arms would reach. The one +in the south was short and climbed a hill, pushing as he went up, until +the sky was in its proper place. + +The Gilbert Islanders say the sky was pushed up by men with long poles. + +The ancient New Zealanders understood incantations by which they could +draw up or discover. They found a land where the sky and the earth were +united. They prayed over their stone axe and cut the sky and land apart. +"Hau-hau-tu" was the name of the great stone axe by which the sinews of +the great heaven above were severed, and Langi (sky) was separated from +Papa (earth). + +The New Zealand Maoris were accustomed to say that at first the sky +rested close upon the earth and therefore there was utter darkness for +ages. Then the six sons of heaven and earth, born during this period of +darkness, felt the need of light and discussed the necessity of +separating their parents--the sky from the earth--and decided to attempt +the work. + +Rongo (Hawaiian god Lono) the "father of food plants," attempted to lift +the sky, but could not tear it from the earth. Then Tangaroa (Kanaloa), +the "father of fish and reptiles," failed. Haumia Tiki-tiki (Maui +Kiikii), the "father of wild food plants," could not raise the clouds. +Then Tu (Hawaiian Ku), the "father of fierce men," struggled in vain. +But Tane (Hawaiian Kane), the "father of giant forests," pushed and +lifted until he thrust the sky far up above him. Then they discovered +their descendants--the multitude of human beings who had been living on +the earth concealed and crushed by the clouds. Afterwards the last son, +Tawhiri (father of storms), was angry and waged war against his +brothers. He hid in the sheltered hollows of the great skies. There he +begot his vast brood of winds and storms with which he finally drove all +his brothers and their descendants into hiding places on land and sea. +The New Zealanders mention the names of the canoes in which their +ancestors fled from the old home Hawaiki. + +Tu (father of fierce men) and his descendants, however, conquered wind +and storm and have ever since held supremacy. + +The New Zealand legends also say that heaven and earth have never lost +their love for each other. "The warm sighs of earth ever ascend from the +wooded mountains and valleys, and men call them mists. The sky also lets +fall frequent tears which men term dew drops." + +The Manihiki islanders say that Maui desired to separate the sky from +the earth. His father, Ru, was the supporter of the heavens. Maui +persuaded him to assist in lifting the burden. Maui went to the north +and crept into a place, where, lying prostrate under the sky, he could +brace himself against it and push with great power. In the same way Ru +went to the south and braced himself against the southern skies. Then +they made the signal, and both pressed "with their backs against the +solid blue mass." It gave way before the great strength of the father +and son. Then they lifted again, bracing themselves with hands and knees +against the earth. They crowded it and bent it upward. They were able to +stand with the sky resting on their shoulders. They heaved against the +bending mass, and it receded rapidly. They quickly put the palms of +their hands under it; then the tips of their fingers, and it retreated +farther and farther. At last, "drawing themselves out to gigantic +proportions, they pushed the entire heavens up to the very lofty +position which they have ever since occupied." + +But Maui and Ru had not worked perfectly together; therefore the sky was +twisted and its surface was very irregular. They determined to smooth +the sky before they finished their task, so they took large stone adzes +and chipped off the rough protuberances and ridges, until by and by the +great arch was cut out and smoothed off. They then took finer tools and +chipped and polished until the sky became the beautifully finished blue +dome which now bends around the earth. + +The Hervey Island myth, as related by W. W. Gill, states that Ru, the +father of Maui, came from Avaiki (Hawa-iki), the underworld or abode of +the spirits of the dead. He found men crowded down by the sky, which was +a mass of solid blue stone. He was very sorry when he saw the condition +of the inhabitants of the earth, and planned to raise the sky a little. +So he planted stakes of different kinds of trees. These were strong +enough to hold the sky so far above the earth "that men could stand +erect and walk about without inconvenience." This was celebrated in one +of the Hervey Island songs: + + "Force up the heavens, + O, Ru! + And let the space be clear." + +For this helpful deed Ru received the name "The supporter of the +heavens." He was rather proud of his achievement and was gratified +because of the praise received. So he came sometimes and looked at the +stakes and the beautiful blue sky resting on them. Maui, the son, came +along and ridiculed his father for thinking so much of his work. Maui is +not represented, in the legends, as possessing a great deal of love and +reverence for his relatives provided his affection interfered with his +mischief; so it was not at all strange that he laughed at his father. Ru +became angry and said to Maui: "Who told youngsters to talk? Take care +of yourself, or I will hurl you out of existence." + +Maui dared him to try it. Ru quickly seized him and "threw him to a +great height." But Maui changed himself to a bird and sank back to earth +unharmed. + +Then he changed himself back into the form of a man, and, making himself +very large, ran and thrust his head between the old man's legs. He pried +and lifted until Ru and the sky around him began to give. Another lift +and he hurled them both to such a height that the sky could not come +back. + +Ru himself was entangled among the stars. His head and shoulders stuck +fast, and he could not free himself. How he struggled, until the skies +shook, while Maui went away. Maui was proud of his achievement in having +moved the sky so far away. In this self-rejoicing he quickly forgot his +father. + +Ru died after a time. "His body rotted away and his bones, of vast +proportions, came tumbling down from time to time, and were shivered on +the earth into countless fragments. These shattered bones of Ru are +scattered over every hill and valley of one of the islands, to the very +edge of the sea." + +Thus the natives of the Hervey Islands account for the many pieces of +porous lava and the small pieces of pumice stone found occasionally in +their islands. The "bones" were very light and greatly resembled +fragments of real bone. If the fragments were large enough they were +sometimes taken and worshiped as gods. One of these pieces, of +extraordinary size, was given to Mr. Gill when the natives were +bringing in a large collection of idols. "This one was known as 'The +Light Stone,' and was worshiped as the god of the wind and the waves. +Upon occasions of a hurricane, incantations and offerings of food would +be made to it." + +Thus, according to different Polynesian legends, Maui raised the sky and +made the earth inhabitable for his fellow-men. + + + + +IV. + +MAUI SNARING THE SUN. + + "Maui became restless and fought the sun + With a noose that he laid. + And winter won the sun, + And summer was won by Maui." + + --Queen Liliuokalani's family chant. + + +A very unique legend is found among the widely-scattered Polynesians. +The story of Maui's "Snaring the Sun" was told among the Maoris of New +Zealand, the Kanakas of the Hervey and Society Islands, and the ancient +natives of Hawaii. The Samoans tell the same story without mentioning +the name of Maui. They say that the snare was cast by a child of the sun +itself. + +The Polynesian stories of the origin of the sun are worthy of note +before the legend of the change from short to long days is given. + +The Tongan Islanders, according to W. W. Gill, tell the story of the +origin of the sun and moon. They say that Vatea (Wakea) and their +ancestor Tongaiti quarreled concerning a child--each claiming it as his +own. In the struggle the child was cut in two. Vatea squeezed and rolled +the part he secured into a ball and threw it away, far up into the +heavens, where it became the sun. It shone brightly as it rolled along +the heavens, and sank down to Avaiki (Hawaii), the nether world. But the +ball came back again and once more rolled across the sky. Tongaiti had +let his half of the child fall on the ground and lie there, until made +envious by the beautiful ball Vatea made. + +At last he took the flesh which lay on the ground and made it into a +ball. As the sun sank he threw his ball up into the darkness, and it +rolled along the heavens, but the blood had drained out of the flesh +while it lay upon the ground, therefore it could not become so red and +burning as the sun, and had not life to move so swiftly. It was as white +as a dead body, because its blood was all gone; and it could not make +the darkness flee away as the sun had done. Thus day and night and the +sun and moon always remain with the earth. + +The legends of the Society Islands say that a demon in the west became +angry with the sun and in his rage ate it up, causing night. In the same +way a demon from the east would devour the moon, but for some reason +these angry ones could not destroy their captives and were compelled to +open their mouths and let the bright balls come forth once more. In +some places a sacrifice of some one of distinction was needed to placate +the wrath of the devourers and free the balls of light in times of +eclipse. + +The moon, pale and dead in appearance, moved slowly; while the sun, full +of life and strength, moved quickly. Thus days were very short and +nights were very long. Mankind suffered from the fierceness of the heat +of the sun and also from its prolonged absence. Day and night were alike +a burden to men. The darkness was so great and lasted so long that +fruits would not ripen. + +After Maui had succeeded in throwing the heavens into their place, and +fastening them so that they could not fall, he learned that he had +opened a way for the sun-god to come up from the lower world and rapidly +run across the blue vault. This made two troubles for men--the heat of +the sun was very great and the journey too quickly over. Maui planned to +capture the sun and punish him for thinking so little about the welfare +of mankind. + +[Illustration: Iao Mountain From the Sea.] + +As Rev. A. O. Forbes, a missionary among the Hawaiians, relates, Maui's +mother was troubled very much by the heedless haste of the sun. She had +many kapa-cloths to make, for this was the only kind of clothing known +in Hawaii, except sometimes a woven mat or a long grass fringe worn as a +skirt. This native cloth was made by pounding the fine bark of +certain trees with wooden mallets until the fibres were beaten and +ground into a wood pulp. Then she pounded the pulp into thin sheets from +which the best sleeping mats and clothes could be fashioned. These kapa +cloths had to be thoroughly dried, but the days were so short that by +the time she had spread out the kapa the sun had heedlessly rushed +across the sky and gone down into the under-world, and all the cloth had +to be gathered up again and cared for until another day should come. +There were other troubles. "The food could not be prepared and cooked in +one day. Even an incantation to the gods could not be chanted through +ere they were overtaken by darkness." + +This was very discouraging and caused great suffering, as well as much +unnecessary trouble and labor. Many complaints were made against the +thoughtless sun. + +Maui pitied his mother and determined to make the sun go slower that the +days might be long enough to satisfy the needs of men. Therefore, he +went over to the northwest of the island on which he lived. This was Mt. +Iao, an extinct volcano, in which lies one of the most beautiful and +picturesque valleys of the Hawaiian Islands. He climbed the ridges until +he could see the course of the sun as it passed over the island. He saw +that the sun came up the eastern side of Mt. Haleakala. He crossed over +the plain between the two mountains and climbed to the top of Mt. +Haleakala. There he watched the burning sun as it came up from Koolau +and passed directly over the top of the mountain. The summit of +Haleakala is a great extinct crater twenty miles in circumference, and +nearly twenty-five hundred feet in depth. There are two tremendous gaps +or chasms in the side of the crater wall, through which in days gone by +the massive bowl poured forth its flowing lava. One of these was the +Koolau, or eastern gap, in which Maui probably planned to catch the sun. + +Mt. Hale-a-ka-la of the Hawaiian Islands means House-of-the-sun. "La," +or "Ra," is the name of the sun throughout parts of Polynesia. Ra was +the sun-god of ancient Egypt. Thus the antiquities of Polynesia and +Egypt touch each other, and today no man knows the full reason thereof. + +The Hawaiian legend says Maui was taunted by a man who ridiculed the +idea that he could snare the sun, saying, "You will never catch the sun. +You are only an idle nobody." + +Maui replied, "When I conquer my enemy and my desire is attained, I will +be your death." + +After studying the path of the sun, Maui returned to his mother and told +her that he would go and cut off the legs of the sun so that he could +not run so fast. + +His mother said: "Are you strong enough for this work?" He said, "Yes." +Then she gave him fifteen strands of well-twisted fiber and told him to +go to his grandmother, who lived in the great crater of Haleakala, for +the rest of the things in his conflict with the sun. She said: "You must +climb the mountain to the place where a large wiliwili tree is standing. +There you will find the place where the sun stops to eat cooked bananas +prepared by your grandmother. Stay there until a rooster crows three +times; then watch your grandmother go out to make a fire and put on +food. You had better take her bananas. She will look for them and find +you and ask who you are. Tell her you belong to Hina." + +When she had taught him all these things, he went up the mountain to +Kaupo to the place Hina had directed. There was a large wiliwili tree. +Here he waited for the rooster to crow. The name of that rooster was +Kalauhele-moa. When the rooster had crowed three times, the grandmother +came out with a bunch of bananas to cook for the sun. She took off the +upper part of the bunch and laid it down. Maui immediately snatched it +away. In a moment she turned to pick it up, but could not find it. She +was angry and cried out: "Where are the bananas of the sun?" Then she +took off another part of the bunch, and Maui stole that. Thus he did +until all the bunch had been taken away. She was almost blind and could +not detect him by sight, so she sniffed all around her until she +detected the smell of a man. She asked: "Who are you? To whom do you +belong?" Maui replied: "I belong to Hina." "Why have you come?" Maui +told her, "I have come to kill the sun. He goes so fast that he never +dries the tapa Hina has beaten out." + +The old woman gave a magic stone for a battle axe and one more rope. She +taught him how to catch the sun, saying: "Make a place to hide here by +this large wiliwili tree. When the first leg of the sun comes up, catch +it with your first rope, and so on until you have used all your ropes. +Fasten them to the tree, then take the stone axe to strike the body of +the sun." + +Maui dug a hole among the roots of the tree and concealed himself. Soon +the first ray of light--the first leg of the sun--came up along the +mountain side. Maui threw his rope and caught it. One by one the legs of +the sun came over the edge of the crater's rim and were caught. Only one +long leg was still hanging down the side of the mountain. It was hard +for the sun to move that leg. It shook and trembled and tried hard to +come up. At last it crept over the edge and was caught by Maui with the +rope given by his grandmother. + +When the sun saw that his sixteen long legs were held fast in the ropes, +he began to go back down the mountain side into the sea. Then Maui tied +the ropes fast to the tree and pulled until the body of the sun came up +again. Brave Maui caught his magic stone club or axe, and began to +strike and wound the sun, until he cried: "Give me my life." Maui said: +"If you live, you may be a traitor. Perhaps I had better kill you." But +the sun begged for life. After they had conversed a while, they agreed +that there should be a regular motion in the journey of the sun. There +should be longer days, and yet half the time he might go quickly as in +the winter time, but the other half he must move slowly as in summer. +Thus men dwelling on the earth should be blessed. + +Another legend says that he made a lasso and climbed to the summit of +Mt. Haleakala. He made ready his lasso, so that when the sun came up the +mountain side and rose above him he could cast the noose and catch the +sun, but he only snared one of the sun's larger rays and broke it off. +Again and again he threw the lasso until he had broken off all the +strong rays of the sun. + +Then he shouted exultantly, "Thou art my captive; I will kill thee for +going so swiftly." + +Then the sun said, "Let me live and thou shalt see me go more slowly +hereafter. Behold, hast thou not broken off all my strong legs and left +me only the weak ones?" + +So the agreement was made, and Maui permitted the sun to pursue his +course, and from that day he went more slowly. + +Maui returned from his conflict with the sun and sought for Moemoe, the +man who had ridiculed him. Maui chased this man around the island from +one side to the other until they had passed through Lahaina (one of the +first mission stations in 1828). There on the seashore near the large +black rock of the legend of Maui lifting the sky he found Moemoe. Then +they left the seashore and the contest raged up hill and down until Maui +slew the man and "changed the body into a long rock, which is there to +this day, by the side of the road going past Black Rock." + +Before the battle with the sun occurred Maui went down into the +underworld, according to the New Zealand tradition, and remained a long +time with his relatives. In some way he learned that there was an +enchanted jawbone in the possession of some one of his ancestors, so he +waited and waited, hoping that at last he might discover it. + +After a time he noticed that presents of food were being sent away to +some person whom he had not met. + +One day he asked the messengers, "Who is it you are taking that present +of food to?" + +The people answered, "It is for Muri, your ancestress." + +Then he asked for the food, saying, "I will carry it to her myself." + +But he took the food away and hid it. "And this he did for many days," +and the presents failed to reach the old woman. + +By and by she suspected mischief, for it did not seem as if her friends +would neglect her so long a time, so she thought she would catch the +tricky one and eat him. She depended upon her sense of smell to detect +the one who had troubled her. As Sir George Grey tells the story: "When +Maui came along the path carrying the present of food, the old chiefess +sniffed and sniffed until she was sure that she smelt some one coming. +She was very much exasperated, and her stomach began to distend itself +that she might be ready to devour this one when he came near. + +Then she turned toward the south and sniffed and not a scent of anything +reached her. Then she turned to the north, and to the east, but could +not detect the odor of a human being. She made one more trial and turned +toward the west. Ah! then came the scent of a man to her plainly and she +called out, 'I know, from the smell wafted to me by the breeze, that +somebody is close to me.'" + +Maui made known his presence and the old woman knew that he was a +descendant of hers, and her stomach began immediately to shrink and +contract itself again. + +Then she asked, "Art thou Maui?" + +He answered, "Even so," and told her that he wanted "the jaw-bone by +which great enchantments could be wrought." + +Then Muri, the old chiefess, gave him the magic bone and he returned to +his brothers, who were still living on the earth. + +Then Maui said: "Let us now catch the sun in a noose that we may compel +him to move more slowly in order that mankind may have long days to +labor in and procure subsistence for themselves." + +They replied, "No man can approach it on account of the fierceness of +the heat." + +According to the Society Island legend, his mother advised him to have +nothing to do with the sun, who was a divine living creature, "in form +like a man, possessed of fearful energy," shaking his golden locks both +morning and evening in the eyes of men. Many persons had tried to +regulate the movements of the sun, but had failed completely. + +But Maui encouraged his mother and his brothers by asking them to +remember his power to protect himself by the use of enchantments. + +The Hawaiian legend says that Maui himself gathered cocoanut fibre in +great quantity and manufactured it into strong ropes. But the legends of +other islands say that he had the aid of his brothers, and while working +learned many useful lessons. While winding and twisting they discovered +how to make square ropes and flat ropes as well as the ordinary round +rope. In the Society Islands, it is said, Maui and his brothers made six +strong ropes of great length. These he called aeiariki (royal nooses). + +The New Zealand legend says that when Maui and his brothers had finished +making all the ropes required they took provisions and other things +needed and journeyed toward the east to find the place where the sun +should rise. Maui carried with him the magic jaw-bone which he had +secured from Muri, his ancestress, in the under-world. + +They traveled all night and concealed themselves by day so that the sun +should not see them and become too suspicious and watchful. In this way +they journeyed, until "at length they had gone very far to the eastward +and had come to the very edge of the place out of which the sun rises. +There they set to work and built on each side a long, high wall of clay, +with huts of boughs of trees at each end to hide themselves in." + +Here they laid a large noose made from their ropes and Maui concealed +himself on one side of this place along which the sun must come, while +his brothers hid on the other side. + +Maui seized his magic enchanted jaw-bone as the weapon with which to +fight the sun, and ordered his brothers to pull hard on the noose and +not to be frightened or moved to set the sun free. + +"At last the sun came rising up out of his place like a fire spreading +far and wide over the mountains and forests. + +He rises up. + +His head passes through the noose. + +The ropes are pulled tight. + +Then the monster began to struggle and roll himself about, while the +snare jerked backwards and forwards as he struggled. Ah! was not he held +fast in the ropes of his enemies. + +Then forth rushed that bold hero Maui with his enchanted weapon. The sun +screamed aloud and roared. Maui struck him fiercely with many blows. +They held him for a long time. At last they let him go, and then weak +from wounds the sun crept very slowly and feebly along his course." + +In this way the days were made longer so that men could perform their +daily tasks and fruits and food plants could have time to grow. + +The legend of the Hervey group of islands says that Maui made six snares +and placed them at intervals along the path over which the sun must +pass. The sun in the form of a man climbed up from Avaiki (Hawaiki). +Maui pulled the first noose, but it slipped down the rising sun until it +caught and was pulled tight around his feet. + +[Illustration: Hale-a-ka-la Crater. Where the Sun Was Caught.] + +Maui ran quickly to pull the ropes of the second snare, but that also +slipped down, down, until it was tightened around the knees. Then Maui +hastened to the third snare, while the sun was trying to rush along +on his journey. The third snare caught around the hips. The fourth snare +fastened itself around the waist. The fifth slipped under the arms, and +yet the sun sped along as if but little inconvenienced by Maui's +efforts. + +Then Maui caught the last noose and threw it around the neck of the sun, +and fastened the rope to a spur of rock. The sun struggled until nearly +strangled to death and then gave up, promising Maui that he would go as +slowly as was desired. Maui left the snares fastened to the sun to keep +him in constant fear. + +"These ropes may still be seen hanging from the sun at dawn and +stretching into the skies when he descends into the ocean at night. By +the assistance of these ropes he is gently let down into Ava-iki in the +evening, and also raised up out of shadow-land in the morning." + +Another legend from the Society Islands is related by Mr. Gill: + +Maui tried many snares before he could catch the sun. The sun was the +Hercules, or the Samson, of the heavens. He broke the strong cords of +cocoanut fibre which Maui made and placed around the opening by which +the sun climbed out from the under-world. Maui made stronger ropes, but +still the sun broke them every one. + +Then Maui thought of his sister's hair, the sister Inaika, whom he +cruelly treated in later years. Her hair was long and beautiful. He cut +off some of it and made a strong rope. With this he lassoed or rather +snared the sun, and caught him around the throat. The sun quickly +promised to be more thoughtful of the needs of men and go at a more +reasonable pace across the sky. + +A story from the American Indians is told in Hawaii's Young People, +which is very similar to the Polynesian legends. + +An Indian boy became very angry with the sun for getting so warm and +making his clothes shrink with the heat. He told his sister to make a +snare. The girl took sinews from a large deer, but they shriveled under +the heat. She took her own long hair and made snares, but they were +burned in a moment. Then she tried the fibres of various plants and was +successful. Her brother took the fibre cord and drew it through his +lips. It stretched and became a strong red cord. He pulled and it became +very long. He went to the place of sunrise, fixed his snare, and caught +the sun. When the sun had been sufficiently punished, the animals of the +earth studied the problem of setting the sun free. At last a mouse as +large as a mountain ran and gnawed the red cord. It broke and the sun +moved on, but the poor mouse had been burned and shriveled into the +small mouse of the present day. + +A Samoan legend says that a woman living for a time with the sun bore a +child who had the name "Child of the Sun." She wanted gifts for the +child's marriage, so she took a long vine, climbed a tree, made the vine +into a noose, lassoed the sun, and made him give her a basket of +blessings. + +In Fiji, the natives tie the grasses growing on a hilltop over which +they are passing, when traveling from place to place. They do this to +make a snare to catch the sun if he should try to go down before they +reach the end of their day's journey. + +This legend is a misty memory of some time when the Polynesian people +were in contact with the short days of the extreme north or south. It is +a very remarkable exposition of a fact of nature perpetuated many +centuries in lands absolutely free from such natural phenomena. + + + + +V. + +MAUI FINDING FIRE. + + "Grant, oh grant me thy hidden fire, + O Banyan Tree. + Perform an incantation, + Utter a prayer + To the Banyan Tree. + Kindle a fire in the dust + Of the Banyan Tree." + + --Translation of ancient Polynesian chant. + + +Among students of mythology certain characters in the legends of the +various nations are known as "culture heroes." Mankind has from time to +time learned exceedingly useful lessons and has also usually ascribed +the new knowledge to some noted person in the national mythology. These +mythical benefactors who have brought these practical benefits to men +are placed among the "hero-gods." They have been teachers or "culture +heroes" to mankind. + +Probably the fire finders of the different nations are among the best +remembered of all these benefactors. This would naturally be the case, +for no greater good has touched man's physical life than the discovery +of methods of making fire. + +Prometheus, the classical fire finder, is most widely known in +literature. But of all the helpful gods of mythology, Maui, the +mischievous Polynesian, is beyond question the hero of the largest +numbers of nations scattered over the widest extent of territory. +Prometheus belonged to Rome, but Maui belonged to the length and breadth +of the Pacific Ocean. Theft or trickery, the use of deceit of some kind, +is almost inseparably connected with fire finding all over the world. +Prometheus stole fire from Jupiter and gave it to men together with the +genius to make use of it in the arts and sciences. He found the rolling +chariot of the sun, secretly filled his hollow staff with fire, carried +it to earth, put a part in the breast of man to create enthusiasm or +animation, and saved the remainder for the comfort of mankind to be used +with the artist skill of Minerva and Vulcan. In Brittany the golden or +fire-crested wren steals fire and is red-marked while so doing. The +animals of the North American Indians are represented as stealing fire +sometimes from the cuttle fish and sometimes from one another. Some +swiftly-flying bird or fleet-footed coyote would carry the stolen fire +to the home of the tribe. + +The possession of fire meant to the ancients all that wealth means to +the family of today. It meant the possession of comfort. The gods were +naturally determined to keep this wealth in their own hands. For any one +to make a sharp deal and cheat a god of fire out of a part of this +valuable property or to make a courageous raid upon the fire guardian +and steal the treasure, was easily sufficient to make that one a +"culture hero." As a matter of fact a prehistoric family without fire +would go to any length in order to get it. The fire finders would +naturally be the hero-gods and stealing fire would be an exploit rather +than a crime. + +It is worth noting that in many myths not only was fire stolen, but +birds marked by red or black spots among their feathers were associated +with the theft. + +It would naturally be supposed that the Hawaiians living in a volcanic +country with ever-flowing fountains of lava, would connect their fire +myths with some volcano when relating the story of the origin of fire. +But like the rest of the Polynesians, they found fire in trees rather +than in rivers of melted rock. They must have brought their fire legends +and fire customs with them when they came to the islands of active +volcanoes. + +Flint rocks as fire producers are not found in the Hawaiian myths, nor +in the stories from the island groups related to the Hawaiians. Indians +might see the fleeing buffalo strike fire from the stones under his hard +hoofs. The Tartars might have a god to teach them "the secret of the +stone's edge and the iron's hardness." The Peruvians could very easily +form a legend of their mythical father Guamansuri finding a way to make +fire after he had seen the sling stones, thrown at his enemies, bring +forth sparks of fire from the rocks against which they struck. The +thunder and the lightning of later years were the sparks and the crash +of stones hurled among the cloud mountains by the mighty gods. + +In Australia the story is told of an old man and his daughter who lived +in great darkness. After a time the father found the doorway of light +through which the sun passed on his journey. He opened the door and a +flood of sunshine covered the earth. His daughter looked around her home +and saw numbers of serpents. She seized a staff and began to kill them. +She wielded it so vigorously that it became hot in her hands. At last it +broke, but the pieces rubbed against each other and flashed into sparks +and flames. Thus it was learned that fire was buried in wood. + +Flints were known in Europe and Asia and America, but the Polynesian +looked to the banyan and kindred trees for the hidden sparks of fire. +The natives of De Peyster's Island say that their ancestors learned how +to make fire by seeing smoke rise from crossed branches rubbing together +while trees were shaken by fierce winds. + +In studying the Maui myths of the Pacific it is necessary to remember +that Polynesians use "t" and "k" without distinguishing them apart, and +also as in the Hawaiian Islands an apostrophe (') is often used in place +of "t" or "k". Therefore the Maui Ki-i-k-i'i of Hawaii becomes the +demi-god Tiki-tiki of the Gilbert Islands--or the Ti'i-ti'i of Samoa or +the Tiki of New Zealand--or other islands of the great ocean. We must +also remember that in the Hawaiian legends Kalana is Maui's father. This +in other groups becomes Talanga or Kalanga or Karanga. Kanaloa, the +great god of most of the different Polynesians, is also sometimes called +the Father of Maui. It is not strange that some of the exploits usually +ascribed to Maui should be in some places transferred to his father +under one name or the other. On one or two groups Mafuia, an ancestress +of Maui, is mentioned as finding the fire. The usual legend makes Maui +the one who takes fire away from Mafuia. The story of fire finding in +Polynesia sifts itself to Maui under one of his widely-accepted names, +or to his father or to his ancestress--with but very few exceptions. +This fact is important as showing in a very marked manner the race +relationship of a vast number of the islanders of the Pacific world. +From the Marshall Islands, in the west, to the Society Islands of the +east; from the Hawaiian Islands in the north to the New Zealand group in +the south, the footsteps of Maui the fire finder can be traced. + +The Hawaiian story of fire finding is one of the least marvelous of all +the legends. Hina, Maui's mother, wanted fish. One morning early Maui +saw that the great storm waves of the sea had died down and the fishing +grounds could be easily reached. He awakened his brothers and with them +hastened to the beach. This was at Kaupo on the island of Maui. Out into +the gray shadows of the dawn they paddled. When they were far from shore +they began to fish. But Maui, looking landward, saw a fire on the +mountain side. + +"Behold," he cried. "There is a fire burning. Whose can this fire be?" + +"Whose, indeed?" his brothers replied. + +"Let us hasten to the shore and cook our food," said one. + +They decided that they had better catch some fish to cook before they +returned. Thus, in the morning, before the hot sun drove the fish deep +down to the dark recesses of the sea, they fished until a bountiful +supply lay in the bottom of the canoe. + +When they came to land, Maui leaped out and ran up the mountain side to +get the fire. For a long, long time they had been without fire. The +great volcano Haleakala above them had become extinct--and they had +lost the coals they had tried to keep alive. They had eaten fruits and +uncooked roots and the shell fish broken from the reef--and sometimes +the great raw fish from the far-out ocean. But now they hoped to gain +living fire and cooked food. + +But when Maui rushed up toward the cloudy pillar of smoke he saw a +family of birds scratching the fire out. Their work was finished and +they flew away just as he reached the place. + +Maui and his brothers watched for fire day after day--but the birds, the +curly-tailed Alae (or the mud-hens) made no fire. Finally the brothers +went fishing once more--but when they looked toward the mountain, again +they saw flames and smoke. Thus it happened to them again and again. + +Maui proposed to his brothers that they go fishing leaving him to watch +the birds. But the Alae counted the fishermen and refused to build a +fire for the hidden one who was watching them. They said among +themselves, "Three are in the boat and we know not where the other one +is, we will make no fire today." + +So the experiment failed again and again. If one or two remained or if +all waited on the land there would be no fire--but the dawn which saw +the four brothers in the boat, saw also the fire on the land. + +Finally Maui rolled some kapa cloth together and stuck it up in one end +of the canoe so that it would look like a man. He then concealed +himself near the haunt of the mud-hens, while his brothers went out +fishing. The birds counted the figures in the boat and then started to +build a heap of wood for the fire. + +Maui was impatient--and just as the old Alae began to select sticks with +which to make the flames he leaped swiftly out and caught her and held +her prisoner. He forgot for a moment that he wanted the secret of fire +making. In his anger against the wise bird his first impulse was to +taunt her and then kill her for hiding the secret of fire. + +But the Alae cried out: "If you are the death of me--my secret will +perish also--and you cannot have fire." + +Maui then promised to spare her life if she would tell him what to do. + +Then came the contest of wits. The bird told the demi-god to rub the +stalks of water plants together. He guarded the bird and tried the +plants. Water instead of fire ran out of the twisted stems. Then she +told him to rub reeds together--but they bent and broke and could make +no fire. He twisted her neck until she was half dead--then she cried +out: "I have hidden the fire in a green stick." + +Maui worked hard, but not a spark of fire appeared. Again he caught his +prisoner by the head and wrung her neck, and she named a kind of dry +wood. Maui rubbed the sticks together, but they only became warm. The +neck twisting process was resumed--and repeated again and again, until +the mud-hen was almost dead--and Maui had tried tree after tree. At last +Maui found fire. Then as the flames rose he said: "There is one more +thing to rub." He took a fire stick and rubbed the top of the head of +his prisoner until the feathers fell off and the raw flesh appeared. +Thus the Hawaiian mud-hen and her descendants have ever since had bald +heads, and the Hawaiians have had the secret of fire making. + +Another Hawaiian legend places the scene of Maui's contest with the +mud-hens a little inland of the town of Hilo on the Island of Hawaii. +There are three small extinct craters very near each other known as The +Halae Hills. One, the southern or Puna side of the hills, is a place +called Pohaku-nui. Here dwelt two brother birds of the Alae family. They +were gods. One had the power of fire making. Here at Pohaku-nui they +were accustomed to kindle a fire and bake their dearly loved food--baked +bananas. Here Maui planned to learn the secret of fire. The birds had +kindled the fire and the bananas were almost done, when the elder Alae +called to the younger: "Be quick, here comes the swift son of Hina." + +The birds scratched out the fire, caught the bananas and fled. Maui told +his mother he would follow them until he learned the secret of fire. His +mother encouraged him because he was very strong and very swift. So he +followed the birds from place to place as they fled from him, finding +new spots on which to make their fires. At last they came to Waianae on +the island Oahu. There he saw a great fire and a multitude of birds +gathered around it, chattering loudly and trying to hasten the baking of +the bananas. Their incantation was this: "Let us cook quick." "Let us +cook quick." "The swift child of Hina will come." + +Maui's mother Hina had taught him how to know the fire-maker. "If you go +up to the fire, you will find many birds. Only one is the guardian. This +is the small, young Alae. His name is Alae-iki: Only this one knows how +to make fire." So whenever Maui came near to the fire-makers he always +sought for the little Alae. Sometimes he made mistakes and sometimes +almost captured the one he desired. At Waianae he leaped suddenly among +the birds. They scattered the fire, and the younger bird tried to snatch +his banana from the coals and flee, but Maui seized him and began to +twist his neck. The bird cried out, warning Maui not to kill him or he +would lose the secret of fire altogether. Maui was told that the fire +was made from a banana stump. He saw the bananas roasting and thought +this was reasonable. So, according to directions, he began to rub +together pieces of the banana. The bird hoped for an unguarded moment +when he might escape, but Maui was very watchful and was also very +angry when he found that rubbing only resulted in squeezing out juice. +Then he twisted the neck of the bird and was told to rub the stem of the +taro plant. This also was so green that it only produced water. Then he +was so angry that he nearly rubbed the head of the bird off--and the +bird, fearing for its life, told the truth and taught Maui how to find +the wood in which fire dwelt. + +They learned to draw out the sparks secreted in different kinds of +trees. The sweet sandalwood was one of these fire trees. Its Hawaiian +name is "Ili-ahi"--the "ili" (bark) and "ahi" (fire), the bark in which +fire is concealed. + +A legend of the Society Islands is somewhat similar. Ina (Hina) promised +to aid Maui in finding fire for the islanders. She sent him into the +under-world to find Tangaroa (Kanaloa). This god Tangaroa held fire in +his possession--Maui was to know him by his tattooed face. Down the dark +path through the long caves Maui trod swiftly until he found the god. +Maui asked him for fire to take up to men. The god gave him a lighted +stick and sent him away. But Maui put the fire out and went back again +after fire. This he did several times, until the wearied giver decided +to teach the intruder the art of fire making. He called a white duck to +aid him. Then, taking two sticks of dry wood, he gave the under one to +the bird and rapidly moved the upper stick across the under until fire +came. Maui seized the upper stick, after it had been charred in the +flame, and burned the head of the bird back of each eye. Thus were made +the black spots which mark the head of the white duck. Then arose a +quarrel between Tangaroa and Maui--but Maui struck down the god, and, +thinking he had killed him, carried away the art of making fire. His +father and mother made inquiries about their relative--Maui hastened +back to the fire fountain and made the spirit return to the body--then, +coming back to Ina, he bade her good bye and carried the fire sticks to +the upper-world. The Hawaiians, and probably others among the +Polynesians, felt that any state of unconsciousness was a form of death +in which the spirit left the body, but was called back by prayers and +incantations. Therefore, when Maui restored the god to consciousness, he +was supposed to have made the spirit released by death return into the +body and bring it back to life. + +In the Samoan legends as related by G. Turner, the name Ti'iti'i is +used. This is the same as the second name found in Maui Ki'i-ki'i. The +Samoan legend of Ti'iti'i is almost identical with the New Zealand fire +myth of Maui, and is very similar to the story coming from the Hervey +Islands from Savage Island and also from the Tokelau and other island +groups. The Samoan story says that the home of Mafuie the earthquake +god was in the land of perpetual fire. Maui's or Ti'iti'i's father +Talanga (Kalana) was also a resident of the under-world and a great +friend of the earthquake god. + +Ti'iti'i watched his father as he left his home in the upper-world. +Talanga approached a perpendicular wall of rock, said some prayer or +incantation--and passed through a door which immediately closed after +him. (This is a very near approach to the "open sesame" of the Arabian +Nights stories.) + +Ti'iti'i went to the rock, but could not find the way through. He +determined to conceal himself the next time so near that he could hear +his father's words. + +After some days he was able to catch all the words uttered by his father +as he knocked on the stone door-- + + "O rock! divide. + I am Talanga, + I come to work + On my land + Given by Mafuie." + +Ti'iti'i went to the perpendicular wall and imitating his father's voice +called for a rock to open. Down through a cave he passed until he found +his father working in the under-world. + +The astonished father, learning how his son came, bade him keep very +quiet and work lest he arouse the anger of Mafuie. So for a time the +boy labored obediently by his father's side. + +In a little while the boy saw smoke and asked what it was. The father +told him that it was the smoke from the fire of Mafuie, and explained +what fire would do. + +The boy determined to get some fire--he went to the place from which the +smoke arose and there found the god, and asked him for fire. Mafuie gave +him fire to carry to his father. The boy quickly had an oven prepared +and the fire placed in it to cook some of the taro they had been +cultivating. Just as everything was ready an earthquake god came up and +blew the fire out and scattered the stones of the oven. + +Then Ti'iti'i was angry and began to talk to Mafuie. The god attacked +the boy, intending to punish him severely for daring to rebel against +the destruction of the fire. + +What a battle there was for a time in the under-world! At last Ti'iti'i +seized one of the arms of Mafuie and broke it off. He caught the other +arm and began to twist and bend it. + +Mafuie begged the boy to spare him. His right arm was gone. How could he +govern the earthquakes if his left arm were torn off also? It was his +duty to hold Samoa level and not permit too many earthquakes. It would +be hard to do that even with one arm--but it would be impossible if +both arms were gone. + +Ti'iti'i listened to the plea and demanded a reward if he should spare +the left arm. Mafuie offered Ti'iti'i one hundred wives. The boy did not +want them. + +Then the god offered to teach him the secret of fire finding to take to +the upper-world. + +The boy agreed to accept the fire secret, and thus learned that the gods +in making the earth had concealed fire in various trees for men to +discover in their own good time, and that this fire could be brought out +by rubbing pieces of wood together. + +The people of Samoa have not had much faith in Mafuie's plea that he +needed his left arm in order to keep Samoa level. They say that Mafuie +has a long stick or handle to the world under the islands--and when he +is angry or wishes to frighten them he moves this handle and easily +shakes the islands. When an earthquake comes, they give thanks to +Ti'iti'i for breaking off one arm--because if the god had two arms they +believe he would shake them unmercifully. + +One legend of the Hervey Islands says that Maui and his brothers had +been living on uncooked food--but learned that their mother sometimes +had delicious food which had been cooked. They learned also that fire +was needed in order to cook their food. Then Maui wanted fire and +watched his mother. + +Maui's mother was the guardian of the way to the invisible world. When +she desired to pass from her home to the other world, she would open a +black rock and pass inside. Thus she went to Hawaiki, the under-world. +Maui planned to follow her, but first studied the forms of birds that he +might assume the body of the strongest and most enduring. After a time +he took the shape of a pigeon and, flying to the black rock, passed +through the door and flew down the long dark passage-way. + +After a time he found the god of fire living in a bunch of banyan +sticks. He changed himself into the form of a man and demanded the +secret of fire. + +The fire god agreed to give Maui fire if he would permit himself to be +tossed into the sky by the god's strong arms. + +Maui agreed on condition that he should have the right to toss the fire +god afterwards. + +The fire-god felt certain that there would be only one exercise of +strength--he felt that he had everything in his own hands--so readily +agreed to the tossing contest. It was his intention to throw his +opponent so high that when he fell, if he ever did fall, there would be +no antagonist uncrushed. + +He seized Maui in his strong arms and, swinging him back and forth, +flung him upward--but the moment Maui left his hands he changed himself +into a feather and floated softly to the ground. + +Then the boy ran swiftly to the god and seized him by the legs and +lifted him up. Then he began to increase in size and strength until he +had lifted the fire god very high. Suddenly he tossed the god upward and +caught him as he fell--again and again--until the bruised and dizzy god +cried enough, and agreed to give the victor whatever he demanded. + +Maui asked for the secret of fire producing. The god taught him how to +rub the dry sticks of certain kinds of trees together, and, by friction, +produce fire, and especially how fire could be produced by rubbing fire +sticks in the fine dust of the banyan tree. + +A Society Island legend says Maui borrowed a sacred red pigeon, +belonging to one of the gods, and, changing himself into a dragon fly, +rode this pigeon through a black rock into Avaiki (Hawaiki), the +fire-land of the under-world. He found the god of fire, Mau-ika, living +in a house built from a banyan tree. Mau-ika taught Maui the kinds of +wood into which when fire went out on the earth a fire goddess had +thrown sparks in order to preserve fire. Among these were the "au" +(Hawaiian hau), or "the lemon hibiscus"--the "argenta," the "fig" and +the "banyan." She taught him also how to make fire by swift motion when +rubbing the sticks of these trees. She also gave him coals for his +present need. + +But Maui was viciously mischievous and set the banyan house on fire, +then mounted his pigeon and fled toward the upper-world. But the flames +hastened after him and burst out through the rock doors into the sunlit +land above--as if it were a volcanic eruption. + +The Tokelau Islanders say that Talanga (Kalana) known in other groups of +islands as the father of Maui, desired fire in order to secure warmth +and cooked food. He went down, down, very far down in the caves of the +earth. In the lower world he found Mafuika--an old blind woman, who was +the guardian of fire. He told her he wanted fire to take back to men. +She refused either to give fire or to teach how to make it. Talanga +threatened to kill her, and finally persuaded her to teach how to make +fire in any place he might dwell--and the proper trees to use, the +fire-yielding trees. She also taught him how to cook food--and also the +kind of fish he should cook, and the kinds which should be eaten raw. +Thus mankind learned about food as well as fire. + +The Savage Island legend adds the element of danger to Maui's +mischievous theft of fire. The lad followed his father one day and saw +him pull up a bunch of reeds and go down into the fire-land beneath. +Maui hastened down to see what his father was doing. Soon he saw his +opportunity to steal the secret of fire. Then he caught some fire and +started for the upper-world. + +His father caught a glimpse of the young thief and tried to stop him. + +Maui ran up the passage through the black cave--bushes and trees +bordered his road. + +The father hastened after his son and was almost ready to lay hands upon +him, when Maui set fire to the bushes. The flames spread rapidly, +catching the underbrush and the trees on all sides and burst out in the +face of the pursuer. Destruction threatened the under-world, but Maui +sped along his way. Then he saw that the fire was chasing him. Bush +after bush leaped into flame and hurled sparks and smoke and burning air +after him. Choked and smoke-surrounded, he broke through the door of the +cavern and found the fresh air of the world. But the flames followed him +and swept out in great power upon the upper-world a mighty volcanic +eruption. + +The New Zealand legends picture Maui as putting out, in one night, all +the fires of his people. This was serious mischief, and Maui's mother +decided that he should go to the under-world and see his ancestress, +Mahuika, the guardian of fire, and get new fire to repair the injury he +had wrought. She warned him against attempting to play tricks upon the +inhabitants of the lower regions. + +[Illustration: Hawaiian Vines and Bushes.] + +Maui gladly hastened down the cave-path to the house of Mahuika, and +asked for fire for the upper-world. In some way he pleased her so that +she pulled off a finger nail in which fire was burning and gave it to +him. As soon as he had gone back to a place where there was water, he +put the fire out and returned to Mahuika, asking another gift, which he +destroyed. This he did for both hands and feet until only one nail +remained. Maui wanted this. Then Mahuika became angry and threw the last +finger nail on the ground. Fire poured out and laid hold of everything. +Maui ran up the path to the upper-world, but the fire was +swifter-footed. Then Maui changed himself into an eagle and flew high up +into the air, but the fire and smoke still followed him. Then he saw +water and dashed into it, but it was too hot. Around him the forests +were blazing, the earth burning and the sea boiling. Maui, about to +perish, called on the gods for rain. Then floods of water fell and the +fire was checked. The great rain fell on Mahuika and she fled, almost +drowned. Her stores of fire were destroyed, quenched by the storm. But +in order to save fire for the use of men, as she fled she threw sparks +into different kinds of trees where the rain could not reach them, so +that when fire was needed it might be brought into the world again by +rubbing together the fire sticks. + +The Chatham Islanders give the following incantation, which they said +was used by Maui against the fierce flood of fire which was pursuing +him: + + "To the roaring thunder; + To the great rain--the long rain; + To the drizzling rain--the small rain; + To the rain pattering on the leaves. + These are the storms--the storms + Cause them to fall; + To pour in torrents." + +The legend of Savage Island places Maui in the role of fire-maker. He +has stolen fire in the under-world. His father tries to catch him, but +Maui sets fire to the bushes by the path until a great conflagration is +raging which pursues him to the upper-world. + +Some legends make Maui the fire-teacher as well as the fire-finder. He +teaches men how to use hardwood sticks in the fine dry dust on the bark +of certain trees, or how to use the fine fibre of the palm tree to catch +sparks. + +In Tahiti the fire god lived in the "Hale-a-o-a," or House of the +Banyan. Sometimes human sacrifices were placed upon the sacred branches +of this tree of the fire god. + +In the Bowditch or Fakaofa Islands the goddess of fire when conquered +taught not only the method of making fire by friction but also what fish +were to be cooked and what were to be eaten raw. + +Thus some of the myths of Maui, the mischievous, finding fire are told +by the side of the inrolling surf, while natives of many islands, +around their poi bowls, rest in the shade of the far-reaching boughs and +thick foliage of the banyan and other fire-producing trees. + + + + +VI. + +MAUI THE SKILLFUL. + + +According to the New Zealand legends there were six Mauis--the Hawaiians +counted four. They were a band of brothers. The older five were known as +"the forgetful Mauis." The tricky and quick-witted youngest member of +the family was called Maui te atamai--"Maui the skillful." + +He was curiously accounted for in the New Zealand under-world. When he +went down through the long cave to his ancestor's home to find fire, he +was soon talked about. "Perhaps this is the man about whom so much is +said in the upper-world." His ancestress from whom he obtained fire +recognized him as the man called "the deceitful Maui." Even his parents +told him once, "We know you are a tricky fellow--more so than any other +man." One of the New Zealand fire legends while recording his flight to +the under-world and his appearance as a bird, says: "The men tried to +spear him, and to catch him in nets. At last they cried out, 'Maybe you +are the man whose fame is great in the upper-world.' At once he leaped +to the ground and appeared in the form of a man." + +He was not famous for inventions, but he was always ready to improve +upon anything which was already in existence. He could take the sun in +hand and make it do better work. He could tie the moon so that it had to +swim back around the island to the place in the ocean from which it +might rise again, and go slowly through the night. + +His brothers invented a slender, straight and smooth spear with which to +kill birds. He saw the fluttering, struggling birds twist themselves off +the smooth point and escape. He made a good light bird spear and put +notches in it and kept most of the birds stuck. His brothers finally +examined his spear and learned the reason for its superiority. In the +same way they learned how to spear fish. They could strike and wound and +sometimes kill--but they could not with their smooth spears draw the +fish from the waters of the coral caves. But Maui the youngest made +barbs, so that the fish could not easily shake themselves loose. The +others soon made their spears like his. + +The brothers were said to have invented baskets in which to trap eels, +but many eels escaped. Maui improved the basket by secretly making an +inside partition as well as a cover, and the eels were securely trapped. +It took the brothers a long time to learn the real difference between +their baskets and his. One of the family made a basket like his and +caught many eels. Then Maui became angry and chanted a curse over him +and bewildered him, then changed him into a dog. + +The Manahiki Islanders have the legend that Maui made the moon, but +could not get good light from it. He tried experiments and found that +the sun was quite an improvement. The sun's example stimulated the moon +to shine brighter. + +Once Maui became interested in tattooing and tried to make a dog look +better by placing dark lines around the mouth. The legends say that one +of the sacred birds saw the pattern and then marked the sky with the red +lines sometimes seen at sunrise and sunset. An Hawaiian legend says that +Maui tattooed his arm with a sacred name and thus that arm was strong +enough to hold the sun when he lassoed it. There is a New Zealand legend +in which Maui is made one of three gods who first created man and then +woman from one of the man's ribs. + +The Hawaiians dwelling in Hilo have many stories of Maui. They say that +his home was on the northern bank of the Wailuku River. He had a strong +staff made from an ohia tree (the native apple tree). With this he +punched holes through the lava, making natural bridges and boiling +pools, and new channels for its sometimes obstructed waters, so that the +people could go up or down the river more easily. Near one of the +natural bridges is a figure of the moon carved in the rocks, referred by +some of the natives to Maui. + +Maui is said to have taught his brothers the different kinds of fish +nets and the use of the strong fibre of the olona, which was much better +than cocoanut threads. + +The New Zealand stories relate the spear-throwing contests of Maui and +his brothers. As children, however, they were not allowed the use of +wooden spears. They took the stems of long, heavy reeds and threw them +at each other, but Maui's reeds were charmed into stronger and harder +fibre so that he broke his mother's house and made her recognize him as +one of her children. He had been taken away as soon as he was born by +the gods to whom he was related. When he found his way back home his +mother paid no attention to him. Thus by a spear thrust he won a home. + +The brothers all made fish hooks, but Maui the youngest made two kinds +of hooks--one like his brothers' and one with a sharp barb. His +brothers' hooks were smooth so that it was difficult to keep the fish +from floundering and shaking themselves off, but they noticed that the +fish were held by Maui's hook better than by theirs. Maui was not +inclined to devote himself to hard work, and lived on his brothers as +much as possible--but when driven out by his wife or his mother he +would catch more fish than the other fishermen. They tried to examine +his hooks, but he always changed his hooks so that they could not see +any difference between his and theirs. At such times they called him the +mischievous one and tried to leave him behind while they went fishing. +They were, however, always ready to give him credit for his +improvements. They dealt generously with him when they learned what he +had really accomplished. When they caught him with his barbed hook they +forgot the past and called him "ke atamai"--the skillful. + +The idea that fish hooks made from the jawbones of human beings were +better than others, seemed to have arisen at first from the angle formed +in the lower jawbone. Later these human fish hooks were considered +sacred and therefore possessed of magic powers. The greater sanctity and +power belonged to the bones which bore more especial relation to the +owner. Therefore Maui's "magic hook," with which he fished up islands, +was made from the jawbone of his ancestress Mahuika. It is also said +that in order to have powerful hooks for every-day fishing he killed two +of his children. Their right eyes he threw up into the sky to become +stars. One became the morning and the other the evening star. + +The idea that the death of any members of the family must not stand in +the way of obtaining magical power, has prevailed throughout Polynesia. + +From this angle in the jawbone Maui must have conceived the idea of +making a hook with a piece of bone or shell which should be fastened to +the large bone at a very sharp angle, thus making a kind of barb. Hooks +like this have been made for ages among the Polynesians. + +Maui and his brothers went fishing for eels with bait strung on the +flexible rib of a cocoanut leaf. The stupid brothers did not fasten the +ends of the string. Therefore the eels easily slipped the bait off and +escaped. But Maui made the ends of his string fast, and captured many +eels. + +The little things which others did not think about were the foundation +of Maui's fame. Upon these little things he built his courage to snare +the sun and seek fire for mankind. + +In a New Zealand legend, quoted by Edward Tregear, Maui is called +Maui-maka-walu, or "Maui with eyes eight." This eight-eyed Maui would be +allied to the Hindoo deities who with their eight eyes face the four +quarters of the world--thus possessing both insight into the affairs of +men and foresight into the future. + +Fornander, the Hawaiian ethnologist, says: "In Hawaiian mythology, +Kamapuaa, the demigod opponent of the goddess Pele, is described as +having eight eyes and eight feet; and in the legends Maka-walu, +'eight-eyed,' is a frequent epithet of gods and chiefs." He notes this +coincidence with the appearance of some of the principal Hindoo deities +as having some bearing upon the origin of the Polynesians. It may be +that a comparative study of the legends of other islands of the Pacific +by some student will open up other new and important facts. + +In Tahiti, on the island Raiatea, a high priest or prophet lived in the +long, long ago. He was known as Maui the prophet of Tahiti. He was +probably not Maui the demigod. Nevertheless he was represented as +possessing very strange prophetical powers. + +According to the historian Ellis, who previous to 1830 spent eight years +in the Society and Hawaiian Islands, this prophet Maui clearly +prophesied the coming of an outriggerless canoe from some foreign land. +An outrigger is a log which so balances a canoe that it can ride safely +through the treacherous surf. + +The chiefs and prophets charged him with stating the impossible. + +He took his wooden calabash and placed it in a pool of water as an +illustration of the way such a boat should float. + +Then with the floating bowl before him he uttered the second prophecy, +that boats without line to tie the sails to the masts, or the masts to +the ships, should also come to Tahiti. + +[Illustration: Hawaiian Bathing Pool.] + +When English ships under Captain Wallis and Captain Cook, in the latter +part of the eighteenth century, visited these islands, the natives cried +out, "O the canoes of Maui--the outriggerless canoes." + +Passenger steamships, and the men-of-war from the great nations, have +taught the Tahitians that boats without sails and masts can cross the +great ocean, and again they have recurred to the words of the prophet +Maui, and have exclaimed, "O the boats without sails and masts." This +rather remarkable prophecy could easily have occurred to Maui as he saw +a wooden calabash floating over rough waters. + +Maui's improvement upon nature's plan in regard to certain birds is also +given in the legends as a proof of his supernatural powers. + +White relates the story as follows: "Maui requested some birds to go and +fetch water for him. The first one would not obey, so he threw it into +the water. He requested another bird to go--and it refused, so he threw +it into the fire, and its feathers were burnt. But the next bird obeyed, +but could not carry the water, and he rewarded it by making the feathers +of the fore part of its head white. Then he asked another bird to go, +and it filled its ears with water and brought it to Maui, who drank, and +then pulled the bird's legs and made them long in payment for its act of +kindness." + +Diffenbach says: "Maui, the Adam of New Zealand, left the cat's cradle +to the New Zealanders as an inheritance." The name "Whai" was given to +the game. It exhibited the various steps of creation according to Maori +mythology. Every change in the cradle shows some act in creation. Its +various stages were called "houses." Diffenbach says again: "In this +game of Maui they are great proficients. It is a game like that called +cat's cradle in Europe. It is intimately connected with their ancient +traditions and in the different figures which the cord is made to assume +whilst held on both hands, the outline of their different varieties of +houses, canoes or figures of men and women are imagined to be +represented." One writer connects this game with witchcraft, and says it +was brought from the under-world. Some parts of the puzzle show the +adventures of Maui, especially his attempt to win immortality for men. + +In New Zealand it was said Maui found a large, fine-grained stone block, +broke it in pieces, and from the fragments learned how to fashion stone +implements. + +White also tells the New Zealand legend of Maui and the winds. + +"Maui caught and held all the winds save the west wind. He put each wind +into a cave, so that it might not blow. He sought in vain for the west +wind, but could not find from whence it came. If he had found the cave +in which it stayed he would have closed the entrance to that cave with +rocks. When the west wind blows lightly it is because Maui has got near +to it, and has nearly caught it, and it has gone into its home, the +cave, to escape him. When the winds of the south, east, and north blow +furiously it is because the rocks have been removed by the stupid people +who could not learn the lessons taught by Maui. At other times Maui +allows these winds to blow in hurricanes to punish that people, and also +that he may ride on these furious winds in search of the west wind." + +In the Hawaiian legends Maui is represented as greatly interested in +making and flying kites. His favorite place for the sport was by the +boiling pools of the Wailuku river near Hilo. He had the winds under his +control and would call for them to push his kites in the direction he +wished. His incantation calling up the winds is given in this Maui +proverb-- + + "Strong wind come, + Soft wind come." + +White in his "Ancient History of the Maoris," relates some of Maui's +experiences with the people whom he found on the islands brought up from +the under-world. On one island he found a sand house with eight hundred +gods living in it. Apparently Maui discovered islands with inhabitants, +and was reported to have fished them up out of the depths of the ocean. +Fishing was sailing over the ocean until distant lands were drawn near +or "fished up." + +Maui walked over the islands and found men living on them and fires +burning near their homes. He evidently did not know much about fire, for +he took it in his hands. He was badly burned and rushed into the sea. +Down he dived under the cooling waters and came up with one of the New +Zealand islands on his shoulders. But his hands were still burning, so +wherever he held the island it was set on fire. + +These fires are still burning in the secret recesses of the volcanoes, +and sometimes burst out in flowing lava. Then Maui paid attention to the +people whom he had fished up. He tried to teach them, but they did not +learn as he thought they should. He quickly became angry and said, "It +is a waste of light for the sun to shine on such stupid people." So he +tried to hold his hands between them and the sun, but the rays of the +sun were too many and too strong; therefore, he could not shut them out. +Then he tried the moon and managed to make it dark a part of the time +each month. In this way he made a little trouble for the stupid people. + +There are other hints in the legends concerning Maui's desire to be +revenged upon any one who incurred his displeasure. It was said that +Maui for a time lived in the heavens above the earth. Here he had a +foster brother Maru. The two were cultivating the fields. Maru sent a +snowstorm over Maui's field. (It would seem as if this might be a +Polynesian memory of a cold land where their ancestors knew the cold +winter, or a lesson learned from the snow-caps of high mountains.) At +any rate, the snow blighted Maui's crops. Maui retaliated by praying for +rain to destroy Maru's fields. But Maru managed to save a part of his +crops. Other legends make Maui the aggressor. At the last, however, Maui +became very angry. The foster parents tried to soothe the two men by +saying, "Live in peace with each other and do not destroy each other's +food." But Maui was implacable and lay in wait for his foster brother, +who was in the habit of carrying fruit and grass as an offering to the +gods of a temple situated on the summit of a hill. Here Maui killed Maru +and then went away to the earth. + +This legend is told by three or four different tribes of New Zealand and +is very similar to the Hebrew story of Cain and Abel. At this late day +it is difficult to say definitely whether or not it owes its origin to +the early touch of Christianity upon New Zealand when white men first +began to live with the natives. It is somewhat similar to stories found +in the Tonga Islands and also in the Hawaiian group, where a son of the +first gods, or rather of the first men, kills a brother. In each case +there is the shadow of the Biblical idea. It seems safe to infer that +such legends are not entirely drawn from contact with Christian +civilization. The natives claim that these stories are very ancient, and +that their fathers knew them before the white men sailed on the +Pacific. + + + + +VII. + +MAUI AND TUNA. + + +When Maui returned from the voyages in which he discovered or "fished +up" from the ocean depths new islands, he gave deep thought to the +things he had found. As the islands appeared to come out of the water he +saw they were inhabited. There were houses and stages for drying and +preserving food. He was greeted by barking dogs. Fires were burning, +food cooking and people working. He evidently had gone so far away from +home that a strange people was found. The legend which speaks of the +death of his brothers, "eaten" by the great fish drawn up from the floor +of the sea, may very easily mean that the new people killed and ate the +brothers. + +Maui apparently learned some new lessons, for on his return he quickly +established a home of his own, and determined to live after the fashion +of the families in the new islands. + +Maui sought Hina-a-te-lepo, "daughter of the swamp," and secured her as +his wife. The New Zealand tribes tell legends which vary in different +localities about this woman Hina. She sometimes bore the name +Rau-kura--"The red plume." + +She cared for his thatched house as any other Polynesian woman was in +the habit of doing. She attempted the hurried task of cooking his food +before he snared the sun and gave her sufficient daylight for her +labors. + +They lived near the bank of a river from which Hina was in the habit of +bringing water for the household needs. + +One day she went down to the stream with her calabash. She was entwined +with wreaths of leaves and flowers, as was the custom among Polynesian +women. While she was standing on the bank, Tuna-roa, "the long eel," saw +her. He swam up to the bank and suddenly struck her and knocked her into +the water and covered her with slime from the blow given by his tail. + +Hina escaped and returned to her home, saying nothing to Maui about the +trouble. But the next day, while getting water, she was again overthrown +and befouled by the slime of Tuna-roa. + +Then Hina became angry and reported the trouble to Maui. + +Maui decided to punish the long eel and started out to find his hiding +place. Some of the New Zealand legends as collected by White, state +that Tuna-roa was a very smooth skinned chief, who lived on the opposite +bank of the stream, and, seeing Hina, had insulted her. + +When Maui saw this chief, he caught two pieces of wood over which he was +accustomed to slide his canoe into the sea. These he carried to the +stream and laid them from bank to bank as a bridge over which he might +entice Tuna-roa to cross. + +Maui took his stone axe, Ma-Tori-Tori, "the severer," and concealed +himself near the bank of the river. + +When "the long eel" had crossed the stream, Maui rushed out and killed +him with a mighty blow of the stone axe, cutting the head from the body. + +Other legends say that Maui found Tuna-roa living as an eel in a deep +water hole, in a swamp on the sea-coast of Tata-a, part of the island +Ao-tea-roa. Other stories located Tuna-roa in the river near Maui's +home. + +Maui saw that he could not get at his enemy without letting off the +water which protected him. + +Therefore into the forest went Maui, and with sacred ceremonies, +selected trees from the wood of which he prepared tools and weapons. + +Meanwhile, in addition to the insult given to Hina, Tuna-roa had caught +and devoured two of Maui's children, which made Maui more determined to +kill him. + +Maui made the narrow spade (named by the Maoris of New Zealand the "ko," +and by the Hawaiians "o-o") and the sharp spears, with which to pierce +either the earth or his enemy. These spears and spades were consecrated +to the work of preparing a ditch by which to draw off the water +protecting "the long eel." + +The work of trench-making was accomplished with many incantations and +prayers. The ditch was named "The sacred digging," and was tabooed to +all other purposes except that of catching Tuna-roa. + +Across this ditch Maui stretched a strong net, and then began a new +series of chants and ceremonies to bring down an abundance of rain. Soon +the flood came and the overflowing waters rushed down the sacred ditch. +The walls of the deep pool gave way and "the long eel" was carried down +the trench into the waiting net. Then there was commotion. Tuna-roa was +struggling for freedom. + +Maui saw him and hastened to grasp his stone axe, "the severer." +Hurrying to the net, he struck Tuna-roa a terrible blow, and cut off the +head. With a few more blows, he cut the body in pieces. The head and +tail were carried out into the sea. The head became fish and the tail +became the great conger-eel. Other parts of the body became sea +monsters. But some parts which fell in fresh water became the common +eels. From the hairs of the head came certain vines and creepers among +the plants. + +After the death of Tuna-roa the offspring of Maui were in no danger of +being killed and soon multiplied into a large family. + +Another New Zealand legend related by White says that Maui built a +sliding place of logs, over which Tuna-roa must pass when coming from +the river. + +Maui also made a screen behind which he could secrete himself while +watching for Tuna-roa. + +He commanded Hina to come down to the river and wait on the bank to +attract Tuna-roa. Soon the long eel was seen in the water swimming near +to Hina. Hina went to a place back of the logs which Maui had laid down. + +Tuna-roa came towards her, and began to slide down the skids. + +Maui sprang out from his hiding place and killed Tuna-roa with his axe, +and cut him in pieces. + +The tail became the conger-eel. Parts of his body became fresh-water +eels. Some of the blood fell upon birds and always after marked them +with red spots. Some of the blood was thrown into certain trees, making +this wood always red. The muscles became vines and creepers. + +From this time the children of Maui caught and ate the eels of both salt +and fresh water. Eel traps were made, and Maui taught the people the +proper chants or incantations to use when catching eels. + +This legend of Maui and the long eel was found by White in a number of +forms among the different tribes of New Zealand, but does not seem to +have had currency in many other island groups. + +In Turner's "Samoa" a legend is related which was probably derived from +the Maui stories and yet differs in its romantic results. The Samoans +say that among their ancient ones dwelt a woman named Sina. Sina among +the Polynesians is the same as Hina--the "h" is softened into "s". She +captured a small eel and kept it as a pet. It grew large and strong and +finally attacked and bit her. She fled, but the eel followed her +everywhere. Her father came to her assistance and raised high mountains +between the eel and herself. But the eel passed over the barrier and +pursued her. Her mother raised a new series of mountains. But again the +eel surmounted the difficulties and attempted to seize Sina. She broke +away from him and ran on and on. Finally she wearily passed through a +village. The people asked her to stay and eat with them, but she said +they could only help her by delivering her from the pursuing eel. The +inhabitants of that village were afraid of the eel and refused to fight +for her. So she ran on to another place. Here the chief offered her a +drink of water and promised to kill the eel for her. He prepared awa, a +stupefying drink, and put poison in it. When the eel came along the +chief asked him to drink. He took the awa and prepared to follow Sina. +When he came to the place where she was the pains of death had already +seized him. While dying he begged her to bury his head by her home. This +she did, and in time a plant new to the islands sprang up. It became a +tree, and finally produced a cocoanut, whose two eyes could continually +look into the face of Sina. + +Tuna, in the legends of Fiji, was a demon of the sea. He lived in a deep +sea cave, into which he sometimes shut himself behind closed doors of +coral. When he was hungry, he swam through the ocean shadows, always +watching the restless surface. When a canoe passed above him, he would +throw himself swiftly through the waters, upset the canoe, and seize +some of the boatmen and devour them. He was greatly feared by all the +fishermen of the Fijian coasts. + +[Illustration: A Coconut Grove in Kona.] + +Roko--a mo-o or dragon god--in his journey among the islands, stopped at +a village by the sea and asked for a canoe and boatmen. The people said: +"We have nothing but a very old canoe out there by the water." He went +to it and found it in a very bad condition. He put it in the water, and +decided that he could use it. Then he asked two men to go with him and +paddle, but they refused because of fear, and explained this fear by +telling the story of the water demon, who continually sought the +destruction of this canoe, and also their own death. Roko encouraged +them to take him to wage battle with Tuna, telling them he would destroy +the monster. They paddled until they were directly over Tuna's cave. +Roko told them to go off to one side and wait and watch, saying: "I am +going down to see this Tuna. If you see red blood boil up through the +water, you may be sure that Tuna has been killed. If the blood is black, +then you will know that he has the victory and I am dead." + +Roko leaped into the water and went down--down to the door of the cave. +The coral doors were closed. He grasped them in his strong hands and +tore them open, breaking them in pieces. Inside he found cave after cave +of coral, and broke his way through until at last he awoke Tuna. The +angry demon cried: "Who is that?" Roko answered: "It is I, Roko, alone. +Who are you?" + +Tuna aroused himself and demanded Roko's business and who guided him to +that place. Roko replied: "No one has guided me. I go from place to +place, thinking that there is no one else in the world." + +Tuna shook himself angrily. "Do you think I am nothing? This day is your +last." + +Roko replied: "Perhaps so. If the sky falls, I shall die." + +Tuna leaped upon Roko and bit him. Then came the mighty battle of the +coral caves. Roko broke Tuna into several pieces--and the red blood +poured in boiling bubbles upward through the clear ocean waters, and +the boatmen cried: "The blood is red--the blood is red--Tuna is dead by +the hand of Roko." + +Roko lived for a time in Fiji, where his descendants still find their +home. The people use this chant to aid them in difficulties: + + "My load is a red one. + It points in front to Kawa (Roko's home). + Behind, it points to Dolomo--(a village on another island)." + +In the Hawaiian legends, Hina was Maui's mother rather than his wife, +and Kuna (Tuna) was a mo-o, a dragon or gigantic lizard possessing +miraculous powers. + +Hina's home was in the large cave under the beautiful Rainbow Falls near +the city of Hilo. Above the falls the bed of the river is along the +channel of an ancient lava flow. Sometimes the water pours in a torrent +over the rugged lava, sometimes it passes through underground passages +as well as along the black river bed, and sometimes it thrusts itself +into boiling pools. + +Maui lived on the northern side of the river, but a chief named +Kuna-moo--a dragon--lived in the boiling pools. He attacked Hina and +threw a dam across the river below Rainbow Falls, intending to drown +Hina in her cave. The great ledge of rock filled the river bed high up +the bank on the Hilo side of the river. Hina called on Maui for aid. +Maui came quickly and with mighty blows cut out a new channel for the +river--the path it follows to this day. The waters sank and Hina +remained unharmed in her cave. + +The place where Kuna dwelt was called Wai-kuna--the Kuna water. The +river in which Hina and Kuna dwelt bears the name Wailuku--"the +destructive water." Maui went above Kuna's home and poured hot water +into the river. This part of the myth could easily have arisen from a +lava outburst on the side of the volcano above the river. The hot water +swept in a flood over Kuna's home. Kuna jumped from the boiling pools +over a series of small falls near his home into the river below. Here +the hot water again scalded him and in pain he leaped from the river to +the bank, where Maui killed him by beating him with a club. His body was +washed down the river over the falls under which Hina dwelt, into the +ocean. + +The story of Kuna or Tuna is a legend with a foundation in the enmity +between two chiefs of the long ago, and also in a desire to explain the +origin of the family of eels and the invention of nets and traps. + +[Illustration: Wailuku River--the Boiling Pots.] + + + + +VIII. + +MAUI AND HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW. + + +The "Stories of Maui's Brother-in-Law," and of "Maui seeking +Immortality," are not found in Hawaiian mythology. We depend upon Sir +George Grey and John White for the New Zealand myths in which both of +these legends occur. + +Maui's sister Hina-uri married Ira-waru, who was willing to work with +his skillful brother-in-law. They hunted in the forests and speared +birds. They fished and farmed together. They passed through many +experiences similar to those Maui's own brothers had suffered before the +brother-in-law took their place as Maui's companion. They made spears +together--but Maui made notched barbs for his spear ends--and slipped +them off when Ira-waru came near. So for a long time the proceeds of +bird hunting fell to Maui. But after a time the brother-in-law learned +the secret as the brothers had before, and Maui was looked up to by his +fellow hunter as the skillful one. Sometimes Ira-waru was able to see +at once Maui's plan and adopt it. He discovered Maui's method of making +the punga or eel baskets for catching eels. + +The two hunters went to the forest to find a certain creeping vine with +which to weave their eel snares. Ira-waru made a basket with a hole, by +which the eels could enter, but they could turn around and go out the +same way. So he very seldom caught an eel. But Maui made his basket with +a long funnel-shaped door, by which the eels could easily slide into the +snare but could scarcely escape. He made a door in the side which he +fastened tight until he wished to pour the eels out. + +Ira-waru immediately made a basket like Maui. Then Maui became angry and +uttered incantations over Ira-waru. The man dropped on the ground and +became a dog. Maui returned home and met his sister, who charged him +with sorcery concerning her husband. + +Maui did not deny the exercise of his power, but taught his sister a +chant and sent her out to the level country. There she uttered her chant +and a strange dog with long hair came to her, barking and leaping around +her. Then she knew what Maui had done. "Thus Ira-waru became the first +of the long-haired dogs whose flesh has been tabooed to women." + +The Tahu and Hau tribes of New Zealand tell a different story. They say +that Maui went to visit Ira-waru. Together they set out on a journey. +After a time they rested by the wayside and became sleepy. Maui asked +Ira-waru to cleanse his head. This gave him the restful, soothing touch +which aided sleep. Then Maui proposed that Ira-waru sleep. Taking the +head in his hands, Maui put his brother-in-law to sleep. Then by +incantations he made the sleep very deep and prolonged. Meanwhile he +pulled the ears and arms and limbs until they were properly lengthened. +He drew out the under jaw until it had the form of a dog's mouth. He +stretched the end of the backbone into a tail, and then wakened Ira-waru +and drove him back when he tried to follow the path to the settlement. + +Hina-uri went out and called her husband. He came to her, leaping and +barking. She decided that this was her husband, and in her agony +reproached Maui and wandered away. + +The Rua-nui story-tellers of New Zealand say that Maui's anger was +aroused against Ira-waru because he ate all the bait when they went +fishing, and they could catch no fish after paddling out to the fishing +grounds. When they came to land, Maui told Ira-waru to lie down in the +sand as a roller over which to drag the canoe up the beach. When he was +lying helpless under the canoe, Maui changed him into a dog. + +The Arawa legends make the cause of Maui's anger the success of +Ira-waru while fishing. Ira-waru had many fish while Maui had captured +but few. The story is told thus: "Ira-waru hooked a fish and in pulling +it in his line became entangled with that of Maui. Maui felt the jerking +and began to pull in his line. Soon they pulled their lines close up to +the canoe, one to the bow, the other to the stern, where each was +sitting. Maui said: 'Let me pull the lines to me, as the fish is on my +hook.' His brother-in-law said: 'Not so; the fish is on mine.' But Maui +said: 'Let me pull my line in.' Ira-waru did so and saw that the fish +was on his hook. Then he said: 'Untwist your lines and let mine go, that +I may pull the fish in.' Maui said: 'I will do so, but let me have +time.' He took the fish off Ira-waru's hook and saw that there was a +barb on the hook. He said to Ira-waru: 'Perhaps we ought to return to +land.' When they were dragging the canoe on shore, Maui said to +Ira-waru: 'Get between the canoe and outrigger and drag.' Ira-waru did +so and Maui leaped on the outrigger and weighed it heavily down and +crushed Ira-waru prostrate on the beach. Maui trod on him and pulled his +backbone long like a tail and changed him into a dog." + +Maui is said to have tattooed the muzzle of the dog with a beautiful +pattern which the birds (kahui-zara, a flock of tern) used in marking +the sky. From this also came the red glow which sometimes flushes the +face of man. + +Another Arawa version of the legend was that Maui and Ira-waru were +journeying together. Ira-waru was gluttonous and ate the best food. At +last Maui determined to punish his companion. By incantation he +lengthened the way until Ira-waru became faint and weary. Maui had +provided himself with a little food and therefore was enabled to endure +the long way. While Ira-waru slept Maui trod on his backbone and +lengthened it and changed the arms and limbs into the legs of a dog. +When Hina-uri saw the state of her husband she went into the thatched +house by which Ira-waru had so often stood watching the hollow log in +which she dried the fish and preserved the birds speared in the +mountains. She bound her girdle and hala-leaf apron around her and went +down to the sea to drown herself, that her body might be eaten by the +monsters of the sea. When she came to the shell-covered beach, she sat +down and sang her death song-- + + "I weep, I call to the steep billows of the sea + And to him, the great, the ocean god; + To monsters, all now hidden, + To come and bury me, + Who now am wrapped in mourning. + Let the waves wear their mourning, too, + And sleep as sleeps the dead." + + --Ancient Maui Chant of New Zealand. + +Then Hina-uri threw herself into the sea and was borne on the waves many +moons, at last drifting to shore, to be found by two fishermen. They +carried the body off to the fire and warmed it back to life. They +brushed off the sea moss and sea weeds and rubbed her until she awoke. + +Soon they told their chief, Tini-rau, what a beautiful woman they had +found in the sea. He came and took her away to make her one of his +wives. But the other wives were jealous and drove Hina-uri away from the +chief's houses. + +Another New Zealand legend says that Hina came to the sea and called for +a little fish to aid her in going away from the island. It tried to +carry her, but was too weak. Hina struck it with her open hand. It had +striped sides forever after. She tried a larger fish, but fell off +before they had gone far from shore. Her blow gave this fish its +beautiful blue spots. Another received black spots. Another she stamped +her foot upon, making it flat. At last a shark carried her far away. She +was very thirsty, and broke a cocoanut on the shark's head, making a +bump, which has been handed down for generations. The shark carried her +to the home of the two who rescued her and gave her new strength. + +Meanwhile Rupe or Maui-mua, a brother of Hina-uri and Maui, grieved for +his sister. He sought for her throughout the land and then launched his +canoe upon the blue waters surrounding Ao-tea-roa (The Great White Land; +the ancient native New Zealand) and searched the coasts. He only +learned that his sister had, as the natives said, "leaped into the +waters and been carried away into the heavens." + +[Illustration: "Outside Were Other Worlds."] + +Rupe's heart filled with the desire to find and protect the frenzied +sister who had probably taken a canoe and floated away, out of the +horizon, seen from New Zealand coasts, into new horizons. During the +Viking age of the Pacific, when many chiefs sailed long distances, +visiting the most remote islands of Polynesia, they frequently spoke of +breaking through from the home land into new heavens--or of climbing up +the path of the sun on the waters into a new heaven. This was their +poetical way of passing from horizon to horizon. The horizon around +their particular island surrounded their complete world. Outside, +somewhere, were other worlds and other heavens. Rupe's voyage was an +idyll of the Pacific. It was one more story to be added to the prose +poems of consecrated travel. It was a brother feeling through the +mysteries of unknown lands for a sister, as dear to him as an Evangeline +has been to other men. + +From the mist-land of the Polynesian race comes this story of the +trickery of Maui the learned, and the faithfulness of his older brother +Maui-mua or Rupe--one of the "five forgetful Mauis." Rupe hoisted +mat-sails over his canoe and thus made the winds serve him. He paddled +the canoe onward through the hours when calms rested on glassy waves. + +Thus he passed out of sight of Ao-tea-roa, away from his brothers, and +out of the reach of all tricks and incantations of Maui, the +mischievous. He sailed until a new island rose out of the sea to greet +him. Here in a "new heaven" he found friends to care for him and prepare +him for his longer journey. His restless anxiety for his sister urged +him onward until days lengthened into months and months into years. He +passed from the horizons of newly-discovered islands, into the horizons +of circling skies around islands of which he had never heard before. +Sometimes he found relatives, but more frequently his welcome came from +those who could trace no historical touch in their genealogies. + +Here and there, apparently, he found traces of a woman whose description +answered that of his sister Hina-uri. At last he looked through the +heavens upon a new world, and saw his sister in great trouble. + +According to some legends the jealous wives of the great chief, +Tini-rau, attack Hina, who was known among them as Hina-te-ngaru-moana, +"Hina, the daughter of the ocean." Tini-rau and Hina lived away from the +village of the chief until their little boy was born. When they needed +food, the chief said, "Let us go to my settlement and we shall have food +provided." + +But Hina chanted: + + "Let it down, let it down, + Descend, oh! descend--" + +and sufficient food fell before them. After a time their frail clothing +wore out, and the cold chilled them, then Hina again uttered the +incantation and clothing was provided for their need. + +But the jealous wives, two in number, finally heard where Hina and the +chief were living, and started to see them. + +Tini-rau said to Hina, "Here come my other wives--be careful how you act +before them." + +She replied, "If they come in anger it will be evil." + +She armed herself with an obsidian or volcanic-glass knife, and waited +their coming. + +They tried to throw enchantments around her to kill her. Then one of +them made a blow at her with a weapon, but she turned it aside and +killed her enemy with the obsidian knife. + +Then the other wife made an attack, and again the obsidian knife brought +death. She ripped open the stomachs of the jealous ones and showed the +chief fish lines and sinkers and other property which they had eaten in +the past and which Tini-rau had never been able to trace. + +Another legend says that the two women came to kill Hina when they heard +of the birth of her boy. For a time she was greatly terrified. Then she +saw that they were coming from different directions. She attacked the +nearest one with a stone and killed her. The body burst open, and was +seen to be full of green stone. Then she killed the second wife in the +same way, and found more green stones. "Thus, according to the legends, +originated the greenstone" from which the choicest and most valuable +stone tools have since been made. For a time the chief and Hina lived +happily together. Then he began to neglect her and abuse her, until she +cried aloud for her brother-- + + "O Rupe! come down. + Take me and my child." + +Rupe assumed the form of a bird and flew down to this world in which he +had found his sister. He chanted as he came down-- + + "It is Rupe, yes Rupe, + The elder brother; + And I am here." + +He folded the mother and her boy under his wings and flew away with +them. Sir George Gray relates a legend in which Maui-mua or Rupe is +recorded as having carried his sister and her child to one of the new +lands, found in his long voyage, where dwelt an aged relative, of chief +rank, with his retainers. + +Some legends say that Tini-rau tried to catch Rupe, who was compelled +to drop the child in order to escape with the mother. Tini-rau caught +the child and carefully cared for him until he grew to be a strong young +lad. + +Then he wanted to find his mother and bring her back to his father. How +this was done, how Rupe took his sister back to the old chief, and how +civil wars arose are not all these told in the legends of the Maoris. +Thus the tricks of Maui the mischievous brought trouble for a time, but +were finally overshadowed by happy homes in neighboring lands for his +suffering sister and her descendants. + + + + +IX. + +MAUI'S KITE FLYING. + + +Maui the demi-god was sometimes the Hercules of Polynesia. His exploits +were fully as marvelous as those of the hero of classic mythology. He +snared the sun. He pulled up islands from the ocean depths. He lifted +the sky into its present position and smoothed its arched surface with +his stone adze. These stories belong to all Polynesia. + +There are numerous less important local myths, some of them peculiar to +New Zealand, some to the Society Islands and some to the Hawaiian group. + +One of the old native Hawaiians says that in the long, long ago the +birds were flying around the homes of the ancient people. The flutter of +their wings could be heard and the leaves and branches moved when the +motion of the wings ceased and the wanderers through the air found +resting places. Then came sweet music from the trees and the people +marvelled. Only one of all mankind could see the winged warblers. Maui, +the demi-god, had clear vision. The swift-flying wings covered with red +or gold he saw. The throats tinted many colors and reflecting the +sunlight with diamond sparks of varied hues he watched while they +trembled with the melody of sweet bird songs. All others heard but did +not see. They were blind and yet had open vision. + +Sometimes the iiwi (a small red bird) fluttered in the air and uttered +its shrill, happy song, and Maui saw and heard. But the bird at that +time was without color in the eyes of the ancient people and only the +clear voice was heard, while no speck of bird life flecked the clear sky +overhead. + +At one time a god from one of the other islands came to visit Maui. Each +boasted of and described the beauties and merits of his island. While +they were conversing, Maui called for his friends the birds. They +gathered around the house and fluttered among the leaves of the +surrounding trees. Soon their sweet voices filled the air on all sides. +All the people wondered and worshiped, thinking they heard the fairy or +menehune people. It was said that Maui had painted the bodies of his +invisible songsters and for a long time had kept the delight of their +flashing colors to himself. But when the visitor had rejoiced in the +mysterious harmonies, Maui decided to take away whatever veil shut out +the sight of these things beautiful, that his bird friends might be +known and honored ever after. So he made the birds reveal themselves +perched in the trees or flying in the air. The clear eyes of the god +first recognized the new revelation, then all the people became dumb +before the sweet singers adorned in all their brilliant tropical +plumage. + +The beautiful red birds, iiwi and akakani, and the birds of glorious +yellow feathers, the oo and the mamo, were a joy to both eye and ear and +found high places in Hawaiian legend and story, and all gave their most +beautiful feathers for the cloaks and helmets of the chiefs. + +The Maoris of New Zealand say that Maui could at will change himself +into a bird and with his feathered friends find a home in leafy +shelters. In bird form he visited the gods of the under-world. His +capricious soul was sensitive to the touch of all that mysterious life +of nature. + +With the birds as companions and the winds as his servants Maui must +soon have turned his inventive mind to kite making. + +The Hawaiian myths are perhaps the only ones of the Pacific Ocean which +give to any of the gods the pleasure and excitement of kite flying. +Maui, after repeated experiments, made a large kite for himself. It was +much larger than any house of his time or generation. He twisted a long +line from the strong fibers of the native plant known as the olona. He +endowed both kite and string with marvelous powers and launched the +kite up toward the clouds. It rose very slowly. The winds were not +lifting it into the sky. + +[Illustration: The Home of the Winds, Hilo Coast.] + +Maui remembered that an old priest lived in Waipio valley, the largest +and finest valley of the large island, Hawaii, on which he made his +home. + +This priest had a covered calabash in which he compelled the winds to +hide when he did not wish them to play on land and sea. The priest's +name was Kaleiioku, and his calabash was known as ipu-makani-a ka +maumau, "the calabash of the perpetual winds." Maui called for the +priest who had charge of the winds to open his calabash and let them +come up to Hilo and blow along the Wailuku river. The natives say that +the place where Maui stood was marked by the pressure of his feet in the +lava rocks of the river bank as he braced himself to hold the kite +against the increasing force of the winds which pushed it towards the +sky. Then the enthusiasm of kite flying filled his youthful soul and he +cried aloud, screaming his challenge along the coast of the sea toward +Waipio-- + + "O winds, winds of Waipio, + In the calabash of Kaleiioku. + Come from the ipu-makani, + O wind, the wind of Hilo, + Come quickly, come with power." + +Then the priest lifted the cover of the calabash of the winds and let +the strong winds of Hilo escape. Along the sea coast they rushed until +as they entered Hilo Bay they heard the voice of Maui calling-- + + "O winds, winds of Hilo, + Hasten and come to me." + +With a tumultuous rush the strong winds turned toward the mountains. +They forced their way along the gorges and palisades of the Wailuku +river. They leaped into the heavens, making a fierce attack upon the +monster which Maui had sent into the sky. The kite struggled as it was +pushed upward by the hands of the fierce winds, but Maui rejoiced. His +heart was uplifted by the joy of the conflict in which his strength to +hold was pitted against the power of the winds to tear away. And again +he shouted toward the sea-- + + "O winds, the winds of Hilo, + Come to the mountains, come." + +The winds which had been stirring up storms on the face of the waters +came inland. They dashed against Maui. They climbed the heights of the +skies until they fell with full violence against their mighty foe +hanging in the heavens. + +The kite had been made of the strongest kapa (paper cloth) which Maui's +mother could prepare. It was not torn, although it was bent backward to +its utmost limit. Then the strain came on the strong cord of olona +fibre. The line was stretched and strained as the kite was pushed back. +Then Maui called again and again for stronger winds to come. The cord +was drawn out until the kite was far above the mountains. At last it +broke and the kite was tossed over the craters of the volcanoes to the +land of the district of Ka-u on the other side of the island. + +Then Maui was angry and hastily leaped over the mountains, which are +nearly fourteen thousand feet in altitude. In a half dozen strides he +had crossed the fifty or sixty miles from his home to the place where +the kite lay. He could pass over many miles with a single step. His name +was Maui-Mama, "Maui the Swift." When Maui returned with his kite he was +more careful in calling the winds to aid him in his sport. + +The people watched their wise neighbor and soon learned that the kite +could be a great blessing to them. When it was soaring in the sky there +was always dry and pleasant weather. It was a day for great rejoicing. +They could spread out their kapa cloth to dry as long as the kite was in +the sky. They could carry out their necessary work without fear of the +rain. Therefore when any one saw the kite beginning to float along the +mountain side he would call out joyfully, "E! Maui's kite is in the +heavens." Maui would send his kite into the blue sky and then tie the +line to the great black stones in the bed of the Wailuku river. + +Maui soon learned the power of his kite when blown upon by a fierce +wind. With his accustomed skill he planned to make use of his strong +servant, and therefore took the kite with him on his journeys to the +other islands, using it to aid in making swift voyages. With the wind in +the right direction, the kite could pull his double canoe very easily +and quickly to its destination. + +Time passed, and even the demi-god died. The fish hook with which he +drew the Hawaiian Islands up from the depths of the sea was allowed to +lie on the lava by the Wailuku river until it became a part of the +stone. The double canoe was carried far inland and then permitted to +petrify by the river side. The two stones which represent the double +canoe now bear the name "Waa-Kauhi," and the kite has fallen from the +sky far up on the mountain side, where it still rests, a flat plot of +rich land between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. + + + + +X. + +THE OAHU LEGENDS OF MAUI. + + +Several Maui legends have been located on the island of Oahu. They were +given by Mr. Kaaia to Mr. T. G. Thrum, the publisher of what is well +known in the Hawaiian Islands as "Thrum's Annual." He has kindly +furnished them for added interest to the present volume. The legends +have a distinctly local flavor confined entirely to Oahu. It has seemed +best to reserve them for a chapter by themselves although they are +chiefly variations of stories already told. + + +MAUI AND THE TWO GODS. + +This history of Maui and his grandmother Hina begins with their arrival +from foreign lands. They dwelt in Kane-ana (Kane's cave), Waianae, Oahu. +This is an "ana," or cave, at Puu-o-hulu. Hina had wonderful skill in +making all kinds of tapa according to the custom of the women of ancient +Hawaii. + +Maui went to the Koolau side and rested at Kaha-luu, a diving place in +Koolaupoko. In that place there is a noted hill called Ma-eli-eli. This +is the story of that hill. Maui threw up a pile of dirt and concealed +rubbish under it. The two gods, Kane and Kanaloa, came along and asked +Maui what he was doing. He said, "What you see. You two dig on that side +to the foot of the pali, (precipice) and I will go down at Kaha-luu. If +you two dig through first, you may kill me. If I get through first I +will kill you." They agreed, and began to dig and throw up the dirt. +Then Maui dug three times and tossed up some of the hills of that place. +Kane and Kanaloa saw that Maui was digging very fast, so they put forth +very great strength and threw the dirt into a hill. Meanwhile Maui ran +away to the other side of the island. Thus by the aid of the gods the +hill Ma-eli-eli was thrown up and received its name "eli," meaning +"dig." "Ma-eli-eli" meant "the place of digging." + + +HOW THEY FOUND FIRE. + +It was said that Maui and Hina had no fire. They were often cold and had +no cooked food. Maui saw flames rising in a distant place and ran to see +how they were made. When he came to that place the fire was out and some +birds flew away. One of them was Ka-Alae-huapi, "the stingy Alae"--a +small duck, the Hawaiian mud hen. Maui watched again and saw fire. +When he went up the birds saw him coming and scattered the fire, +carrying the ashes into the water; but he leaped and caught the little +Alae. "Ah!" he said, "I will kill you, because you do not let me have +fire." The bird replied, "If you kill me you cannot find fire." Maui +said, "Where is fire?" The Alae said, "Go up on the high land where +beautiful plants with large leaves are standing; rub their branches." +Maui set the bird free and went inland from Halawa and found dry land +taro. He began to rub the stalks, but only juice came out like water. He +had no red fire. He was very angry and said, "If that lying Alae is +caught again by me I will be its death." + +[Illustration: Bay of Waipio Valley.] + +After a while he saw the fire burning and ran swiftly. The birds saw him +and cried, "The cooking is over. Here comes the swift grandchild of +Hina." They scattered the fire, threw the ashes away and flew into the +water. But again Maui caught the Alae and began to kill it, saying: "You +gave me a plant full of water from which to get fire." The bird said, +"If I die you can never find fire. I will give you the secret of fire. +Take a branch of that dry tree and rub." Maui held the bird fast in one +hand while he rubbed with the other until smoke and fire came out. Then +he took the fire stick and rubbed the head of the bird, making a place +where red and white feathers have grown ever since. + +He returned to Hina and taught her how to make fire, using the two fire +sticks and how to twist coconut fibre to catch the fire when it had been +kindled in wood. But the Alae was not forgotten. It was called huapi, +"stingy," because it selfishly kept the knowledge of fire making to +itself. + + +MAUI CATCHING THE SUN. + +Maui watched Hina making tapa. The wet tapa was spread on a long tapa +board, and Hina began at one end to pound it into shape; pounding from +one end to another. He noticed that sunset came by the time she had +pounded to the middle of the board. The sun hurried so fast that she +could only begin her work before the day was past. + +He went to the hill Hele-a-ka-la, which means "journey of the sun." He +thought he would catch the sun and make it move slowly. He went up the +hill and waited. When the sun began to rise, Maui made himself long, +stretching up toward the sky. Soon the shining legs of the sun came up +the hillside. He saw Maui and began to run swiftly, but Maui reached out +and caught one of the legs, saying: "O sun, I will kill you. You are a +mischief maker. You make trouble for Hina by going so fast." Then he +broke the shining leg of the sun. The sufferer said, "I will change my +way and go slowly--six months slow and six months faster." Thus arose +the saying, "Long shall be the daily journey of the sun and he shall +give light for all the people's toil." Hina learned that she could pound +until she was tired while the farmers could plant and take care of their +fields. Thus also this hill received its name Hele-a-ka-la. This is one +of the hills of Waianae near the precipice of the hill Puu-o-hulu. + + +UNITING THE ISLANDS. + +Maui suggested to Hina that he had better try to draw the islands +together, uniting them in one land. Hina told Maui to go and see +Alae-nui-a-Hina, who would tell him what to do. The Alae told him they +must go to Ponaha-ke-one (a fishing place outside of Pearl Harbor) and +find Ka-uniho-kahi, "the one toothed," who held the land under the sea. + +Maui went back to Hina. She told him to ask his brothers to go fishing +with him. They consented and pushed out into the sea. Soon Maui saw a +bailing dish floating by the canoe and picked it up. It was named +Hina-a-ke-ka, "Hina who fell off." They paddled to Ponaha-ke-one. When +they stopped they saw a beautiful young woman in the boat. Then they +anchored and again looked in the boat, but the young woman was gone. +They saw the bailing dish and threw it into the sea. + +Maui-mua threw his hook and caught a large fish, which was seen to be a +shark as they drew it to the surface. At once they cut the line. So also +Maui-hope and Maui-waena. At last Maui threw his hook Manai-i-ka-lani +into the sea. It went down, down into the depths. Maui cried, +"Hina-a-ke-ka has my hook in her hand. By her it will be made fast." +Hina went down with the hook until she met Ka-uniho-kahi. She asked him +to open his mouth, then threw the hook far inside and made it fast. Then +she pulled the line so that Maui should know that the fish was caught. +Maui fastened the line to the outrigger of the canoe and asked his +brothers to paddle with all diligence, and not look back. Long, long, +they paddled and were very tired. Then Maui took a paddle and dipped +deep in the sea. The boat moved more swiftly through the sea. The +brothers looked back and cried, "There is plenty of land behind us." The +charm was broken. The hook came out of "the one toothed," and the raised +islands sank back into their place. The native say, "The islands are now +united to America. Perhaps Maui has been at work." + + +MAUI AND PEA-PEA THE EIGHT-EYED. + +Maui had been fishing and had caught a great fish upon which he was +feasting. He looked inland and saw his wife, Kumu-lama, seized and +carried away by Pea-pea-maka-walu, "Pea-pea the eight-eyed." This +is a legend derived from the myths of many islands in which Lupe or Rupe +(pigeon) changed himself into a bird and flew after his sister Hina who +had been carried on the back of a shark to distant islands. Sometimes as +a man and sometimes as a bird he prosecuted his search until Hina was +found. + +[Illustration: The Ie-ie Vine.] + +Maui pursued Pea-pea, but could not catch him. He carried Maui's wife +over the sea to a far away island. Maui was greatly troubled but his +grandmother sent him inland to find an old man who would tell him what +to do. Maui went inland and looking down toward Waipahu saw this man +Ku-olo-kele. He was hump-backed. Maui threw a large stone and hit the +"hill on the back" knocked it off and made the back straight. The old +man lifted up the stone and threw it to Waipahu, where it lies to this +day. Then he and Maui talked together. He told Maui to go and catch +birds and gather ti leaves and fibers of the ie-ie vine, and fill his +house. These things Maui secured and brought to him. He told Maui to go +home and return after three days. + +Ku-olo-kele took the ti leaves and the ie-ie threads and made the body +of a great bird which he covered with bird feathers. He fastened all +together with the ie-ie. This was done in the first day. The second day +he placed food inside and tried his bird and it flew all right. +"Thus," as the Hawaiians say, "the first flying ship was made in the +time of Maui." This is a modern version of Rupe changing himself into a +bird. + +On the third day Maui came and saw the wonderful bird body thoroughly +prepared for his journey. Maui went inside. Ku-olo-kele said, "When you +reach that land, look for a village. If the people are not there look to +the beach. If there are many people, your wife and Pea-pea the +eight-eyed will be there. Do not go near, but fly out over the sea. The +people will say, 'O, the strange bird;' but Pea-pea will say, 'This is +my bird. It is tabu.' You can then come to the people." + +Maui pulled the ie-ie ropes fastened to the wings and made them move. +Thus he flew away into the sky. Two days was his journey before he came +to that strange island, Moana-liha-i-ka-wao-kele. It was a beautiful +land. He flew inland to a village, but there were no people; according +to the ancient chant: + + "The houses of Lima-loa stand, + But there are no people; + They are at Mana." + +The people were by the sea. Maui flew over them. He saw his wife, but he +passed on flying out over the sea, skimming like a sea bird down to the +water and rising gracefully up to the sky. Pea-pea called out, "This +is my bird. It is tabu." Maui heard and came to the beach. He was caught +and placed in a tabu box. The servants carried him up to the village and +put him in the chief's sleeping house, when Pea-pea and his people +returned to their homes. + +In the night Pea-pea and Maui's wife lay down to sleep. Maui watched +Pea-pea, hoping that he would soon sleep. Then he would kill him. Maui +waited. One eye was closed, seven eyes were opened. Then four eyes +closed, leaving three. The night was almost past and dawn was near. Then +Maui called to Hina with his spirit voice, "O Hina, keep it dark." Hina +made the gray dawn dark in the three eyes and two closed in sleep. The +last eye was weary, and it also slept. Then Maui went out of the bird +body and cut off the head of Pea-pea and put it inside the bird. He +broke the roof of the house until a large opening was made. He took his +wife, Kumu-lama, and flew away to the island of Oahu. The winds blew +hard against the flying bird. Rain fell in torrents around it, but those +inside had no trouble. + +"Thus Maui returned with his wife to his home in Oahu. The story is pau +(finished)." + + + + +XI. + +MAUI SEEKING IMMORTALITY. + + Climb up, climb up, + To the highest surface of heaven, + To all the sides of heaven. + + Climb then to thy ancestor, + The sacred bird in the sky, + To thy ancestor Rehua + In the heavens. + + --New Zealand kite incantation. + + +The story of Maui seeking immortality for the human race is one of the +finest myths in the world. For pure imagination and pathos it is +difficult to find any tale from Grecian or Latin literature to compare +with it. In Greek and Roman fables gods suffered for other gods, and yet +none were surrounded with such absolutely mythical experiences as those +through which the demi-god Maui of the Pacific Ocean passed when he +entered the gates of death with the hope of winning immortality for +mankind. The really remarkable group of legends which cluster around +Maui is well concluded by the story of his unselfish and heroic battle +with death. + +The different islands of the Pacific have their Hades, or abode of dead. +It is, with very few exceptions, down in the interior of the earth. +Sometimes the tunnels left by currents of melted lava are the passages +into the home of departed spirits. In Samoa there are two circular holes +among the rocks at the west end of the island Savaii. These are the +entrances to the under-world for chiefs and people. The spirits of those +who die on the other islands leap into the sea and swim around the land +from island to island until they reach Savaii. Then they plunge down +into their heaven or their hades. + +The Tongans had a spirit island for the home of the dead. They said that +some natives once sailed far away in a canoe and found this island. It +was covered with all manner of beautiful fruits, among which rare birds +sported. They landed, but the trees were shadows. They grasped but could +not hold them. The fruits and the birds were shadows. The men ate, but +swallowed nothing substantial. It was shadow-land. They walked through +all the delights their eyes looked upon, but found no substance. They +returned home, but ever seemed to listen to spirits calling them back to +the island. In a short time all the voyagers were dead. + +There is no escape from death. The natives of New Zealand say: "Man +may have descendants, but the daughters of the night strangle his +offspring"; and again: "Men make heroes, but death carries them away." + +There are very few legends among the Polynesians concerning the death of +Maui. And these are usually fragmentary, except among the Maoris of New +Zealand. + +The Hawaiian legend of the death of Maui is to the effect that he +offended some of the greater gods living in Waipio valley on the Island +of Hawaii. Kanaloa, one of the four greatest gods of Hawaii, seized him +and dashed him against the rocks. His blood burst from the body and +colored the earth red in the upper part of the valley. The Hawaiians in +another legend say that Maui was chasing a boy and girl in Honolii +gulch, Hawaii. The girl climbed a breadfruit tree. Maui changed himself +into an eel and stretched himself along the side of the trunk of the +tree. The tree stretched itself upward and Maui failed to reach the +girl. A priest came along and struck the eel and killed it, and so Maui +died. This is evidently a changed form of the legend of Maui and the +long eel. Another Hawaiian fragment approaches very near to the +beautiful New Zealand myth. The Hawaiians said that Maui attempted to +tear a mountain apart. He wrenched a great hole in the side. Then the +elepaio bird sang and the charm was broken. The cleft in the mountain +could not be enlarged. If the story could be completed it would not be +strange if the death of Maui came with this failure to open the path +through the mountain. + +The Hervey Islands say that after Maui fished up the islands his hook +was thrown into the heavens and became the curved tail of the +constellation of stars which we know as "The Scorpion." Then the people +became angry with Maui and threw him up into the sky and his body is +still thought to be hanging among the stars of the scorpion. + +The Samoans, according to Turner, say that Maui went fishing and tried +to catch the land under the seas and pull it to the surface. Finally an +island appeared, but the people living on it were angry with Maui and +drove him away into the heavens. + +As he leaped from the island it separated into two parts. Thus the +Samoans account for the origin of two of their islands and also for the +passing away of Maui from the earth. + +The natives of New Zealand have many myths concerning the death of Maui. +Each tribe tells the story with such variations as would be expected +when the fact is noted that these tribes have preserved their +individuality through many generations. The substance of the myth, +however, is the same. + +In Maui's last days he longed for the victory over death. His innate +love of life led him to face the possibility of escaping and +overcoming the relentless enemy of mankind and thus bestow the boon of +deathlessness upon his fellow-men. He had been successful over and over +again in his contests with both gods and men. When man was created, he +stood erect, but, according to an Hawaiian myth, had jointless arms and +limbs. A web of skin connected and fastened tightly the arms to the body +and the legs to each other. "Maui was angry at this motionless statue +and took him and broke his legs at ankle, knee and hip and then, tearing +them and the arms from the body, destroyed the web. Then he broke the +arms at the elbow and shoulder. Then man could move from place to place, +but he had neither fingers or toes." Here comes the most ancient +Polynesian statement of the theory of evolution: "Hunger impelled man to +seek his food in the mountains, where his toes were cut out by the +brambles in climbing, and his fingers were also formed by the sharp +splinters of the bamboo while searching with his arms for food in the +ground." + +It was not strange that Maui should feel self-confident when considering +the struggle for immortality as a gift to be bestowed upon mankind. And +yet his father warned him that his time of failure would surely come. + +White, who has collected many of the myths and legends of New Zealand, +states that after Maui had ill-treated Mahu-ika, his grandmother, the +goddess and guardian of fire in the under-world, his father and mother +tried to teach him to do differently. But he refused to listen. Then the +father said: + +"You heard our instructions, but please yourself and persist for life or +death." + +Maui replied: "What do I care? Do you think I shall cease? Rather I will +persist forever and ever." + +Then his father said: "There is one so powerful that no tricks can be of +any avail." + +Maui asked: "By what shall I be overcome?" The answer was that one of +his ancestors, Hine-nui-te-po (Great Hine of the night), the guardian of +life, would overcome him. + +When Maui fished islands out of the deep seas, it was said that Hine +made her home on the outer edge of one of the outermost islands. There +the glow of the setting sun lighted the thatch of her house and covered +it with glorious colors. There Great Hine herself stood flashing and +sparkling on the edge of the horizon. + +Maui, in these last days of his life, looked toward the west and said: +"Let us investigate this matter and learn whether life or death shall +follow." + +The father replied: "There is evil hanging over you. When I chanted the +invocation of your childhood, when you were made sacred and guarded by +charms, I forgot a part of the ceremony. And for this you are to die." + +Then Maui said, "Will this be by Hine-nui-te-po? What is she like?" + +The father said that the flashing eyes they could see in the distance +were dark as greenstone, the teeth were as sharp as volcanic glass, her +mouth was large like a fish, and her hair was floating in the air like +sea-weed. + +One of the legends of New Zealand says that Maui and his brothers went +toward the west, to the edge of the horizon, where they saw the goddess +of the night. Light was flashing from her body. Here they found a great +pit--the home of night. Maui entered the pit--telling his brothers not +to laugh. He passed through and turning about started to return. The +brothers laughed and the walls of night closed in around him and held +him till he died. + +The longer legend tells how Maui after his conversation with his father, +remembered his conflict with the moon. He had tied her so that she could +not escape, but was compelled to bathe in the waters of life and return +night after night lest men should be in darkness when evening came. + +Maui said to the goddess of the moon: "Let death be short. As the moon +dies and returns with new strength, so let men die and revive again." + +But she replied: "Let death be very long, that man may sigh and sorrow. +When man dies, let him go into darkness, become like earth, that those +he leaves behind may weep and wail and mourn." + +Maui did not lay aside his purpose, but, according to the New Zealand +story, "did not wish men to die, but to live forever. Death appeared +degrading and an insult to the dignity of man. Man ought to die like the +moon, which dips in the life-giving waters of Kane and is renewed again, +or like the sun, which daily sinks into the pit of night and with +renewed strength rises in the morning." + +Maui sought the home of Hine-nui-te-po--the guardian of life. He heard +her order her attendants to watch for any one approaching and capture +all who came walking upright as a man. He crept past the attendants on +hands and feet, found the place of life, stole some of the food of the +goddess and returned home. He showed the food to his brothers and +persuaded them to go with him into the darkness of the night of death. +On the way he changed them into the form of birds. In the evening they +came to the house of the goddess on the island long before fished up +from the seas. + +Maui warned the birds to refrain from making any noise while he made the +supreme effort of his life. He was about to enter upon his struggle for +immortality. He said to the birds: "If I go into the stomach of this +woman, do not laugh until I have gone through her, and come out again +at her mouth; then you can laugh at me." + +His friends said: "You will be killed." Maui replied: "If you laugh at +me when I have only entered her stomach I shall be killed, but if I have +passed through her and come out of her mouth I shall escape and +Hine-nui-te-po will die." + +His friends called out to him: "Go then. The decision is with you." + +Hine was sleeping soundly. The flashes of lightning had all ceased. The +sunlight had almost passed away and the house lay in quiet gloom. Maui +came near to the sleeping goddess. Her large, fish-like mouth was open +wide. He put off his clothing and prepared to pass through the ordeal of +going to the hidden source of life, to tear it out of the body of its +guardian and carry it back with him to mankind. He stood in all the +glory of savage manhood. His body was splendidly marked by the +tattoo-bones, and now well oiled shone and sparkled in the last rays of +the setting sun. + +He leaped through the mouth of the enchanted one and entered her +stomach, weapon in hand, to take out her heart, the vital principle +which he knew had its home somewhere within her being. He found +immortality on the other side of death. He turned to come back again +into life when suddenly a little bird (the Pata-tai) laughed in a clear, +shrill tone, and Great Hine, through whose mouth Maui was passing, +awoke. Her sharp, obsidian teeth closed with a snap upon Maui, cutting +his body in the center. Thus Maui entered the gates of death, but was +unable to return, and death has ever since been victor over rebellious +men. The natives have the saying: + +"If Maui had not died, he could have restored to life all who had gone +before him, and thus succeeded in destroying death." + +Maui's brothers took the dismembered body and buried it in a cave called +Te-ana-i-hana, "The cave dug out," possibly a prepared burial place. + +Maui's wife made war upon the spirits, the gods, and killed as many as +she could to avenge her husband's death. One of the old native poets of +New Zealand, in chanting the story to Mr. White, said: "But though Maui +was killed, his offspring survived. Some of these are at Hawa-i-i-ki and +some at Aotea-roa (New Zealand), but the greater part of them remained +at Hawa-i-ki. This history was handed down by the generations of our +ancestors of ancient times, and we continue to rehearse it to our +children, with our incantations and genealogies, and all other matters +relating to our race." + + "But death is nothing new, + Death is, and has been ever since old Maui died. + Then Pata-tai laughed loud + And woke the goblin-god, + Who severed him in two, and shut him in, + So dusk of eve came on." + + --Maori death chant, New Zealand. + + + + +XII. + +HINA OF HILO. + + +Hina is not an uncommon name in Hawaiian genealogies. It is usually +accompanied by some adjective which explains or identifies the person to +whom the name is given. In Hawaii the name Hina is feminine. This is +also true throughout all Polynesia except in a few cases where Hina is +reckoned as a man with supernatural attributes. Even in these cases it +is apparent that the legend has been changed from its original form as +it has been carried to small islands by comparatively ignorant people +when moving away from their former homes. + +Hina is a Polynesian goddess whose story is very interesting--one worthy +of study when comparing the legends of the island groups of the Pacific. +The Hina of Hilo is the same as the goddess of that name most widely +known throughout Polynesia--and yet her legends are located by the +ancient Hawaiians in Hilo, as if that place were her only home. The +legends are so old that the Hawaiians have forgotten their origin in +other lands. The stories were brought with the immigrants who settled on +the Hilo coast. Thus the stories found their final location with the +families who brought them. There are three Hawaiian Hinas practically +distinct from each other, although a supernatural element is connected +with each one. Hina who was stolen from Hawaii by a chief of the Island +of Molokai was an historical character, although surrounded by mythical +stories. Another Hina, who was the wife of Kuula, the fish god, was +pre-eminently a local deity, having no real connection with the legends +of the other islands of the Pacific, although sometimes the stories told +concerning her have not been kept entirely distinct from the legends of +the Hina of Hilo. + +The Hilo Hina was the true legendary character closely connected with +all Polynesia. The stories about her are of value not simply as legends, +but as traditions closely uniting the Hawaiian Islands with the island +groups thousands of miles distant. The Wailuku river, which flows +through the town of Hilo, has its own peculiar and weird beauty. For +miles it is a series of waterfalls and rapids. It follows the course of +an ancient lava flow, sometimes forcing its way under bridges of lava, +thus forming what are called boiling pots, and sometimes pouring in +massive sheets over the edges of precipices which never disintegrate. +By the side of this river Hina's son Maui had his lands. In the very bed +of the river, in a cave under one of the largest falls, Hina made her +own home, concealed from the world by the silver veil of falling water +and lulled to sleep by the continual roar of the flood falling into the +deep pool below. By the side of this river, the legends say, she pounded +her tapa and prepared her food. Here were the small, graceful mamake and +the coarser wauke trees, from which the bark was stripped with which she +made tapa cloth. Branches were cut or broken from these and other trees +whose bark was fit for the purpose. These branches were well soaked +until the bark was removed easily. Then the outer bark was scraped off, +leaving only the pliable inner bark. The days were very short and there +was no time for rest while making tapa cloth. Therefore, as soon as the +morning light reddened the clouds, Hina would take her calabash filled +with water to pour upon the bark, and her little bundle of round clubs +(the hohoa) and her four-sided mallets (the i-e-kuku) and hasten to the +sacred spot where, with chants and incantations, the tapa was made. + +The bark was well soaked in the water all the days of the process of +tapa making. Hina took small bundles of the wet inner bark and laid them +on the kua or heavy tapa board, pounding them together into a pulpy mass +with her round clubs. Then using the four-sided mallets, she beat this +pulp into thin sheets. Beautiful tapa, soft as silk, was made by adding +pulpy mass to pulpy mass and beating it day after day until the fibres +were lost and a sheet of close-woven bark cloth was formed. Although +Hina was a goddess and had a family possessing miraculous power, it +never entered the mind of the Hawaiian legend tellers to endow her with +ease in producing wonderful results. The legends of the Southern Pacific +Islands show more imagination. They say that Ina (Hina) was such a +wonderful artist in making beautiful tapas that she was placed in the +skies, where she beat out glistening fine tapas, the white and glorious +clouds. When she stretches these cloud sheets out to dry, she places +stones along the edges, so that the fierce winds of the heavens shall +not blow them away. When she throws these stones aside, the skies +reverberate with thunder. When she rolls her cloud sheets of tapa +together, the folds glisten with flashes of light and lightning leaps +from sheet to sheet. + +The Hina of Hilo was grieved as she toiled because after she had pounded +the sheets out so thin that they were ready to be dried, she found it +almost impossible to secure the necessary aid of the sun in the drying +process. She would rise as soon as she could see and hasten to spread +out the tapa made the day before. But the sun always hurried so fast +that the sheets could not dry. He leaped from the ocean waters in the +earth, rushed across the heavens and plunged into the dark waters again +on the other side of the island before she could even turn her tapas so +that they might dry evenly. This legend of very short days is strange +because of its place not only among the myths of Hawaii but also because +it belongs to practically all the tropical islands of the Pacific Ocean. +In Tahiti the legends said that the sun rushed across the sky very +rapidly. The days were too short for fruits to ripen or for work to be +finished. In Samoa the "mats" made by Sina had no time to dry. The +ancestors of the Polynesians sometime somewhere must have been in the +region of short days and long nights. Hina found that her incantations +had no influence with the sun. She could not prevail upon him to go +slower and give her more time for the completion of her task. Then she +called on her powerful son, Maui-ki-i-ki-i, for aid. + +Some of the legends of the Island Maui say that Hina dwelt by the sea +coast of that island near the high hill Kauwiki at the foot of the great +mountain Haleakala, House of the Sun, and that there, facing the +southern skies under the most favorable conditions for making tapa, she +found the days too short for the tapa to dry. At the present time the +Hawaiians point out a long, narrow stone not far from the surf and +almost below the caves in which the great queen Kaahumanu spent the +earliest days of her childhood. This stone is said to be the kua or +tapa board on which Hina pounded the bark for her cloth. Other legends +of that same island locate Hina's home on the northeast coast near +Pohakuloa. + +The Hilo legends, however, do not deem it necessary that Hina and Maui +should have their home across the wide channel which divides the Island +Hawaii from the Island Maui in order to wage war successfully with the +inconsiderate sun. Hina remained in her home by the Wailuku river, +sometimes resting in her cave under Rainbow Falls, and sometimes working +on the river bank, trusting her powerful son Maui to make the +swiftly-passing lord of day go more slowly. + +Maui possessed many supernatural powers. He could assume the form of +birds or insects. He could call on the winds to do his will, or he +could, if he wished, traverse miles with a single stride. It is +interesting to note that the Hilo legends differ as to the way in which +Ma-ui the man passed over to Mau-i the island. One legend says that he +crossed the channel, miles wide, with a single step. Another says that +he launched his canoe and with a breath the god of the winds placed him +on the opposite coast, while another story says that Maui assumed the +form of a white chicken, which flew over the waters to Haleakala. Here +he took ropes made from the fibre of trees and vines and lassoed the sun +while it climbed the side of the mountain and entered the great crater +which hollows out the summit. The sun came through a large gap in the +eastern side of the crater, rushing along as rapidly as possible. Then +Maui threw his lassoes one after the other over the sun's legs (the rays +of light), holding him fast and breaking off some of them. With a magic +club Maui struck the face of the sun again and again. At last, wounded +and weary, and also limping on its broken legs, the sun promised Maui to +go slowly forevermore. + +"La" among the Polynesians, like the word "Ra" among the Egyptians, +means "sun" or "day" or "sun-god"--and the mountain where the son of +Hina won his victory over the monster of the heavens has long borne the +name Hale-a-ka-la, or House of the Sun. + +Hina of Hilo soon realized the wonderful deed which Maui had done. She +spread out her fine tapas with songs of joy and cheerily performed the +task which filled the hours of the day. The comfort of sunshine and +cooling winds came with great power into Hina's life, bringing to her +renewed joy and beauty. + + + + +XIII. + +HINA AND THE WAILUKU RIVER. + + +There are two rivers of rushing, tumbling rapids and waterfalls in the +Hawaiian Islands, both bearing the name of Wailuku. One is on the Island +of Maui, flowing out of a deep gorge in the side of the extinct volcano +Iao. Yosemite-like precipices surround this majestically-walled crater. +The name Iao means "asking for clouds." The head of the crater-valley is +almost always covered with great masses of heavy rain clouds. Out of the +crater the massed waters rush in a swift-flowing stream of only four or +five miles, emptying into Kahului harbor. The other Wailuku river is on +the Island of Hawaii. The snows melt on the summits of the two great +mountains, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. The water seeps through the porous +lava from the eastern slope of Mauna Loa and the southern slope of Mauna +Kea, meeting where the lava flows of centuries from each mountain have +piled up against each other. Through the fragments of these volcanic +battles the waters creep down the mountain side toward the sea. + +[Illustration: Rainbow Falls, Hina's Home.] + +At one place, a number of miles above the city of Hilo, the waters were +heard gurgling and splashing far below the surface. Water was needed for +the sugar plantations, which modern energy has established all along the +eastern coast of the large island. A tunnel was cut into the lava, the +underground stream was tapped--and an abundant supply of water secured +and sluiced down to the large plantations below. The head waters of the +Wailuku river gathered from the melting snow of the mountains found +these channels, which centered at last in the bed of a very ancient and +very interesting lava flow. Sometimes breaking forth in a large, +turbulent flood, the stream forces its way over and around the huge +blocks of lava which mark the course of the eruption of long ago. +Sometimes it courses in a tunnel left by the flowing lava and comes up +from below in a series of boiling pools. Then again it falls in majestic +sheets over high walls of worn precipices. Several large falls and some +very picturesque smaller cascades interspersed with rapids and natural +bridges give to this river a beauty peculiarly its own. The most weird +of all the rough places through which the Wailuku river flows is that +known as the basin of Rainbow Falls near Hilo. Here Hina, the moon +goddess of the Polynesians, lived in a great open cave, over which the +falls hung their misty, rainbow-tinted veil. Her son Maui, the mighty +demi-god of Polynesia, supposed by some writers to be the sun-god of the +Polynesians, had extensive lands along the northern bank of the river. +Here among his cultivated fields he had his home, from which he went +forth to accomplish the wonders attributed to him in the legends of the +Hawaiians. + +Below the cave in which Hina dwelt the river fought its way through a +narrow gorge and then, in a series of many small falls, descended to the +little bay, where its waters mingled with the surf of the salt sea. Far +above the cave, in the bed of the river, dwelt Kuna. The district +through which that portion of the river runs bears to this day the name +"Wai-kuna" or "Kuna's river." When the writer was talking with the +natives concerning this part of the old legend, they said "Kuna is not a +Hawaiian word. It means something like a snake or a dragon, something we +do not have in these islands." This, they thought, made the connection +with the Hina legend valueless until they were shown that Tuna (or kuna) +was the New Zealand name of a reptile which attacked Hina and struck her +with his tail like a crocodile, for which Maui killed him. When this was +understood, the Hawaiians were greatly interested to give the remainder +of this legend and compare it with the New Zealand story. In New Zealand +there are several statements concerning Tuna's dwelling place. He is +sometimes represented as coming from a pool to attack Hina and sometimes +from a distant stream, and sometimes from the river by which Hina dwelt. +The Hawaiians told of the annoyances which Hina endured from Kuna while +he lived above her home in the Wailuku. He would stop up the river and +fill it with dirt as when the freshets brought down the debris of the +storms from the mountain sides. He would throw logs and rolling stones +into the stream that they might be carried over the falls and drive Hina +from her cave. He had sought Hina in many ways and had been repulsed +again and again until at last hatred took the place of all more kindly +feelings and he determined to destroy the divine chiefess. + +Hina was frequently left with but little protection, and yet from her +home in the cave feared nothing that Kuna could do. Precipices guarded +the cave on either side, and any approach of an enemy through the +falling water could be easily thwarted. So her chants rang out through +the river valley even while floods swirled around her, and Kuna's +missiles were falling over the rocky bed of the stream toward her. Kuna +became very angry and, uttering great curses and calling upon all his +magic forces to aid him, caught a great stone and at night hurled it +into the gorge of the river below Hina's home, filling the river bed +from bank to bank. "Ah, Hina! Now is the danger, for the river rises. +The water cannot flow away. Awake! Awake!" + +Hina is not aware of this evil which is so near. The water rises and +rises, higher and higher. "Auwe! Auwe! Alas, alas, Hina must perish!" +The water entered the opening of the cave and began to creep along the +floor. Hina cannot fly, except into the very arms of her great enemy, +who is waiting to destroy her. Then Hina called for Maui. Again and +again her voice went out from the cave. It pierced through the storms +and the clouds which attended Kuna's attack upon her. It swept along the +side of the great mountain. It crossed the channel between the islands +of Hawaii and Maui. Its anguish smote the side of the great mountain +Haleakala, where Maui had been throwing his lassoes around the sun and +compelling him to go more slowly. When Maui heard Hina's cry for help +echoing from cliff to cliff and through the ravines, he leaped at once +to rush to her assistance. + +Some say that Hina, the goddess, had a cloud servant, the "ao-opua," the +"warning cloud," which rose swiftly above the falls when Hina cried for +aid and then, assuming a peculiar shape, stood high above the hills that +Maui might see it. Down the mountain he leaped to his magic canoe. +Pushing it into the sea with two mighty strokes of his paddle he crossed +the sea to the mouth of the Wailuku river. Here even to the present day +lies a long double rock, surrounded by the waters of the bay, which +the natives call Ka waa o Maui, "The canoe of Maui." It represents to +Hawaiian thought the magic canoe with which Maui always sailed over the +ocean more swiftly than any winds could carry him. Leaving his canoe, +Maui seized the magic club with which he had conquered the sun after +lassoing him, and rushed along the dry bed of the river to the place of +danger. Swinging the club swiftly around his head, he struck the dam +holding back the water of the rapidly-rising river. + +[Illustration: Wailuku River, the Home of Kuna.] + +"Ah! Nothing can withstand the magic club. The bank around one end of +the dam gives way. The imprisoned waters leap into the new channel. Safe +is Hina the goddess." + +Kuna heard the crash of the club against the stones of the river bank +and fled up the river to his home in the hidden caves by the pools in +the river bed. Maui rushed up the river to punish Kuna-mo-o for the +trouble he had caused Hina. When he came to the place where the dragon +was hidden under deep waters, he took his magic spear and thrust it +through the dirt and lava rocks along one side of the river, making a +long hole, through which the waters rushed, revealing Kuna-mo-o's hiding +place. This place of the spear thrust is known among the Hawaiians as Ka +puka a Maui, "the door made by Maui." It is also known as "The natural +bridge of the Wailuku river." + +Kuna-mo-o fled to his different hiding places, but Maui broke up the +river bed and drove the dragon out from every one, following him from +place to place as he fled down the river. Apparently this is a legendary +account of earthquakes. At last Kuna-mo-o found what seemed to be a safe +hiding place in a series of deep pools, but Maui poured a lava flow into +the river. He threw red-hot burning stones into the water until the +pools were boiling and the steam was rising in clouds. Kuna uttered +incantation after incantation, but the water scalded and burned him. +Dragon as he was, his hard, tough skin was of no avail. The pain was +becoming unbearable. With cries to his gods he leaped from the pools and +fled down the river. The waters of the pools are no longer scalding, but +they have never lost the tumbling, tossing, foaming, boiling swirl which +Maui gave to them when he threw into them the red-hot stones with which +he hoped to destroy Kuna, and they are known today as "The Boiling +Pots." + +Some versions of the legend say that Maui poured boiling water in the +river and sent it in swift pursuit of Kuna, driving him from point to +point and scalding his life out of him. Others say that Maui chased the +dragon, striking him again and again with his consecrated weapons, +following Kuna down from falls to falls until he came to the place where +Hina dwelt. Then, feeling that there was little use in flight, Kuna +battled with Maui. His struggles were of no avail. He was forced over +the falls into the stream below. Hina and her women encouraged Maui by +their chants and strengthened him by the most powerful incantations with +which they were acquainted. Great was their joy when they beheld Kuna's +ponderous body hurled over the falls. Eagerly they watched the dragon as +the swift waters swept him against the dam with which he had hoped to +destroy Hina; and when the whirling waves caught him and dashed him +through the new channel made by Maui's magic club, they rejoiced and +sang the praise of the mighty warrior who had saved them. Maui had +rushed along the bank of the river with tremendous strides overtaking +the dragon as he was rolled over and over among the small waterfalls +near the mouth of the river. Here Maui again attacked Kuna, at last +beating the life out of his body. "Moo-Kuna" was the name given by the +Hawaiians to the dragon. "Moo" means anything in lizard shape, but Kuna +was unlike any lizard known in the Hawaiian Islands. Moo Kuna is the +name sometimes given to a long black stone lying like an island in the +waters between the small falls of the river. As one who calls attention +to this legendary black stone says: "As if he were not dead enough +already, every big freshet in the stream beats him and pounds him and +drowns him over and over as he would have drowned Hina." A New Zealand +legend relates a conflict of incantations, somewhat like the filling in +of the Wailuku river by Kuna, and the cleaving of a new channel by Maui +with the different use of means. In New Zealand the river is closed by +the use of powerful incantations and charms and reopened by the use of +those more powerful. + +In the Hervey Islands, Tuna, the god of eels, loved Ina (Hina) and +finally died for her, giving his head to be buried. From this head +sprang two cocoanut trees, bearing fruit marked with Tuna's eyes and +mouth. + +In Samoa the battle was between an owl and a serpent. The owl conquered +by calling in the aid of a friend. + +This story of Hina apparently goes far back in the traditions of +Polynesians, even to their ancient home in Hawaiki, from which it was +taken by one branch of the family to New Zealand and by another to the +Hawaiian Islands and other groups in the Pacific Ocean. The dragon may +even be a remembrance of the days when the Polynesians were supposed to +dwell by the banks of the River Ganges in India, when crocodiles were +dangerous enemies and heroes saved families from their destructive +depredations. + + + + +XIV. + +GHOSTS OF THE HILO HILLS. + + +The legends about Hina and her famous son Maui and her less widely known +daughters are common property among the natives of the beautiful little +city of Hilo. One of these legends of more than ordinary interest finds +its location in the three small hills back of Hilo toward the mountains. + +These hills are small craters connected with some ancient lava flow of +unusual violence. The eruption must have started far up on the slopes of +Mauna Loa. As it sped down toward the sea it met some obstruction which, +although overwhelmed, checked the flow and caused a great mass of +cinders and ashes to be thrown out until a large hill with a hollow +crater was built up, covering many acres of ground. + +Soon the lava found another vent and then another obstruction and a +second and then a third hill were formed nearer the sea. These hills or +extinct craters bear the names Halai, Opeapea and Puu Honu. They are +not far from the Wailuku river, famous for its picturesque waterfalls +and also for the legends which are told along its banks. Here Maui had +his lands overlooking the steep bluffs. Here in a cave under the Rainbow +Falls was the home of Hina, the mother of Maui, according to the +Hawaiian stories. Other parts of the Pacific sometimes make Hina Maui's +wife, and sometimes a goddess from whom he descended. In the South Sea +legends Hina was thought to have married the moon. Her home was in the +skies, where she wove beautiful tapa cloths (the clouds), which were +bright and glistening, so that when she rolled them up flashes of light +(cloud lightning) could be seen on the earth. She laid heavy stones on +the corners of these tapas, but sometimes the stones rolled off and made +the thunder. Hina of the Rainbow Falls was a famous tapa maker whose +tapa was the cause of Maui's conflict with the sun. + +Hina had several daughters, four of whose names are given: Hina Ke Ahi, +Hina Ke Kai, Hina Mahuia, and Hina Kuluua. Each name marked the peculiar +"mana" or divine gift which Hina, the mother, had bestowed upon her +daughters. + +Hina Ke Ahi meant the Hina who had control of fire. This name is +sometimes given to Hina the mother. Hina Ke Kai was the daughter who had +power over the sea. She was said to have been in a canoe with her +brother Maui when he fished up Cocoanut Island, his line breaking +before he could pull it up to the mainland and make it fast. Hina Kuluua +was the mistress over the forces of rain. The winds and the storms were +supposed to obey her will. Hina Mahuia is peculiarly a name connected +with the legends of the other island groups of the Pacific. Mahuia or +Mafuie was a god or goddess of fire all through Polynesia. + +The legend of the Hilo hills pertains especially to Hina Ke Ahi and Hina +Kuluua. Hina the mother gave the hill Halai to Hina Ke Ahi and the hill +Puu Honu to Hina Kuluua for their families and dependents. + +The hills were of rich soil and there was much rain. Therefore, for a +long time, the two daughters had plenty of food for themselves and their +people, but at last the days were like fire and the sky had no rain in +it. The taro planted on the hillsides died. The bananas and sugar cane +and sweet potatoes withered and the fruit on the trees was blasted. The +people were faint because of hunger, and the shadow of death was over +the land. Hina Ke Ahi pitied her suffering friends and determined to +provide food for them. Slowly her people labored at her command. Over +they went to the banks of the river course, which was only the bed of an +ancient lava stream, over which no water was flowing; the famished +laborers toiled, gathering and carrying back whatever wood they could +find, then up the mountain side to the great koa and ohia forests, +gathering their burdens of fuel according to the wishes of their +chiefess. + +Their sorcerers planted charms along the way and uttered incantations to +ward off the danger of failure. The priests offered sacrifices and +prayers for the safe and successful return of the burden-bearers. After +many days the great quantity of wood desired by the goddess was piled up +by the side of the Halai Hill. + +Then came the days of digging out the hill and making a great imu or +cooking oven and preparing it with stones and wood. Large quantities of +wood were thrown into the place. Stones best fitted for retaining heat +were gathered and the fires kindled. When the stones were hot, Hina Ke +Ahi directed the people to arrange the imu in its proper order for +cooking the materials for a great feast. A place was made for sweet +potatoes, another for taro, another for pigs and another for dogs. All +the form of preparing the food for cooking was passed through, but no +real food was laid on the stones. Then Hina told them to make a place in +the imu for a human sacrifice. Probably out of every imu of the long ago +a small part of the food was offered to the gods, and there may have +been a special place in the imu for that part of the food to be cooked. +At any rate Hina had this oven so built that the people understood that +a remarkable sacrifice would be offered in it to the gods, who for some +reason had sent the famine upon the people. + +Human sacrifices were frequently offered by the Hawaiians even after the +days of the coming of Captain Cook. A dead body was supposed to be +acceptable to the gods when a chief's house was built, when a chief's +new canoe was to be made or when temple walls were to be erected or +victories celebrated. The bodies of the people belonged to the will of +the chief. Therefore it was in quiet despair that the workmen obeyed +Hina Ke Ahi and prepared the place for sacrifice. It might mean their +own holocaust as an offering to the gods. At last Hina Ke Ahi bade the +laborers cease their work and stand by the side of the oven ready to +cover it with the dirt which had been thrown out and piled up by the +side. The people stood by, not knowing upon whom the blow might fall. + +But Hina Ke Ahi was "Hina the kind," and although she stood before them +robed in royal majesty and power, still her face was full of pity and +love. Her voice melted the hearts of her retainers as she bade them +carefully follow her directions. + +"O my people. Where are you? Will you obey and do as I command? This imu +is my imu. I shall lie down on its bed of burning stones. I shall sleep +under its cover. But deeply cover me or I may perish. Quickly throw the +dirt over my body. Fear not the fire. Watch for three days. A woman +will stand by the imu. Obey her will." + +Hina Ke Ahi was very beautiful, and her eyes flashed light like fire as +she stepped into the great pit and lay down on the burning stones. A +great smoke arose and gathered over the imu. The men toiled rapidly, +placing the imu mats over their chiefess and throwing the dirt back into +the oven until it was all thoroughly covered and the smoke was quenched. + +Then they waited for the strange, mysterious thing which must follow the +sacrifice of this divine chiefess. + +Halai hill trembled and earthquakes shook the land round about. The +great heat of the fire in the imu withered the little life which was +still left from the famine. Meanwhile Hina Ke Ahi was carrying out her +plan for securing aid for her people. She could not be injured by the +heat for she was a goddess of fire. The waves of heat raged around her +as she sank down through the stones of the imu into the underground +paths which belonged to the spirit world. The legend says that Hina made +her appearance in the form of a gushing stream of water which would +always supply the want of her adherents. The second day passed. Hina was +still journeying underground, but this time she came to the surface as a +pool named Moe Waa (canoe sleep) much nearer the sea. The third day came +and Hina caused a great spring of sweet water to burst forth from the +sea shore in the very path of the ocean surf. This received the name +Auauwai. Here Hina washed away all traces of her journey through the +depths. This was the last of the series of earthquakes and the +appearance of new water springs. The people waited, feeling that some +more wonderful event must follow the remarkable experiences of the three +days. Soon a woman stood by the imu, who commanded the laborers to dig +away the dirt and remove the mats. When this was done, the hungry people +found a very great abundance of food, enough to supply their want until +the food plants should have time to ripen and the days of the famine +should be over. + +The joy of the people was great when they knew that their chiefess had +escaped death and would still dwell among them in comfort. Many were the +songs sung and stories told about the great famine and the success of +the goddess of fire. + +The second sister, Hina Kuluua, the goddess of rain, was always very +jealous of her beautiful sister Hina Ke Ahi, and many times sent rain to +put out fires which her sister tried to kindle. Hina Ke Ahi could not +stand the rain and so fled with her people to a home by the seaside. + +Hina Kuluua (or Hina Kuliua as she was sometimes known among the +Hawaiians) could control rain and storms, but for some reason failed to +provide a food supply for her people, and the famine wrought havoc +among them. She thought of the stories told and songs sung about her +sister and wished for the same honor for herself. She commanded her +people to make a great imu for her in the hill Puu Honu. She knew that a +strange power belonged to her and yet, blinded by jealousy, forgot that +rain and fire could not work together. She planned to furnish a great +supply of food for her people in the same way in which her sister had +worked. + +The oven was dug. Stones and wood were collected and the same ghostly +array of potatoes, taro, pig and dog prepared as had been done before by +her sister. + +The kahunas or priests knew that Hina Kuluua was going out of her +province in trying to do as her sister had done, but there was no use in +attempting to change her plans. Jealousy is self-willed and obstinate +and no amount of reasoning from her dependents could have any influence +over her. + +The ordinary incantations were observed, and Hina Kuluua gave the same +directions as those her sister had given. The imu was to be well heated. +The make-believe food was to be put in and a place left for her body. It +was the goddess of rain making ready to lie down on a bed prepared for +the goddess of fire. When all was ready, she lay down on the heated +stones and the oven mats were thrown over her and the ghostly +provisions. Then the covering of dirt was thrown back upon the mats and +heated stones, filling the pit which had been dug. The goddess of +rain was left to prepare a feast for her people as the goddess of fire +had done for her followers. + +[Illustration: On Lava Beds.] + +Some of the legends have introduced the demi-god Maui into this story. +The natives say that Maui came to "burn" or "cook the rain" and that he +made the oven very hot, but that the goddess of rain escaped and hung +over the hill in the form of a cloud. At least this is what the people +saw--not a cloud of smoke over the imu, but a rain cloud. They waited +and watched for such evidences of underground labor as attended the +passage of Hina Ke Ahi through the earth from the hill to the sea, but +the only strange appearance was the dark rain cloud. They waited three +days and looked for their chiefess to come in the form of a woman. They +waited another day and still another and no signs or wonders were +manifest. Meanwhile Maui, changing himself into a white bird, flew up +into the sky to catch the ghost of the goddess of rain which had escaped +from the burning oven. Having caught this spirit, he rolled it in some +kapa cloth which he kept for food to be placed in an oven and carried it +to a place in the forest on the mountain side where again the attempt +was made to "burn the rain," but a great drop escaped and sped upward +into the sky. Again Maui caught the ghost of the goddess and carried it +to a pali or precipice below the great volcano Kilauea, where he again +tried to destroy it in the heat of a great lava oven, but this time the +spirit escaped and found a safe refuge among kukui trees on the mountain +side, from which she sometimes rises in clouds which the natives say are +the sure sign of rain. + +Whether this Maui legend has any real connection with the two Hinas and +the famine we do not surely know. The legend ordinarily told among the +Hawaiians says that after five days had passed the retainers decided on +their own responsibility to open the imu. No woman had appeared to give +them directions. Nothing but a mysterious rain cloud over the hill. In +doubt and fear, the dirt was thrown off and the mats removed. Nothing +was found but the ashes of Hina Kuluua. There was no food for her +followers and the goddess had lost all power of appearing as a chiefess. +Her bitter and thoughtless jealousy brought destruction upon herself and +her people. The ghosts of Hina Ke Ahi and Hina Kuluua sometimes draw +near to the old hills in the form of the fire of flowing lava or clouds +of rain while the old men and women tell the story of the Hinas, the +sisters of Maui, who were laid upon the burning stones of the imus of a +famine. + + + + +XV. + +HINA, THE WOMAN IN THE MOON. + + +The Wailuku river has by its banks far up the mountain side some of the +most ancient of the various interesting picture rocks of the Hawaiian +Islands. The origin of the Hawaiian picture writing is a problem still +unsolved, but the picture rocks of the Wailuku river are called "na kii +o Maui," "the Maui pictures." Their antiquity is beyond question. + +The most prominent figure cut in these rocks is that of the crescent +moon. The Hawaiian legends do not attempt any direct explanation of the +meaning of this picture writing. The traditions of the Polynesians both +concerning Hina and Maui look to Hina as the moon goddess of their +ancestors, and in some measure the Hawaiian stories confirm the +traditions of the other island groups of the Pacific. + +Fornander, in his history of the Polynesian race, gives the Hawaiian +story of Hina's ascent to the moon, but applies it to a Hina the wife +of a chief called Aikanaka rather than to the Hina of Hilo, the wife of +Akalana, the father of Maui. However, Fornander evidently found some +difficulty in determining the status of the one to whom he refers the +legend, for he calls her "the mysterious wife of Aikanaka." In some of +the Hawaiian legends Hina, the mother of Maui, lived on the southeast +coast of the Island Maui at the foot of a hill famous in Hawaiian story +as Kauiki. Fornander says that this "mysterious wife" of Aikanaka bore +her children Puna and Huna, the latter a noted sea-rover among the +Polynesians, at the foot of this hill Kauiki. It can very easily be +supposed that a legend of the Hina connected with the demi-god Maui +might be given during the course of centuries to the other Hina, the +mother of Huna. The application of the legend would make no difference +to anyone were it not for the fact that the story of Hina and her ascent +to the moon has been handed down in different forms among the traditions +of Samoa, New Zealand, Tonga, Hervey Islands, Fate Islands, Nauru and +other Pacific island groups. The Polynesian name of the moon, Mahina or +Masina, is derived from Hina, the goddess mother of Maui. It is even +possible to trace the name back to "Sin," the moon god of the Assyrians. + +The moon goddess of Ponape was Ina-maram. (Hawaiian Hina-malamalama), +"Hina giving light." + +In the Paumotan Islands an eclipse of the sun is called Higa-higa-hana +(Hina-hiua-hana), "The act (hana) of Hina--the moon." + +In New Zealand moonless nights were called "Dark Hina." + +In Tahiti it is said there was war among the gods. They cursed the +stars. Hina saved them, although they lost a little light. Then they +cursed the sea, but Hina preserved the tides. They cursed the rivers, +but Hina saved the springs--the moving waters inland, like the tides in +the ocean. + +The Hawaiians say that Hina and her maidens pounded out the softest, +finest kapa cloth on the long, thick kapa board at the foot of Kauiki. +Incessantly the restless sea dashed its spray over the picturesque +groups of splintered lava rocks which form the Kauiki headland. Here +above the reach of the surf still lies the long, black stone into which +the legends say Hina's kapa board was changed. Here Hina took the leaves +of the hala tree and, after the manner of the Hawaiian women of the ages +past, braided mats for the household to sleep upon, and from the nuts of +the kukui trees fashioned the torches which were burned around the homes +of those of high chief rank. + +At last she became weary of her work among mortals. Her family had +become more and more troublesome. It was said that her sons were unruly +and her husband lazy and shiftless. She looked into the heavens and +determined to flee up the pathway of her rainbow through the clouds. + +The Sun was very bright and Hina said, "I will go to the Sun." So she +left her home very early in the morning and climbed up, higher, higher, +until the heat of the rays of the sun beat strongly upon her and +weakened her so that she could scarcely crawl along her beautiful path. +Up a little higher and the clouds no longer gave her even the least +shadow. The heat from the sun was so great that she began to feel the +fire shriveling and torturing her. Quickly she slipped down into the +storms around her rainbow and then back to earth. As the day passed her +strength came back, and when the full moon rose through the shadows of +the night she said, "I will climb to the moon and there find rest." + +But when Hina began to go upward her husband saw her and called to her: +"Do not go into the heavens." She answered him: "My mind is fixed; I +will go to my new husband, the moon." And she climbed up higher and +higher. Her husband ran toward her. She was almost out of reach, but he +leaped and caught her foot. This did not deter Hina from her purpose. +She shook off her husband, but as he fell he broke her leg so that the +lower part came off in his hands. Hina went up through the stars, crying +out the strongest incantations she could use. The powers of the night +aided her. The mysterious hands of darkness lifted her, until she stood +at the door of the moon. She had packed her calabash with her most +priceless possessions and had carried it with her even when injured by +her cruel husband. With her calabash she limped into the moon and found +her abiding home. When the moon is full, the Hawaiians of the long ago, +aye and even today, look into the quiet, silvery light and see the +goddess in her celestial home, her calabash by her side. + +The natives call her now Lono-moku, "the crippled Lono." From this watch +tower in the heavens she pointed out to Kahai, one of her descendents, +the way to rise up into the skies. The ancient chant thus describes his +ascent: + + "The rainbow is the path of Kahai. + Kahai rose. Kahai bestirred himself. + Kahai passed on the floating cloud of Kane. + Perplexed were the eyes of Alihi. + Kahai passed on on the glancing light. + The glancing light on men and canoes. + Above was Hanaiakamalama." (Hina). + +Thus under the care of his ancestress Hina, Kahai, the great sea-rover, +made his ascent in quest of adventures among the immortals. + +In the Tongan Islands the legends say that Hina remains in the moon +watching over the "fire-walkers" as their great protecting goddess. + +The Hervey Island traditions say that the Moon (Marama) had often seen +Hina and admired her, and at last had come down and caught her up to +live with himself. The moonlight in its glory is called Ina-motea, "the +brightness of Ina." + +The story as told on Atiu Island (one of the Society group) is that Hina +took her human husband with her to the moon, where they dwelt happily +for a time, but as he grew old she prepared a rainbow, down which he +descended to the earth to die, leaving Hina forevermore as "the woman in +the moon." The Savage Islanders worshiped the spirits of their +ancestors, saying that many of them went up to the land of Sina, the +always bright land in the skies. To the natives of Niue Island, Hina has +been the goddess ruling over all tapa making. They say that her home is +"Motu a Hina," "the island of Hina," the home of the dead in the skies. + +The Samoans said that the Moon received Hina and a child, and also her +tapa board and mallet and material for the manufacture of tapa cloth. +Therefore, when the moon is shining in full splendor, they shade their +eyes and look for the goddess and the tools with which she fashions the +tapa clouds in the heavens. + +The New Zealand legend says that the woman went after water in the +night. As she passed down the path to the spring the bright light of the +full moon made the way easy for her quick footsteps, but when she had +filled her calabash and started homeward, suddenly the bright light was +hidden by a passing cloud and she stumbled against a stone in the path +and fell to the ground, spilling the water she was carrying. Then she +became very angry and cursed the moon heartily. Then the moon became +angry and swiftly swept down upon her from the skies, grasping her and +lifting her up. In her terrible fight she caught a small tree with one +hand and her calabash with the other. But oh! the strong moon pulled her +up with the tree and the calabash and there in the full moon they can +all be traced when the nights are clear. + +Pleasant or Nauru Island, in which a missionary from Central Union +Church, Honolulu, is laboring, tells the story of Gigu, a beautiful +young woman, who has many of the experiences of Hina. She opened the +eyes of the Mother of the Moon as Hina, in some of the Polynesian +legends, is represented to have opened the eyes of one of the great +goddesses, and in reward is married to Maraman, the Moon, with whom she +lives ever after, and in whose embrace she can always be seen when the +moon is full. Gigu is Hina under another and more guttural form of +speech. Maraman is the same as Malama, one of the Polynesian names for +the moon. + + + + +INDEX + + + Page. + + Akea or Atea, see Wakea, 41 + + Akalana, or Ataranga, 3, 4, 166 + + Alae birds, 12, 18, 27, 62, 65, 120, 123 + + Alae-Huapi, 120 + + Alae-nui-a-Hina, 123 + + Ao-tea-roa, 23, 93, 106, 108, 128, 137 + + Aumakuas, 26 + + Ava-iki, or Hawa-i-ki, 5, 37, 41, 52, 72, 137 + + Awa, 8 + + Axe, stone, 93, 94 + + + Bailing dish, 123 + + Bananas, 45, 64 + + Banyan, 56, 71 + + Barbs, spears, 79, 101 + + Birds, 85, 110, 112, 135, 144 + + Bird-machine, 125 + + Birds, painted, 85, 112 + + Black rock, 32, 48 + + Boiling pots, 100, 152 + + Bones, fish hooks, 15, 83 + + Brittany, 57 + + Bua-Tarana-ga, 5 + + + Cain and Abel, 89 + + Calabash, 19, 31, 84, 115 + + Cannibalism, 91, 93 + + Canoe, Maui's, 28, 118, 150 + + Cats-cradle, 86 + + Cloud, Maui's-ao-opua, 150 + + Coco-nut Island, 19, 26 + + Cook, Captain, 7 + + Cooking the rain, 163 + + Coral, 29 + + Creation, 4, 80, 86 + + Crocodile, 148 + + + Death, 25, 38, 67, 82, 137, 170 + + Death chant, 138 + + Dog, 80, 102 + + Dragon, 97, 148, 153 + + + Earth twisted, 12, 15 + + Eclipse, 42, 158 + + Eel, 7, 33, 83, 94, 130 + + Eel baskets, 79, 102 + + Eight-eyed, 83, 124 + + Ellis, William, 84 + + Egypt, 44 + + Evolution, 85, 103, 109, 132 + + + Fairies, 113 + + Fire-finding-- + Australia, 59 + Bowditch Islands, 76 + Chatham Islands, 75 + De Peysters Islands, 59 + Hawaii, 61, 120 + Hervey Islands, 67, 70 + Indians, 57 + New Zealand, 67, 74, 88 + Peruvians, 59 + Samoa, 67, 70 + Savage Islands, 67, 72 + Society Islands, 66, 72 + Tartary, 59 + Tokelau Island, 67 + + First man, 89 + + Fishing up islands-- + Hawaii, 14, 18, 26 + Hervey Islands, 26 + New Hebrides, 25 + New Zealand, 19, 88 + Samoa, 24 + Tonga, 24, 28 + + Fish hooks, 12, 15, 20, 26, 81, 118 + + Fish nets, 81 + + Flood, 25 + + Flying machine, 125 + + Forbes, Rev. A. O., 42 + + Fornander, A., 83 + + + Ganges, 154 + + Gilbert Islands, 34, 60 + + Gill, W. W., 36 + + Gray, Sir George, 7, 20, 23, 49, 101, 110 + + Green stone, 110, 134 + + Guardian of under-world, 4, 5, 17, 70 + + + Hades, 129 + + Halai hills, 64, 155 + + Hale-a-ka-la, 7, 13, 32, 43, 62, 143 + + Hale-a-o-a, 76 + + Hau tree, 102 + + Hau spirit, Preface + + Haumia-Tiki-Tiki, 34 + + Hawa-iki, 5, 35, 37, 137, 154 + + Hawaii-loa, 29 + + Hawke's bay, 28 + + Hele-a-ka-la, 122 + + Hercules, 53, 112 + + Hervey Islands, 4, 5, 10 + + Hide-and-seek, 10 + + Hilo, 7, 19, 26, 64, 129, 147, 155 + + Hina, 5, 7, 10, 12, 18, 45, 61, 64, 121, 139 + + Hina-a-ke-ahi, 3, 27, 157 + + Hina-a-ke-ka, 123 + + Hina-a-te-lepo, 91 + + Hina-Kulu-ua, 157, 161 + + Hina-uri, 101 + + Hine-nui-te-po, 23, 123, 133 + + Hina's daughters, 156 + + Horizon or heaven, 107 + + Human sacrifices, 159 + + Hump-back, 125 + + Huna, 166 + + + Iao, 43 + + Ie-ie, fiber, 125 + + Iiwi, 113 + + Ika-o-Maui, 23 + + Ili-ahi, 66 + + Immortality, Maui, 128 + + Imu, oven, 159 + + Ina, see Hina, 5, 66, 142 + + India, 154 + + Indians, fire-finding, 57 + + Indians, snaring sun, 54 + + Ira Waru, 101 + + + Kaahumanu, 143 + + Ka-alae-huapi, 120 + + Kahai chant, 169 + + Ka-iwi-o-Pele, 18 + + Kalakaua, 8 + + Kalana-Kalanga, see Akalana, 3, 4, 60 + + Kalau-hele-moa, 45 + + Kamapuaa, 83 + + Kanaloa, 5, 24, 29, 120 + + Kane, 35, 119, 135 + + Kane's cave, 119 + + Kauai, 26 + + Kauiki, or Kauwiki, 7, 12, 26, 143, 168 + + Kaula Island, 26 + + Kipahula, 18 + + Ki-i-ki-i, 6, 32, 143 + + Kite-flying, 87, 112, 128 + + Ko, spade, 94 + + Kohala, 28 + + Koolau, 44 + + Ku, 5 + + Kualii, 12 + + Kuna, see Tuna, 7, 99 + + Ku-olo--Kele, 125 + + Ku-ula, fish god, 140 + + + La, or Ra, 5, 44 + + Langi, Lani, 34 + + Lahaina, 32 + + Lasso, 47, 51, 80, 144 + + Lifting the sky-- + Ellice Islands, 33 + Gilbert Islands, 34 + Hawaii, 31 + Hervey Islands, 36 + Manahiki, 35 + New Zealand, 34 + Samoa, 32 + + Liliuokalani chants, 3, 8, 17, 27, 40 + + Long Eel, 92 + + Lono, 34 + + + Ma-eli-eli hill, 120 + + Magic fish hook, 82 + + Mahui, Mahuika, Mafuia, 5, 60, 68, 73, 132 + + Mahina, or Masina, 166 + + Mamo bird, 114 + + Manahiki Islands, 24, 80 + + Maori, 28, 34 + + Marama, or Malama, 166, 171 + + Marshall Islands, 60 + + Maru, 89 + + Mauna Kea, 13 + + Maui Akalana-- + Akamai, 78, 82 + baptized, 10, 133 + birth, 6 + bird or insect, 9, 10, 20, 24, 71, 114, 144 + brothers, 3, 6, 14, 22, 24, 78, 107 + canoes, 28 + children, 82, 93, 137 + creation, 4, 80 + death, 25, 26 + Hawaii, 130 + Hervey Islands, 131 + New Zealand, 137 + Samoa, 131 + eight-eyed, 83 + footprints, 25, 33 + god or demi-god, 4, 148 + home, 4, 7, 10, 31, 119 + hook, 12, 15, 19, 26, 28 + of the malo, Preface + prophet, 84 + sister, 6 + the swift, 64, 117, 121 + uncles, 8 + + Maui-Mua, or Rupe, 106, 125 + + Maui Hope, 124 + + Maui Waena, 3, 124 + + Mercury, 11 + + Moemoe, 48 + + Mo-o, 41, 97, 99 + + Moon, 41, 89, 134 + + Moon, Hina the goddess, 147, 156, 165 + + Motu, or Mokua Hina, 170 + + Mudhen, 120 + + Muri, 48, 50 + + + Nauru Islands, 171 + + New Heavens, 107 + + New Hebrides Islands, 25 + + New Zealand, 4, 5, 7, 9 + + Niu Islands, 33 + + + Oahu legends-- + Maui and the two gods, 119 + How they found fire, 120 + Maui catching the sun, 122 + Uniting the islands, 123 + Maui and Pea-pea, 124 + + Obsidian, 109, 134 + + Ohia trees, 80 + + Olona, 81, 114, 117 + + O-o, spade, 94 + + O-o, bird, 114 + + + Paoa, 29 + + Papa, 34 + + Payton, 25 + + Pea-pea, the eight-eyed, 124 + + Pearl Harbor, 123 + + Peruvians, 59 + + Pictographs, 165 + + Pigeon, 9 + + Pimoe, 18 + + Pohakunui, 64 + + Prometheus, 57 + + Puka-a-Maui, 151 + + Pumice stone, 38 + + Puna, 166 + + Puu-o-hulu, 119, 123 + + + Ra or La, sun-god, 5, 44 + + Rainbow Falls, 8, 26, 99, 147 + + Raro Tonga, 6, 24 + + Roko, 97 + + Rongo, 34 + + Ru, 5, 35 + + Rupe, Maui-mua, 106, 125 + + + Samoa, 5, 24, 29 + + Sandalwood, 66 + + Savage Islands, 74 + + Savaii, 29, 129 + + Scorpion, 26 + + Serpent, 33 + + Sharks, 18, 123 + + Short days, 143 + + Sina, see Hina, 96, 143, 166, 171 + + Snaring the sun-- + Fiji, 54 + Hawaii, 42, 122, 144 + Hervey Islands, 52 + Indians, 54 + New Zealand, 48 + Samoa, 143 + Society Islands, 41, 50, 53, 143 + Tonga, 40 + + Snow, 89 + + Society Islands, 5 + + Spears, 81 + + Spirits, islands of, 129 + + Stone implements, 86, 93, 110 + + Sun, created, 41 + + Supporter of the Heavens, 37 + + + Tabu, 102, 126 + + Tahiti, 76, 86 + + Talanga or Kalana, 5, 68 + + Tane, see Kane, 35 + + Tangaroa or Kanaloa, 6, 24, 25, 34, 66 + + Tapa, 11, 13, 42, 62, 116, 119, 122, 141 + + Taro, 121 + + Tattooing, 80, 104, 136 + + Tawhiri, 35 + + Te-ika-o-Maui, 23 + + Ti leaves, 125 + + Ti-i-Ti-i} + } Kii-Kii, 6, 25, 32, 34, 60, 68 + Tiki-Tiki} + + Tini-rau, 106, 108 + + Tokelau Island, 67 + + Tonga, 28, 40, 89, 129 + + Tonga-iti, 41 + + Tracey Islands, 33 + + Tu or Ku, 35 + + Tuna or Kuna, 91 + Fiji, 91 + Hawaii, 99, 148 + Hervey Islands, 154 + New Zealand, 92 + Samoa, 96 + + Turner, 24 + + + Ulua, 12, 18 + + Under-world, 4, 9, 15, 51, 68, 129 + + Uniting the islands, 123 + + Upolu, 25 + + + Vatea, or Wakea, 41 + + Vatupu Islands, 33 + + + Waianae, 65, 119 + + Waikuna, 100, 148 + + Wailuku, 7, 26, 80, 140, 146 + + Waipahu, 125 + + Waipio, 115 + + Wakea, Vatea, Atea, 4, 41 + + Water of life, 134 + + White, John, 87, 96, 101, 132 + + Wife of Maui, 91, 124, 137, 156 + + Wiliwili tree, 44 + + Winds, 86, 115 + + Woman in the Moon, 165 + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Legends of Ma-ui--a demi god of +Polynesia, and of his mother Hina, by W. 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D. Westervelt + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Legends of Ma-ui--a demi god of Polynesia, and of his mother Hina + +Author: W. D. Westervelt + +Release Date: May 30, 2010 [EBook #32601] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEGENDS *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a> +<img src="images/i002.jpg" width="600" height="433" alt="Hale-a-ka-la Crater, the House of the Sun." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Hale-a-ka-la Crater, the House of the Sun.</span> +</div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</a></span></p> + + + + + <h1>LEGENDS<br /> + OF<br /> + MA-UI—A DEMI GOD<br /> + OF<br /> + POLYNESIA<br /> + AND OF<br /> + HIS MOTHER HINA.</h1> + + <h4>BY</h4> + <h2>W. D. WESTERVELT.</h2> + + <p class="center">HONOLULU:<br /> + THE HAWAIIAN GAZETTE CO., LTD.<br /> + 1910</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[Pg ii]</a></span><br /></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + + + + + + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="55%" cellspacing="0" summary="CONTENTS"> +<tr><td align="right"> </td><td align="left">CHAPTER</td><td align="right">PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">I.</td><td align="left">Maui's Home</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_3'>3</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">II.</td><td align="left">Maui the Fisherman</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_12'>12</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">III.</td><td align="left">Maui Lifting the Sky</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_31'>31</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">IV.</td><td align="left">Maui Snaring the Sun</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_40'>40</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">V.</td><td align="left">Maui Finding Fire</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_56'>56</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VI.</td><td align="left">Maui the Skillful</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_78'>78</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VII.</td><td align="left">Maui and Tuna</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_91'>91</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VIII.</td><td align="left">Maui and His Brother-in-Law</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_101'>101</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">IX.</td><td align="left">Maui's Kite-Flying</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_112'>112</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">X.</td><td align="left">Oahu Legends of Maui</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_119'>119</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XI.</td><td align="left">Maui Seeking Immortality</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_128'>128</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XII.</td><td align="left">Hina of Hilo</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_139'>139</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XIII.</td><td align="left">Hina and the Wailuku River</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_146'>146</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XIV.</td><td align="left">The Ghosts of the Hilo Hills</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_155'>155</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XV.</td><td align="left">Hina, the Woman in the Moon</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_165'>165</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + + + + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="55%" cellspacing="0" summary="ILLUSTRATIONS"> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right">PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Haleakala Crater</td><td align="right"><a href='#frontis'>Frontispiece</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">"Rugged Lava of Wailuku River"</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_7'>7</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Leaping to Swim to Coral Reefs</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_12'>12</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Sea of Sacred Caves</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_14'>14</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Spearing Fish</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_21'>21</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Here are the Canoes</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_29'>29</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Iao Mountain from the Sea</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_43'>43</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Haleakala</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_53'>53</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Hawaiian Vines and Bushes</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_74'>74</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Bathing Pool</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_84'>84</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Coconut Grove</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_96'>96</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Boiling Pots—Wailuku River</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_100'>100</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Outside were other Worlds</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_107'>107</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Hilo Coast—Home of the Winds</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_115'>115</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Bay of Waipio Valley</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_121'>121</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Ieie Vine</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_125'>125</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Rainbow Falls</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_147'>147</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Wailuku River—The Home of Kuna</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_151'>151</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">On Lava Beds</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_163'>163</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="HELPS_TO_PRONUNCIATION" id="HELPS_TO_PRONUNCIATION"></a>HELPS TO PRONUNCIATION</h2> + +<div class="centerbox"> +<p>There are three simple rules which practically control Hawaiian +pronunciation: (1) Give each vowel the German sound. (2) Pronounce each +vowel. (3) Never allow a consonant to close a syllable.</p> + +<p>Interchangeable consonants are many. The following are the most common: +h=s; l=r; k=t; n=ng; v=w.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span></p> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>Maui is a demi god whose name should probably be pronounced Ma-u-i, <i>i. +e.</i>, Ma-oo-e. The meaning of the word is by no means clear. It may mean +"to live," "to subsist." It may refer to beauty and strength, or it may +have the idea of "the left hand" or "turning aside." The word is +recognized as belonging to remote Polynesian antiquity.</p> + +<p>MacDonald, a writer of the New Hebrides Islands, gives the derivation of +the name Maui primarily from the Arabic word "Mohyi," which means +"causing to live" or "life," applied sometimes to the gods and sometimes +to chiefs as "preservers and sustainers" of their followers.</p> + +<p>The Maui story probably contains a larger number of unique and ancient +myths than that of any other legendary character in the mythology of any +nation.</p> + +<p>There are three centers for these legends, New Zealand in the south, +Hawaii in the north, and the Tahitian group including the Hervey Islands +in the east. In each of these groups of islands, separated by thousands +of miles, there are the same legends, told in almost the same way, and +with very little variation in names. The intermediate groups of islands +of even as great importance as Tonga, Fiji or Samoa, possess the same +legends in more or less of a fragmentary condition, as if the three +centers had been settled first when the Polynesians were driven away +from the Asiatic coasts by their enemies, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span> Malays. From these +centers voyagers sailing away in search of adventures would carry +fragments rather than complete legends. This is exactly what has been +done and there are as a result a large number of hints of wonderful +deeds. The really long legends as told about the demi god Ma-u-i and his +mother Hina number about twenty.</p> + +<p>It is remarkable that these legends have kept their individuality. The +Polynesians are not a very clannish people. For some centuries they have +not been in the habit of frequently visiting each other. They have had +no written language, and picture writing of any kind is exceedingly rare +throughout Polynesia and yet in physical traits, national customs, +domestic habits, and language, as well as in traditions and myths, the +different inhabitants of the islands of Polynesia are as near of kin as +the cousins of the United States and Great Britain.</p> + +<p>The Maui legends form one of the strongest links in the mythological +chain of evidence which binds the scattered inhabitants of the Pacific +into one nation. An incomplete list aids in making clear the fact that +groups of islands hundreds and even thousands of miles apart have been +peopled centuries past by the same organic race. Either complete or +fragmentary Maui legends are found in the single islands and island +groups of Aneityum, Bowditch or Fakaofa, Efate, Fiji, Fotuna, Gilbert, +Hawaii, Hervey, Huahine, Mangaia, Manihiki, Marquesas, Marshall, Nauru, +New Hebrides, New Zealand, Samoa, Savage, Tahiti or Society, Tauna, +Tokelau and Tonga.</p> + +<p>S. Percy Smith of New Zealand in his book Hawaiki mentions a legend +according to which Maui made a voyage after overcoming a sea monster, +visiting the Ton<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span>gas, the Tahitian group, Vai-i or Hawaii, and the +Paumotu Islands. Then Maui went on to U-peru, which Mr. Smith says "may +be Peru." It was said that Maui named some of the islands of the +Hawaiian group, calling the island Maui "Maui-ui in remembrance of his +efforts in lifting up the heavens." Hawaii was named Vai-i, and Lanai +was called Ngangai—as if Maui had found the three most southerly +islands of the group.</p> + +<p>The Maui legends possess remarkable antiquity. Of course, it is +impossible to give any definite historical date, but there can scarcely +be any question of their origin among the ancestors of the Polynesians +before they scattered over the Pacific ocean. They belong to the +prehistoric Polynesians. The New Zealanders claim Maui as an ancestor of +their most ancient tribes and sometimes class him among the most ancient +of their gods, calling him "creator of land" and "creator of man." +Tregear, in a paper before the New Zealand Institute, said that Maui was +sometimes thought to be "the sun himself," "the solar fire," "the sun +god," while his mother Hina was called "the moon goddess." The noted +greenstone god of the Maoris of New Zealand, Potiki, may well be +considered a representation of Maui-Tiki-Tiki, who was sometimes called +Maui-po-tiki.</p> + +<p>Whether these legends came to the people in their sojourn in India +before they migrated to the Straits of Sunda is not certain; but it may +well be assumed that these stories had taken firm root in the memories +of the priests who transmitted the most important traditions from +generation to generation, and that this must have been done before they +were driven away from the Asiatic coasts by the Malays.</p> + +<p>Several hints of Hindoo connection is found in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span> Maui legends. The +Polynesians not only ascribed human attributes to all animal life with +which they were acquainted, but also carried the idea of an alligator or +dragon with them, wherever they went, as in the mo-o of the story +Tuna-roa.</p> + +<p>The Polynesians also had the idea of a double soul inhabiting the body. +This is carried out in the ghost legends more fully than in the Maui +stories, and yet "the spirit separate from the spirit which never +forsakes man" according to Polynesian ideas, was a part of the Maui +birth legends. This spirit, which can be separated or charmed away from +the body by incantations was called the "hau." When Maui's father +performed the religious ceremonies over him which would protect him and +cause him to be successful, he forgot a part of his incantation to the +"hau," therefore Maui lost his protection from death when he sought +immortality for himself and all mankind.</p> + +<p>How much these things aid in proving a Hindoo or rather Indian origin +for the Polynesians is uncertain, but at least they are of interest +along the lines of race origin.</p> + +<p>The Maui group of legends is preëminently peculiar. They are not only +different from the myths of other nations, but they are unique in the +character of the actions recorded. Maui's deeds rank in a higher class +than most of the mighty efforts of the demi gods of other nations and +races, and are usually of more utility. Hercules accomplished nothing to +compare with "lifting the sky,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span> "snaring the sun," "fishing for +islands," "finding fire in his grandmother's finger nails," or "learning +from birds how to make fire by rubbing dry sticks," or "getting a magic +bone" from the jaw of an ancestor who was half dead, that is dead on one +side and therefore could well afford to let the bone on that side go for +the benefit of a descendant. The Maui legends are full of helpful +imaginations, which are distinctly Polynesian.</p> + +<p>The phrase "Maui of the Malo" is used among the Hawaiians in connection +with the name Maui a Kalana, "Maui the son of Akalana." It may be well +to note the origin of the name. It was said that Hina usually sent her +retainers to gather sea moss for her, but one morning she went down to +the sea by herself. There she found a beautiful red malo, which she +wrapped around her as a pa-u or skirt. When she showed it to Akalana, +her husband, he spoke of it as a gift of the gods, thinking that it +meant the gift of Mana or spiritual power to their child when he should +be born. In this way the Hawaiians explain the superior talent and +miraculous ability of Maui which placed him above his brothers.</p> + +<p>These stories were originally printed as magazine articles, chiefly in +the Paradise of the Pacific, Honolulu; therefore there are sometimes +repetitions which it seemed best to leave, even when reprinted in the +present form.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I.</h2> + +<h3>MAUI'S HOME</h3> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Akalana was the man;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hina-a-ke-ahi was the wife;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maui First was born;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then Maui-waena;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maui Kiikii was born;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then Maui of the malo."</span><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 9em;">—Queen Liliuokalani's Family Chant.</span><br /> +</p> + + +<p>Four brothers, each bearing the name of Maui, belong to Hawaiian legend. +They accomplished little as a family, except on special occasions when +the youngest of the household awakened his brothers by some unexpected +trick which drew them into unwonted action. The legends of Hawaii, +Tonga, Tahiti, New Zealand and the Hervey group make this youngest Maui +"the discoverer of fire" or "the ensnarer of the sun" or "the fisherman +who pulls up islands" or "the man endowed with magic," or "Maui with +spirit power." The legends<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> vary somewhat, of course, but not as much as +might be expected when the thousands of miles between various groups of +islands are taken into consideration.</p> + +<p>Maui was one of the Polynesian demi-gods. His parents belonged to the +family of supernatural beings. He himself was possessed of supernatural +powers and was supposed to make use of all manner of enchantments. In +New Zealand antiquity a Maui was said to have assisted other gods in the +creation of man. Nevertheless Maui was very human. He lived in thatched +houses, had wives and children, and was scolded by the women for not +properly supporting his household.</p> + +<p>The time of his sojourn among men is very indefinite. In Hawaiian +genealogies Maui and his brothers were placed among the descendants of +Ulu and "the sons of Kii," and Maui was one of the ancestors of +Kamehameha, the first king of the united Hawaiian Islands. This would +place him in the seventh or eighth century of the Christian Era. But it +is more probable that Maui belongs to the mist-land of time. His +mischievous pranks with the various gods would make him another Mercury +living in any age from the creation to the beginning of the Christian +era.</p> + +<p>The Hervey Island legends state that Maui's father was "the supporter of +the heavens" and his mother "the guardian of the road to the invisible +world."</p> + +<p>In the Hawaiian chant, Akalana was the name of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> his father. In other +groups this was the name by which his mother was known. Kanaloa, the +god, is sometimes known as the father of Maui. In Hawaii Hina was his +mother. Elsewhere Ina, or Hina, was the grandmother, from whom he +secured fire.</p> + +<p>The Hervey Island legends say that four mighty ones lived in the old +world from which their ancestors came. This old world bore the name +Ava-iki, which is the same as Hawa-ii, or Hawaii. The four gods were +Mauike, Ra, Ru, and Bua-Taranga.</p> + +<p>It is interesting to trace the connection of these four names with +Polynesian mythology. Mauike is the same as the demi-god of New Zealand, +Mafuike. On other islands the name is spelled Mauika, Mafuika, Mafuia, +Mafuie, and Mahuika. Ra, the sun god of Egypt, is the same as Ra in New +Zealand and La (sun) in Hawaii. Ru, the supporter of the heavens, is +probably the Ku of Hawaii, and the Tu of New Zealand and other islands, +one of the greatest of the gods worshiped by the ancient Hawaiians. The +fourth mighty one from Ava-ika was a woman, Bua-taranga, who guarded the +path to the underworld. Talanga in Samoa, and Akalana in Hawaii were the +same as Taranga. Pua-kalana (the Kalana flower) would probably be the +same in Hawaiian as Bua-taranga in the language of the Society Islands.</p> + +<p>Ru, the supporter of the Heavens, married Bua-taranga, the guardian of +the lower world. Their one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> child was Maui. The legends of Raro-Tonga +state that Maui's father and mother were the children of Tangaroa +(Kanaloa in Hawaiian), the great god worshiped throughout Polynesia. +There were three Maui brothers and one sister, Ina-ika (Ina, the fish).</p> + +<p>The New Zealand legends relate the incidents of the babyhood of Maui.</p> + +<p>Maui was prematurely born, and his mother, not caring to be troubled +with him, cut off a lock of her hair, tied it around him and cast him +into the sea. In this way the name came to him, Maui-Tiki-Tiki, or "Maui +formed in the topknot." The waters bore him safely. The jelly fish +enwrapped and mothered him. The god of the seas cared for and protected +him. He was carried to the god's house and hung up in the roof that he +might feel the warm air of the fire, and be cherished into life. When he +was old enough, he came to his relations while they were all gathered in +the great House of Assembly, dancing and making merry. Little Maui crept +in and sat down behind his brothers. Soon his mother called the children +and found a strange child, who proved that he was her son, and was taken +in as one of the family. Some of the brothers were jealous, but the +eldest addressed the others as follows:</p> + +<p>"Never mind; let him be our dear brother. In the days of peace remember +the proverb, 'When you are on friendly terms, settle your disputes in a +friendly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> way; when you are at war, you must redress your injuries by +violence.' It is better for us, brothers, to be kind to other people. +These are the ways by which men gain influence—by laboring for +abundance of food to feed others, by collecting property to give to +others, and by similar means by which you promote the good of others."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i018.jpg" width="600" height="599" alt="Rugged Lava of Wailuku River." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Rugged Lava of Wailuku River.</span> +</div> + +<p>Thus, according to the New Zealand story related by Sir George Grey, +Maui was received in his home.</p> + +<p>Maui's home was placed by some of the Hawaiian myths at Kauiki, a +foothill of the great extinct crater Haleakala, on the Island of Maui. +It was here he lived when the sky was raised to its present position. +Here was located the famous fort around which many battles were fought +during the years immediately preceding the coming of Captain Cook. This +fort was held by warriors of the Island of Hawaii a number of years. It +was from this home that Maui was supposed to have journeyed when he +climbed Mt. Haleakala to ensnare the sun.</p> + +<p>And yet most of the Hawaiian legends place Maui's home by the rugged +black lava beds of the Wailuku river near Hilo on the island Hawaii. +Here he lived when he found the way to make fire by rubbing sticks +together, and when he killed Kuna, the great eel, and performed other +feats of valor. He was supposed to cultivate the land on the north side +of the river. His mother, usually known as Hina, had her home in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> lava +cave under the beautiful Rainbow Falls, one of the fine scenic +attractions of Hilo. An ancient demigod, wishing to destroy this home, +threw a great mass of lava across the stream below the falls. The rising +water was fast filling the cave.</p> + +<p>Hina called loudly to her powerful son Maui. He came quickly and found +that a large and strong ridge of lava lay across the stream. One end +rested against a small hill. Maui struck the rock on the other side of +the hill and thus broke a new pathway for the river. The water swiftly +flowed away and the cave remained as the home of the Maui family.</p> + +<p>According to the King Kalakaua family legend, translated by Queen +Liliuokalani, Maui and his brothers also made this place their home. +Here he aroused the anger of two uncles, his mother's brothers, who were +called "Tall Post" and "Short Post," because they guarded the entrance +to a cave in which the Maui family probably had its home.</p> + +<p>"They fought hard with Maui, and were thrown, and red water flowed +freely from Maui's forehead. This was the first shower by Maui." Perhaps +some family discipline followed this knocking down of door posts, for it +is said:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"They fetched the sacred Awa bush,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then came the second shower by Maui;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The third shower was when the elbow of Awa was broken;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The fourth shower came with the sacred bamboo."</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> + +<p>Maui's mother, so says a New Zealand legend, had her home in the +under-world as well as with her children. Maui determined to find the +hidden dwelling place. His mother would meet the children in the evening +and lie down to sleep with them and then disappear with the first +appearance of dawn. Maui remained awake one night, and when all were +asleep, arose quietly and stopped up every crevice by which a ray of +light could enter. The morning came and the sun mounted up—far up in +the sky. At last his mother leaped up and tore away the things which +shut out the light.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear; oh, dear! She saw the sun high in the heavens; so she hurried +away, crying at the thought of having been so badly treated by her own +children."</p> + +<p>Maui watched her as she pulled up a tuft of grass and disappeared in the +earth, pulling the grass back to its place.</p> + +<p>Thus Maui found the path to the under-world. Soon he transformed himself +into a pigeon and flew down, through the cave, until he saw a party of +people under a sacred tree, like those growing in the ancient first +Hawaii. He flew to the tree and threw down berries upon the people. They +threw back stones. At last he permitted a stone from his father to +strike him, and he fell to the ground. "They ran to catch him, but lo! +the pigeon had turned into a man."</p> + +<p>Then his father "took him to the water to be bap<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>tized" (possibly a +modern addition to the legend). Prayers were offered and ceremonies +passed through. But the prayers were incomplete and Maui's father knew +that the gods would be angry and cause Maui's death, and all because in +the hurried baptism a part of the prayers had been left unsaid. Then +Maui returned to the upper world and lived again with his brothers.</p> + +<p>Maui commenced his mischievous life early, for Hervey Islanders say that +one day the children were playing a game dearly loved by +Polynesians—hide-and-seek. Here a sister enters into the game and hides +little Maui under a pile of dry sticks. His brothers could not find him, +and the sister told them where to look. The sticks were carefully +handled, but the child could not be found. He had shrunk himself so +small that he was like an insect under some sticks and leaves. Thus +early he began to use enchantments.</p> + +<p>Maui's home, at the best, was only a sorry affair. Gods and demigods +lived in caves and small grass houses. The thatch rapidly rotted and +required continual renewal. In a very short time the heavy rains beat +through the decaying roof. The home was without windows or doors, save +as low openings in the ends or sides allowed entrance to those willing +to crawl through. Off on one side would be the rude shelter, in the +shadow of which Hina pounded the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> bark of certain trees into wood pulp +and then into strips of thin, soft wood-paper, which bore the name of +"Tapa cloth." This cloth Hina prepared for the clothing of Maui and his +brothers. Tapa cloth was often treated to a coat of cocoa-nut, or +candle-nut oil, making it somewhat waterproof and also more durable.</p> + +<p>Here Maui lived on edible roots and fruits and raw fish, knowing little +about cooked food, for the art of fire making was not yet known. In +later years Maui was supposed to live on the eastern end of the island +Maui, and also in another home on the large island Hawaii, on which he +discovered how to make fire by rubbing dry sticks together. Maui was the +Polynesian Mercury. As a little fellow he was endowed with peculiar +powers, permitting him to become invisible or to change his human form +into that of an animal. He was ready to take anything from any one by +craft or force. Nevertheless, like the thefts of Mercury, his pranks +usually benefited mankind.</p> + +<p>It is a little curious that around the different homes of Maui, there is +so little record of temples and priests and altars. He lived too far +back for priestly customs. His story is the rude, mythical survival of +the days when of church and civil government there was none and worship +of the gods was practically unknown, but every man was a law unto +himself, and also to the other man, and quick retaliation followed any +injury received.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/i025.jpg" width="550" height="475" alt="Leaping to Swim to Coral Reefs." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Leaping to Swim to Coral Reefs.</span> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II.</h2> + +<h3>MAUI THE FISHERMAN</h3> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Oh the great fish hook of Maui!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Manai-i-ka-lani 'Made fast to the heavens'—its name;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">An earth-twisted cord ties the hook.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Engulfed from the lofty Kauiki.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Its bait the red billed Alae,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The bird made sacred to Hina.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It sinks far down to Hawaii,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Struggling and painfully dying.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Caught is the land under the water,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Floated up, up to the surface,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But Hina hid a wing of the bird</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And broke the land under the water.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Below, was the bait snatched away</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And eaten at once by the fishes,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Ulua of the deep muddy places."</span><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 9em;">—Chant of Kualii, about A. D. 1700.</span><br /> +</p> + + +<p>One of Maui's homes was near Kauiki, a place well known throughout the +Hawaiian Islands because of its strategic importance. For many years it +was the site of a fort around which fierce bat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>tles were fought by the +natives of the island Maui, repelling the invasions of their neighbors +from Hawaii.</p> + + + +<p>Haleakala (the House of the Sun), the mountain from which Maui the +demi-god snared the sun, looks down ten thousand feet upon the Kauiki +headland. Across the channel from Haleakala rises Mauna Kea, "The White +Mountain"—the snow-capped—which almost all the year round rears its +white head in majesty among the clouds.</p> + +<p>In the snowy breakers of the surf which washes the beach below these +mountains, are broken coral reefs—the fishing grounds of the Hawaiians. +Here near Kauiki, according to some Hawaiian legends, Maui's mother Hina +had her grass house and made and dried her kapa cloth. Even to the +present day it is one of the few places in the islands where the kapa is +still pounded into sheets from the bark of the hibiscus and kindred +trees.</p> + +<p>Here is a small bay partially reef-protected, over which year after year +the moist clouds float and by day and by night crown the waters with +rainbows—the legendary sign of the home of the deified ones. Here when +the tide is out the natives wade and swim, as they have done for +centuries, from coral block to coral block, shunning the deep resting +places of their dread enemy, the shark, sometimes esteemed divine. Out +on the edge of the outermost reef they seek the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> shellfish which cling +to the coral, or spear the large fish which have been left in the +beautiful little lakes of the reef. Coral land is a region of the sea +coast abounding in miniature lakes and rugged valleys and steep +mountains. Clear waters with every motion of the tide surge in and out +through sheltered caves and submarine tunnels, according to an ancient +Hawaiian song—</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/i029.jpg" width="550" height="500" alt="In the Sea of Sacred Caves." title="" /> +<span class="caption">In the Sea of Sacred Caves.</span> +</div> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Never quiet, never failing, never sleeping,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Never very noisy is the sea of the sacred caves."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Sea mosses of many hues are the forests which drape the hillsides of +coral land and reflect the colored rays of light which pierce the +ceaselessly moving waves. Down in the beautiful little lakes, under +overhanging coral cliffs, darting in and out through the fringes of +seaweed, the purple mullet and royal red fish flash before the eyes of +the fisherman. Sometimes the many-tinted glorious fish of paradise +reveal their beauties, and then again a school of black and gold +citizens of the reef follow the tidal waves around projecting crags and +through the hidden tunnels from lake to lake, while above the fisherman +follows spearing or snaring as best he can. Maui's brothers were better +fishermen than he. They sought the deep sea beyond the reef and the +larger fish. They made hooks of bone or of mother of pearl, with a +straight, slender, sharp-pointed piece leaning backward at a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> sharp +angle. This was usually a consecrated bit of bone or mother of pearl, +and was supposed to have peculiar power to hold fast any fish which had +taken the bait.</p> + + + +<p>These bones were usually taken from the body of some one who while +living had been noted for great power or high rank. This sharp piece was +tightly tied to the larger bone or shell, which formed the shank of the +hook. The sacred barb of Maui's hook was a part of the magic bone he had +secured from his ancestors in the under-world—the bone with which he +struck the sun while lassooing him and compelling him to move more +slowly through the heavens.</p> + +<p>"Earth-twisted"—fibres of vines—twisted while growing, was the cord +used by Maui in tying the parts of his magic hook together.</p> + +<p>Long and strong were the fish lines made from the olona fibre, holding +the great fish caught from the depths of the ocean. The fibres of the +olona vine were among the longest and strongest threads found in the +Hawaiian Islands.</p> + +<p>Such a hook could easily be cast loose by the struggling fish, if the +least opportunity were given. Therefore it was absolutely necessary to +keep the line taut, and pull strongly and steadily, to land the fish in +the canoe.</p> + +<p>Maui did not use his magic hook for a long time. He seemed to understand +that it would not answer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> ordinary needs. Possibly the idea of making +the supernatural hook did not occur to him until he had exhausted his +lower wit and magic upon his brothers.</p> + +<p>It is said that Maui was not a very good fisherman. Sometimes his end of +the canoe contained fish which his brothers had thought were on their +hooks until they were landed in the canoe.</p> + +<p>Many times they laughed at him for his poor success, and he retaliated +with his mischievous tricks.</p> + +<p>"E!" he would cry, when one of his brothers began to pull in, while the +other brothers swiftly paddled the canoe forward. "E!" See we both have +caught great fish at the same moment. Be careful now. Your line is +loose. "Look out! Look out!"</p> + +<p>All the time he would be pulling his own line in as rapidly as possible. +Onward rushed the canoe. Each fisherman shouting to encourage the +others. Soon the lines by the tricky manipulation of Maui would be +crossed. Then as the great fish was brought near the side of the boat +Maui the little, the mischievous one, would slip his hook toward the +head of the fish and flip it over into the canoe—causing his brother's +line to slacken for a moment. Then his mournful cry rang out: "Oh, my +brother, your fish is gone. Why did you not pull more steadily? It was a +fine fish, and now it is down deep in the waters." Then Maui held up his +splendid catch (from his brother's hook) and received somewhat +suspicious congratulations.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> But what could they do, Maui was the smart +one of the family.</p> + +<p>Their father and mother were both members of the household of the gods. +The father was "the supporter of the heavens" and the mother was "the +guardian of the way to the invisible world," but pitifully small and +very few were the gifts bestowed upon their children. Maui's brothers +knew nothing beyond the average home life of the ordinary Hawaiian, and +Maui alone was endowed with the power to work miracles. Nevertheless the +student of Polynesian legends learns that Maui is more widely known than +almost all the demi-gods of all nations as a discoverer of benefits for +his fellows, and these physical rather than spiritual. After many +fishing excursions Maui's brothers seemed to have wit enough to +understand his tricks, and thenceforth they refused to take him in their +canoe when they paddled out to the deep-sea fishing grounds. Then those +who depended upon Maui to supply their daily needs murmured against his +poor success. His mother scolded him and his brothers ridiculed him.</p> + +<p>In some of the Polynesian legends it is said that his wives and children +complained because of his laziness and at last goaded him into a new +effort.</p> + +<p>The ex-Queen Liliuokalani, in a translation of what is called "the +family chant," says that Maui's mother sent him to his father for a hook +with which to supply her need.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Go hence to your father,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Tis there you find line and hook.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">This is the hook—'Made fast to the heavens—'</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Manaia-ka-lani'—'tis called.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When the hook catches land</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It brings the old seas together.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bring hither the large Alae,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The bird of Hina."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>When Maui had obtained his hook, he tried to go fishing with his +brothers. He leaped on the end of their canoe as they pushed out into +deep water. They were angry and cried out: "This boat is too small for +another Maui." So they threw him off and made him swim back to the +beach. When they returned from their day's work, they brought back only +a shark. Maui told them if he had been with them better fish would have +been upon their hooks—the Ulua, for instance, or, possibly, the +Pimoe—the king of fish. At last they let him go far out outside the +harbor of Kipahula to a place opposite Ka Iwi o Pele, "The bone of +Pele," a peculiar piece of lava lying near the beach at Hana on the +eastern side of the island Maui. There they fished, but only sharks were +caught. The brothers ridiculed Maui, saying: "Where are the Ulua, and +where is Pimoe?"</p> + +<p>Then Maui threw his magic hook into the sea, baited with one of the Alae +birds, sacred to his mother Hina. He used the incantation, "When I let +go my hook with divine power, then I get the great Ulua."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p> + +<p>The bottom of the sea began to move. Great waves arose, trying to carry +the canoe away. The fish pulled the canoe two days, drawing the line to +its fullest extent. When the slack began to come in the line, because of +the tired fish, Maui called for the brothers to pull hard against the +coming fish. Soon land rose out of the water. Maui told them not to look +back or the fish would be lost. One brother did look back—the line +slacked, snapped, and broke, and the land lay behind them in islands.</p> + +<p>One of the Hawaiian legends also says that while the brothers were +paddling in full strength, Maui saw a calabash floating in the water. He +lifted it into the canoe, and behold! his beautiful sister Hina of the +sea. The brothers looked, and the separated islands lay behind them, +free from the hook, while Cocoanut Island—the dainty spot of beauty in +Hilo harbor—was drawn up—a little ledge of lava—in later years the +home of a cocoanut grove.</p> + +<p>The better, the more complete, legend comes from New Zealand, which +makes Maui so mischievous that his brothers refuse his +companionship—and therefore, thrown on his own resources, he studies +how to make a hook which shall catch something worth while. In this +legend Maui is represented as making his own hook and then pleading with +his brothers to let him go with them once more. But they hardened their +hearts against him, and refused again and again.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> + +<p>Maui possessed the power of changing himself into different forms. At +one time while playing with his brothers he had concealed himself for +them to find. They heard his voice in a corner of the house—but could +not find him. Then under the mats on the floor, but again they could not +find him. There was only an insect creeping on the floor. Suddenly they +saw their little brother where the insect had been. Then they knew he +had been tricky with them. So in these fishing days he resolved to go +back to his old ways and cheat his brothers into carrying him with them +to the great fishing grounds.</p> + +<p>Sir George Gray says that the New Zealand Maui went out to the canoe and +concealed himself as an insect in the bottom of the boat so that when +the early morning light crept over the waters and his brothers pushed +the canoe into the surf they could not see him. They rejoiced that Maui +did not appear, and paddled away over the waters.</p> + +<p>They fished all day and all night and on the morning of the next day, +out from among the fish in the bottom of the boat came their troublesome +brother.</p> + +<p>They had caught many fine fish and were satisfied, so thought to paddle +homeward; but their younger brother plead with them to go out, far out, +to the deeper seas and permit him to cast his hook. He said he wanted +larger and better fish than any they had captured.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/i038.jpg" width="550" height="456" alt="Spearing Fish." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Spearing Fish.</span> +</div> +<p>So they paddled to their outermost fishing grounds—but this did not +satisfy Maui—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Farther out on the waters,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O! my brothers,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I seek the great fish of the sea."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>It was evidently easier to work for him than to argue with +him—therefore far out in the sea they went. The home land disappeared +from view; they could see only the outstretching waste of waters. Maui +urged them out still farther. Then he drew his magic hook from under his +malo or loin-cloth. The brothers wondered what he would do for bait. The +New Zealand legend says that he struck his nose a mighty blow until the +blood gushed forth. When this blood became clotted, he fastened it upon +his hook and let it down into the deep sea.</p> + +<p>Down it went to the very bottom and caught the under world. It was a +mighty fish—but the brothers paddled with all their might and main and +Maui pulled in the line. It was hard rowing against the power which held +the hook down in the sea depths—but the brothers became enthusiastic +over Maui's large fish, and were generous in their strenuous endeavors. +Every muscle was strained and every paddle held strongly against the sea +that not an inch should be lost. There was no sudden leaping and darting +to and fro, no "give" to the line; no "tremble"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> as when a great fish +would shake itself in impotent wrath when held captive by a hook. It was +simply a struggle of tense muscle against an immensely heavy dead +weight. To the brothers there came slowly the feeling that Maui was in +one of his strange moods and that something beyond their former +experiences with their tricky brother was coming to pass.</p> + +<p>At last one of the brothers glanced backward. With a scream of intense +terror he dropped his paddle. The others also looked. Then each caught +his paddle and with frantic exertion tried to force their canoe onward. +Deep down in the heavy waters they pushed their paddles. Out of the +great seas the black, ragged head of a large island was rising like a +fish—it seemed to be chasing them through the boiling surf. In a little +while the water became shallow around them, and their canoe finally +rested on a black beach.</p> + +<p>Maui for some reason left his brothers, charging them not to attempt to +cut up this great fish. But the unwise brothers thought they would fill +the canoe with part of this strange thing which they had caught. They +began to cut up the back and put huge slices into their canoe. But the +great fish—the island—shook under the blows and with mighty earthquake +shocks tossed the boat of the brothers, and their canoe was destroyed. +As they were struggling in the waters, the great fish devoured them. The +island came up more and more from the waters—but the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> deep gashes made +by Maui's brothers did not heal—they became the mountains and valleys +stretching from sea to sea.</p> + +<p>White of New Zealand says that Maui went down into the underworld to +meet his great ancestress, who was one side dead and one side alive. +From the dead side he took the jaw bone, made a magic hook, and went +fishing. When he let the hook down into the sea, he called:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Take my bait. O Depths!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Confused you are. O Depths!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And coming upward."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Thus he pulled up Ao-tea-roa—one of the large islands of New Zealand. +On it were houses, with people around them. Fires were burning. Maui +walked over the island, saw with wonder the strange men and the +mysterious fire. He took fire in his hands and was burned. He leaped +into the sea, dived deep, came up with the other large island on his +shoulders. This island he set on fire and left it always burning. It is +said that the name for New Zealand given to Captain Cook was Te ika o +Maui, "The fish of Maui." Some New Zealand natives say that he fished up +the island on which dwelt "Great Hina of the Night," who finally +destroyed Maui while he was seeking immortality.</p> + +<p>One legend says that Maui fished up apparently<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> from New Zealand the +large island of the Tongas. He used this chant:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"O Tonga-nui!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Why art Thou</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sulkily biting, biting below?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beneath the earth</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The power is felt,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The foam is seen,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Coming.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O thou loved grandchild</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of Tangaroa-meha."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>This is an excellent poetical description of the great fish delaying the +quick hard bite. Then the island comes to the surface and Maui, the +beloved grandchild of the Polynesian god Kanaloa, is praised.</p> + +<p>It was part of one of the legends that Maui changed himself into a bird +and from the heavens let down a line with which he drew up land, but the +line broke, leaving islands rather than a mainland. About two hundred +lesser gods went to the new islands in a large canoe. The greater gods +punished them by making them mortal.</p> + +<p>Turner, in his book on Samoa, says there were three Mauis, all brothers. +They went out fishing from Rarotonga. One of the brothers begged the +"goddess of the deep rocks" to let his hooks catch land. Then the island +Manahiki was drawn up. A great wave washed two of the Mauis away. The +other Maui<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> found a great house in which eight hundred gods lived. Here +he made his home until a chief from Rarotonga drove him away. He fled +into the sky, but as he leaped he separated the land into two islands.</p> + +<p>Other legends of Samoa say that Tangaroa, the great god, rolled stones +from heaven. One became the island Savaii, the other became Upolu. A god +is sometimes represented as passing over the ocean with a bag of sand. +Wherever he dropped a little sand islands sprang up.</p> + +<p>Payton, the earnest and honored missionary of the New Hebrides Islands, +evidently did not know the name Mauitikitiki, so he spells the name of +the fisherman Ma-tshi-ktshi-ki, and gives the myth of the fishing up of +the various islands. The natives said that Maui left footprints on the +coral reefs of each island where he stood straining and lifting in his +endeavors to pull up each other island. He threw his line around a large +island intending to draw it up and unite it with the one on which he +stood, but his line broke. Then he became angry and divided into two +parts the island on which he stood. This same Maui is recorded by Mr. +Payton as being in a flood which put out one volcano—Maui seized +another, sailed across to a neighboring island and piled it upon the top +of the volcano there, so the fire was placed out of reach of the flood.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the Hervey Group of the Tahitian or Society Islands the same story +prevails and the natives point out the place where the hook caught and a +print was made by the foot in the coral reef. But they add some very +mythical details. Maui's magic fish hook is thrown into the skies, where +it continuously hangs, the curved tail of the constellation which we +call Scorpio. Then one of the gods becoming angry with Maui seized him +and threw him also among the stars. There he stays looking down upon his +people. He has become a fixed part of the scorpion itself.</p> + +<p>The Hawaiian myths sometimes represent Maui as trying to draw the +islands together while fishing them out of the sea. When they had pulled +up the island of Kauai they looked back and were frightened. They +evidently tried to rush away from the new monster and thus broke the +line. Maui tore a side out of the small crater Kaula when trying to draw +it to one of the other islands. Three aumakuas, three fishes supposed to +be spirit-gods, guarded Kaula and defeated his purpose. At Hawaii +Cocoanut Island broke off because Maui pulled too hard. Another place +near Hilo on the large island of Hawaii where the hook was said to have +caught is in the Wailuku river below Rainbow Falls.</p> + +<p>Maui went out from his home at Kauiki, fishing with his brothers. After +they had caught some fine fish the brothers desired to return, but Maui +persuaded<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> them to go out farther. Then when they became tired and +determined to go back, he made the seas stretch out and the shores +recede until they could see no land. Then drawing the magic hook, he +baited it with the Alae or sacred mud hen belonging to his Mother Hina. +Queen Liliuokalani's family chant has the following reference to this +myth:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Maui longed for fish for Hina-akeahi (Hina of the fire, his mother),</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Go hence to your father,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">There you will find line and hook.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Manaiakalani is the hook.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where the islands are caught,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The ancient seas are connected.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The great bird Alae is taken,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The sister bird,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of that one of the hidden fire of Maui."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Maui evidently had no scruples against using anything which would help +him carry out his schemes. He indiscriminately robbed his friends and +the gods alike.</p> + +<p>Down in the deep sea sank the hook with its struggling bait, until it +was seized by "the land under the water."</p> + +<p>But Hina the mother saw the struggle of her sacred bird and hastened to +the rescue. She caught a wing of the bird, but could not pull the Alae +from the sacred hook. The wing was torn off. Then the fish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> gathered +around the bait and tore it in pieces. If the bait could have been kept +entire, then the land would have come up in a continent rather than as +an island. Then the Hawaiian group would have been unbroken. But the +bait broke—and the islands came as fragments from the under world.</p> + +<p>Maui's hook and canoe are frequently mentioned in the legends. The +Hawaiians have a long rock in the Wailuku river at Hilo which they call +Maui's canoe. Different names were given to Maui's canoe by the Maoris +of New Zealand. "Vine of Heaven," "Prepare for the North," "Land of the +Receding Sea." His fish hook bore the name "Plume of Beauty."</p> + +<p>On the southern end of Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, there is a curved ledge +of rocks extending out from the coast. This is still called by the +Maoris "Maui's fish-hook," as if the magic hook had been so firmly +caught in the jaws of the island that Maui could not disentangle it, but +had been compelled to cut it off from his line.</p> + +<p>There is a large stone on the sea coast of North Kohala on the island of +Hawaii which the Hawaiians point out as the place where Maui's magic +hook caught the island and pulled it through the sea.</p> + +<p>In the Tonga Islands, a place known as Hounga is pointed out by the +natives as the spot where the magic hook caught in the rocks. The hook +itself was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> said to have been in the possession of a chief-family for +many generations.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/i048.jpg" width="550" height="543" alt="Here are the Canoes." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Here are the Canoes.</span> +</div> + +<p>Another group of Hawaiian legends, very incomplete, probably referring +to Maui, but ascribed to other names, relates that a fisherman caught a +large block of coral. He took it to his priest. After sacrificing, and +consulting the gods, the priest advised the fisherman to throw the coral +back into the sea with incantations. While so doing this block became +Hawaii-loa. The fishing continued and blocks of coral were caught and +thrown back into the sea until all the islands appeared. Hints of this +legend cling to other island groups as well as to the Hawaiian Islands. +Fornander credits a fisherman from foreign lands as thus bringing forth +the Hawaiian Islands from the deep seas. The reference occurs in part of +a chant known as that of a friend of Paao—the priest who is supposed to +have come from Samoa to Hawaii in the eleventh century. This priest +calls for his companions:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Here are the canoes. Get aboard.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Come along, and dwell on Hawaii with the green back.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A land which was found in the ocean,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A land thrown up from the sea—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">From the very depths of Kanaloa,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The white coral, in the watery caves,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That was caught on the hook of the fisherman."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>The god Kanaloa is sometimes known as a ruler of the under-world, whose +land was caught by Maui's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> hook and brought up in islands. Thus in the +legends the thought has been perpetuated that some one of the ancestors +of the Polynesians made voyages and discovered islands.</p> + +<p>In the time of Umi, King of Hawaii, there is the following record of an +immense bone fish-hook, which was called the "fish-hook of Maui:"</p> + +<p>"In the night of Muku (the last night of the month), a priest and his +servants took a man, killed him, and fastened his body to the hook, +which bore the name Manai-a-ka-lani, and dragged it to the heiau +(temple) as a 'fish,' and placed it on the altar."</p> + +<p>This hook was kept until the time of Kamehameha I. From time to time he +tried to break it, and pulled until he perspired.</p> + +<p>Peapea, a brother of Kaahumanu, took the hook and broke it. He was +afraid that Kamehameha would kill him. Kaahumanu, however, soothed the +King, and he passed the matter over. The broken bone was probably thrown +away.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III.</h2> + +<h3>MAUI LIFTING THE SKY.</h3> + + +<p>Maui's home was for a long time enveloped by darkness. The heavens had +fallen down, or, rather, had not been separated from the earth. +According to some legends, the skies pressed so closely and so heavily +upon the earth that when the plants began to grow, all the leaves were +necessarily flat. According to other legends, the plants had to push up +the clouds a little, and thus caused the leaves to flatten out into +larger surface, so that they could better drive the skies back and hold +them in place. Thus the leaves became flat at first, and have so +remained through all the days of mankind. The plants lifted the sky inch +by inch until men were able to crawl about between the heavens and the +earth, and thus pass from place to place and visit one another.</p> + +<p>After a long time, according to the Hawaiian legends, a man, supposed to +be Maui, came to a woman and said: "Give me a drink from your gourd +cala<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>bash, and I will push the heavens higher." The woman handed the +gourd to him. When he had taken a deep draught, he braced himself +against the clouds and lifted them to the height of the trees. Again he +hoisted the sky and carried it to the tops of the mountains; then with +great exertion he thrust it upwards once more, and pressed it to the +place it now occupies. Nevertheless dark clouds many times hang low +along the eastern slope of Maui's great mountain—Haleakala—and descend +in heavy rains upon the hill Kauwiki; but they dare not stay, lest Maui +the strong come and hurl them so far away that they cannot come back +again.</p> + +<p>A man who had been watching the process of lifting the sky ridiculed +Maui for attempting such a difficult task. When the clouds rested on the +tops of the mountains, Maui turned to punish his critic. The man had +fled to the other side of the island. Maui rapidly pursued and finally +caught him on the sea coast, not many miles north of the town now known +as Lahaina. After a brief struggle the man was changed, according to the +story, into a great black rock, which can be seen by any traveler who +desires to localize the legends of Hawaii.</p> + +<p>In Samoa Tiitii, the latter part of the full name of Mauikiikii, is used +as the name of the one who braced his feet against the rocks and pushed +the sky up. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> foot-prints, some six feet long, are said to be shown +by the natives.</p> + +<p>Another Samoan story is almost like the Hawaiian legend. The heavens had +fallen, people crawled, but the leaves pushed up a little; but the sky +was uneven. Men tried to walk, but hit their heads, and in this confined +space it was very hot. A woman rewarded a man who lifted the sky to its +proper place by giving him a drink of water from her cocoanut shell.</p> + +<p>A number of small groups of islands in the Pacific have legends of their +skies being lifted, but they attribute the labor to the great eels and +serpents of the sea.</p> + +<p>One of the Ellice group, Niu Island, says that as the serpent began to +lift the sky the people clapped their hands and shouted "Lift up!" +"High!" "Higher!" But the body of the serpent finally broke into pieces +which became islands, and the blood sprinkled its drops on the sky and +became stars.</p> + +<p>One of the Samoan legends says that a plant called daiga, which had one +large umbrella-like leaf, pushed up the sky and gave it its shape.</p> + +<p>The Vatupu, or Tracey Islanders, said at one time the sky and rocks were +united. Then steam or clouds of smoke rose from the rocks, and, pouring +out in volumes, forced the sky away from the earth. Man appeared in +these clouds of steam or smoke. Perspiration burst forth as this man +forced his way through<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> the heated atmosphere. From this perspiration +woman was formed. Then were born three sons, two of whom pushed up the +sky. One, in the north, pushed as far as his arms would reach. The one +in the south was short and climbed a hill, pushing as he went up, until +the sky was in its proper place.</p> + +<p>The Gilbert Islanders say the sky was pushed up by men with long poles.</p> + +<p>The ancient New Zealanders understood incantations by which they could +draw up or discover. They found a land where the sky and the earth were +united. They prayed over their stone axe and cut the sky and land apart. +"Hau-hau-tu" was the name of the great stone axe by which the sinews of +the great heaven above were severed, and Langi (sky) was separated from +Papa (earth).</p> + +<p>The New Zealand Maoris were accustomed to say that at first the sky +rested close upon the earth and therefore there was utter darkness for +ages. Then the six sons of heaven and earth, born during this period of +darkness, felt the need of light and discussed the necessity of +separating their parents—the sky from the earth—and decided to attempt +the work.</p> + +<p>Rongo (Hawaiian god Lono) the "father of food plants," attempted to lift +the sky, but could not tear it from the earth. Then Tangaroa (Kanaloa), +the "father of fish and reptiles," failed. Haumia Tiki-tiki (Maui +Kiikii), the "father of wild food plants," could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> not raise the clouds. +Then Tu (Hawaiian Ku), the "father of fierce men," struggled in vain. +But Tane (Hawaiian Kane), the "father of giant forests," pushed and +lifted until he thrust the sky far up above him. Then they discovered +their descendants—the multitude of human beings who had been living on +the earth concealed and crushed by the clouds. Afterwards the last son, +Tawhiri (father of storms), was angry and waged war against his +brothers. He hid in the sheltered hollows of the great skies. There he +begot his vast brood of winds and storms with which he finally drove all +his brothers and their descendants into hiding places on land and sea. +The New Zealanders mention the names of the canoes in which their +ancestors fled from the old home Hawaiki.</p> + +<p>Tu (father of fierce men) and his descendants, however, conquered wind +and storm and have ever since held supremacy.</p> + +<p>The New Zealand legends also say that heaven and earth have never lost +their love for each other. "The warm sighs of earth ever ascend from the +wooded mountains and valleys, and men call them mists. The sky also lets +fall frequent tears which men term dew drops."</p> + +<p>The Manihiki islanders say that Maui desired to separate the sky from +the earth. His father, Ru, was the supporter of the heavens. Maui +persuaded him to assist in lifting the burden. Maui went to the north<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +and crept into a place, where, lying prostrate under the sky, he could +brace himself against it and push with great power. In the same way Ru +went to the south and braced himself against the southern skies. Then +they made the signal, and both pressed "with their backs against the +solid blue mass." It gave way before the great strength of the father +and son. Then they lifted again, bracing themselves with hands and knees +against the earth. They crowded it and bent it upward. They were able to +stand with the sky resting on their shoulders. They heaved against the +bending mass, and it receded rapidly. They quickly put the palms of +their hands under it; then the tips of their fingers, and it retreated +farther and farther. At last, "drawing themselves out to gigantic +proportions, they pushed the entire heavens up to the very lofty +position which they have ever since occupied."</p> + +<p>But Maui and Ru had not worked perfectly together; therefore the sky was +twisted and its surface was very irregular. They determined to smooth +the sky before they finished their task, so they took large stone adzes +and chipped off the rough protuberances and ridges, until by and by the +great arch was cut out and smoothed off. They then took finer tools and +chipped and polished until the sky became the beautifully finished blue +dome which now bends around the earth.</p> + +<p>The Hervey Island myth, as related by W. W. Gill,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> states that Ru, the +father of Maui, came from Avaiki (Hawa-iki), the underworld or abode of +the spirits of the dead. He found men crowded down by the sky, which was +a mass of solid blue stone. He was very sorry when he saw the condition +of the inhabitants of the earth, and planned to raise the sky a little. +So he planted stakes of different kinds of trees. These were strong +enough to hold the sky so far above the earth "that men could stand +erect and walk about without inconvenience." This was celebrated in one +of the Hervey Island songs:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Force up the heavens,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">O, Ru!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And let the space be clear."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>For this helpful deed Ru received the name "The supporter of the +heavens." He was rather proud of his achievement and was gratified +because of the praise received. So he came sometimes and looked at the +stakes and the beautiful blue sky resting on them. Maui, the son, came +along and ridiculed his father for thinking so much of his work. Maui is +not represented, in the legends, as possessing a great deal of love and +reverence for his relatives provided his affection interfered with his +mischief; so it was not at all strange that he laughed at his father. Ru +became angry and said to Maui: "Who told youngsters to talk? Take care +of yourself, or I will hurl you out of existence."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> + +<p>Maui dared him to try it. Ru quickly seized him and "threw him to a +great height." But Maui changed himself to a bird and sank back to earth +unharmed.</p> + +<p>Then he changed himself back into the form of a man, and, making himself +very large, ran and thrust his head between the old man's legs. He pried +and lifted until Ru and the sky around him began to give. Another lift +and he hurled them both to such a height that the sky could not come +back.</p> + +<p>Ru himself was entangled among the stars. His head and shoulders stuck +fast, and he could not free himself. How he struggled, until the skies +shook, while Maui went away. Maui was proud of his achievement in having +moved the sky so far away. In this self-rejoicing he quickly forgot his +father.</p> + +<p>Ru died after a time. "His body rotted away and his bones, of vast +proportions, came tumbling down from time to time, and were shivered on +the earth into countless fragments. These shattered bones of Ru are +scattered over every hill and valley of one of the islands, to the very +edge of the sea."</p> + +<p>Thus the natives of the Hervey Islands account for the many pieces of +porous lava and the small pieces of pumice stone found occasionally in +their islands. The "bones" were very light and greatly resembled +fragments of real bone. If the fragments were large enough they were +sometimes taken and worshiped as gods. One of these pieces, of +extraordinary size, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> given to Mr. Gill when the natives were +bringing in a large collection of idols. "This one was known as 'The +Light Stone,' and was worshiped as the god of the wind and the waves. +Upon occasions of a hurricane, incantations and offerings of food would +be made to it."</p> + +<p>Thus, according to different Polynesian legends, Maui raised the sky and +made the earth inhabitable for his fellow-men.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV.</h2> + +<h3>MAUI SNARING THE SUN.</h3> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Maui became restless and fought the sun</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With a noose that he laid.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And winter won the sun,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And summer was won by Maui."</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 9em;">—Queen Liliuokalani's family chant.</span><br /> +</p> + + +<p>A very unique legend is found among the widely-scattered Polynesians. +The story of Maui's "Snaring the Sun" was told among the Maoris of New +Zealand, the Kanakas of the Hervey and Society Islands, and the ancient +natives of Hawaii. The Samoans tell the same story without mentioning +the name of Maui. They say that the snare was cast by a child of the sun +itself.</p> + +<p>The Polynesian stories of the origin of the sun are worthy of note +before the legend of the change from short to long days is given.</p> + +<p>The Tongan Islanders, according to W. W. Gill, tell the story of the +origin of the sun and moon. They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> say that Vatea (Wakea) and their +ancestor Tongaiti quarreled concerning a child—each claiming it as his +own. In the struggle the child was cut in two. Vatea squeezed and rolled +the part he secured into a ball and threw it away, far up into the +heavens, where it became the sun. It shone brightly as it rolled along +the heavens, and sank down to Avaiki (Hawaii), the nether world. But the +ball came back again and once more rolled across the sky. Tongaiti had +let his half of the child fall on the ground and lie there, until made +envious by the beautiful ball Vatea made.</p> + +<p>At last he took the flesh which lay on the ground and made it into a +ball. As the sun sank he threw his ball up into the darkness, and it +rolled along the heavens, but the blood had drained out of the flesh +while it lay upon the ground, therefore it could not become so red and +burning as the sun, and had not life to move so swiftly. It was as white +as a dead body, because its blood was all gone; and it could not make +the darkness flee away as the sun had done. Thus day and night and the +sun and moon always remain with the earth.</p> + +<p>The legends of the Society Islands say that a demon in the west became +angry with the sun and in his rage ate it up, causing night. In the same +way a demon from the east would devour the moon, but for some reason +these angry ones could not destroy their captives and were compelled to +open their mouths<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> and let the bright balls come forth once more. In +some places a sacrifice of some one of distinction was needed to placate +the wrath of the devourers and free the balls of light in times of +eclipse.</p> + +<p>The moon, pale and dead in appearance, moved slowly; while the sun, full +of life and strength, moved quickly. Thus days were very short and +nights were very long. Mankind suffered from the fierceness of the heat +of the sun and also from its prolonged absence. Day and night were alike +a burden to men. The darkness was so great and lasted so long that +fruits would not ripen.</p> + +<p>After Maui had succeeded in throwing the heavens into their place, and +fastening them so that they could not fall, he learned that he had +opened a way for the sun-god to come up from the lower world and rapidly +run across the blue vault. This made two troubles for men—the heat of +the sun was very great and the journey too quickly over. Maui planned to +capture the sun and punish him for thinking so little about the welfare +of mankind.</p> + + + +<p>As Rev. A. O. Forbes, a missionary among the Hawaiians, relates, Maui's +mother was troubled very much by the heedless haste of the sun. She had +many kapa-cloths to make, for this was the only kind of clothing known +in Hawaii, except sometimes a woven mat or a long grass fringe worn as a +skirt. This native cloth was made by pounding the fine bark of +cer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>tain trees with wooden mallets until the fibres were beaten and +ground into a wood pulp. Then she pounded the pulp into thin sheets from +which the best sleeping mats and clothes could be fashioned. These kapa +cloths had to be thoroughly dried, but the days were so short that by +the time she had spread out the kapa the sun had heedlessly rushed +across the sky and gone down into the under-world, and all the cloth had +to be gathered up again and cared for until another day should come. +There were other troubles. "The food could not be prepared and cooked in +one day. Even an incantation to the gods could not be chanted through +ere they were overtaken by darkness."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 543px;"> +<img src="images/i064.jpg" width="543" height="550" alt="Iao Mountain From the Sea." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Iao Mountain From the Sea.</span> +</div> + +<p>This was very discouraging and caused great suffering, as well as much +unnecessary trouble and labor. Many complaints were made against the +thoughtless sun.</p> + +<p>Maui pitied his mother and determined to make the sun go slower that the +days might be long enough to satisfy the needs of men. Therefore, he +went over to the northwest of the island on which he lived. This was Mt. +Iao, an extinct volcano, in which lies one of the most beautiful and +picturesque valleys of the Hawaiian Islands. He climbed the ridges until +he could see the course of the sun as it passed over the island. He saw +that the sun came up the eastern side of Mt. Haleakala. He crossed over +the plain be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>tween the two mountains and climbed to the top of Mt. +Haleakala. There he watched the burning sun as it came up from Koolau +and passed directly over the top of the mountain. The summit of +Haleakala is a great extinct crater twenty miles in circumference, and +nearly twenty-five hundred feet in depth. There are two tremendous gaps +or chasms in the side of the crater wall, through which in days gone by +the massive bowl poured forth its flowing lava. One of these was the +Koolau, or eastern gap, in which Maui probably planned to catch the sun.</p> + +<p>Mt. Hale-a-ka-la of the Hawaiian Islands means House-of-the-sun. "La," +or "Ra," is the name of the sun throughout parts of Polynesia. Ra was +the sun-god of ancient Egypt. Thus the antiquities of Polynesia and +Egypt touch each other, and today no man knows the full reason thereof.</p> + +<p>The Hawaiian legend says Maui was taunted by a man who ridiculed the +idea that he could snare the sun, saying, "You will never catch the sun. +You are only an idle nobody."</p> + +<p>Maui replied, "When I conquer my enemy and my desire is attained, I will +be your death."</p> + +<p>After studying the path of the sun, Maui returned to his mother and told +her that he would go and cut off the legs of the sun so that he could +not run so fast.</p> + +<p>His mother said: "Are you strong enough for this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> work?" He said, "Yes." +Then she gave him fifteen strands of well-twisted fiber and told him to +go to his grandmother, who lived in the great crater of Haleakala, for +the rest of the things in his conflict with the sun. She said: "You must +climb the mountain to the place where a large wiliwili tree is standing. +There you will find the place where the sun stops to eat cooked bananas +prepared by your grandmother. Stay there until a rooster crows three +times; then watch your grandmother go out to make a fire and put on +food. You had better take her bananas. She will look for them and find +you and ask who you are. Tell her you belong to Hina."</p> + +<p>When she had taught him all these things, he went up the mountain to +Kaupo to the place Hina had directed. There was a large wiliwili tree. +Here he waited for the rooster to crow. The name of that rooster was +Kalauhele-moa. When the rooster had crowed three times, the grandmother +came out with a bunch of bananas to cook for the sun. She took off the +upper part of the bunch and laid it down. Maui immediately snatched it +away. In a moment she turned to pick it up, but could not find it. She +was angry and cried out: "Where are the bananas of the sun?" Then she +took off another part of the bunch, and Maui stole that. Thus he did +until all the bunch had been taken away. She was almost blind and could +not detect him by sight, so she sniffed all around<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> her until she +detected the smell of a man. She asked: "Who are you? To whom do you +belong?" Maui replied: "I belong to Hina." "Why have you come?" Maui +told her, "I have come to kill the sun. He goes so fast that he never +dries the tapa Hina has beaten out."</p> + +<p>The old woman gave a magic stone for a battle axe and one more rope. She +taught him how to catch the sun, saying: "Make a place to hide here by +this large wiliwili tree. When the first leg of the sun comes up, catch +it with your first rope, and so on until you have used all your ropes. +Fasten them to the tree, then take the stone axe to strike the body of +the sun."</p> + +<p>Maui dug a hole among the roots of the tree and concealed himself. Soon +the first ray of light—the first leg of the sun—came up along the +mountain side. Maui threw his rope and caught it. One by one the legs of +the sun came over the edge of the crater's rim and were caught. Only one +long leg was still hanging down the side of the mountain. It was hard +for the sun to move that leg. It shook and trembled and tried hard to +come up. At last it crept over the edge and was caught by Maui with the +rope given by his grandmother.</p> + +<p>When the sun saw that his sixteen long legs were held fast in the ropes, +he began to go back down the mountain side into the sea. Then Maui tied +the ropes fast to the tree and pulled until the body of the sun<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> came up +again. Brave Maui caught his magic stone club or axe, and began to +strike and wound the sun, until he cried: "Give me my life." Maui said: +"If you live, you may be a traitor. Perhaps I had better kill you." But +the sun begged for life. After they had conversed a while, they agreed +that there should be a regular motion in the journey of the sun. There +should be longer days, and yet half the time he might go quickly as in +the winter time, but the other half he must move slowly as in summer. +Thus men dwelling on the earth should be blessed.</p> + +<p>Another legend says that he made a lasso and climbed to the summit of +Mt. Haleakala. He made ready his lasso, so that when the sun came up the +mountain side and rose above him he could cast the noose and catch the +sun, but he only snared one of the sun's larger rays and broke it off. +Again and again he threw the lasso until he had broken off all the +strong rays of the sun.</p> + +<p>Then he shouted exultantly, "Thou art my captive; I will kill thee for +going so swiftly."</p> + +<p>Then the sun said, "Let me live and thou shalt see me go more slowly +hereafter. Behold, hast thou not broken off all my strong legs and left +me only the weak ones?"</p> + +<p>So the agreement was made, and Maui permitted the sun to pursue his +course, and from that day he went more slowly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> + +<p>Maui returned from his conflict with the sun and sought for Moemoe, the +man who had ridiculed him. Maui chased this man around the island from +one side to the other until they had passed through Lahaina (one of the +first mission stations in 1828). There on the seashore near the large +black rock of the legend of Maui lifting the sky he found Moemoe. Then +they left the seashore and the contest raged up hill and down until Maui +slew the man and "changed the body into a long rock, which is there to +this day, by the side of the road going past Black Rock."</p> + +<p>Before the battle with the sun occurred Maui went down into the +underworld, according to the New Zealand tradition, and remained a long +time with his relatives. In some way he learned that there was an +enchanted jawbone in the possession of some one of his ancestors, so he +waited and waited, hoping that at last he might discover it.</p> + +<p>After a time he noticed that presents of food were being sent away to +some person whom he had not met.</p> + +<p>One day he asked the messengers, "Who is it you are taking that present +of food to?"</p> + +<p>The people answered, "It is for Muri, your ancestress."</p> + +<p>Then he asked for the food, saying, "I will carry it to her myself."</p> + +<p>But he took the food away and hid it. "And this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> he did for many days," +and the presents failed to reach the old woman.</p> + +<p>By and by she suspected mischief, for it did not seem as if her friends +would neglect her so long a time, so she thought she would catch the +tricky one and eat him. She depended upon her sense of smell to detect +the one who had troubled her. As Sir George Grey tells the story: "When +Maui came along the path carrying the present of food, the old chiefess +sniffed and sniffed until she was sure that she smelt some one coming. +She was very much exasperated, and her stomach began to distend itself +that she might be ready to devour this one when he came near.</p> + +<p>Then she turned toward the south and sniffed and not a scent of anything +reached her. Then she turned to the north, and to the east, but could +not detect the odor of a human being. She made one more trial and turned +toward the west. Ah! then came the scent of a man to her plainly and she +called out, 'I know, from the smell wafted to me by the breeze, that +somebody is close to me.'"</p> + +<p>Maui made known his presence and the old woman knew that he was a +descendant of hers, and her stomach began immediately to shrink and +contract itself again.</p> + +<p>Then she asked, "Art thou Maui?"</p> + +<p>He answered, "Even so," and told her that he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> wanted "the jaw-bone by +which great enchantments could be wrought."</p> + +<p>Then Muri, the old chiefess, gave him the magic bone and he returned to +his brothers, who were still living on the earth.</p> + +<p>Then Maui said: "Let us now catch the sun in a noose that we may compel +him to move more slowly in order that mankind may have long days to +labor in and procure subsistence for themselves."</p> + +<p>They replied, "No man can approach it on account of the fierceness of +the heat."</p> + +<p>According to the Society Island legend, his mother advised him to have +nothing to do with the sun, who was a divine living creature, "in form +like a man, possessed of fearful energy," shaking his golden locks both +morning and evening in the eyes of men. Many persons had tried to +regulate the movements of the sun, but had failed completely.</p> + +<p>But Maui encouraged his mother and his brothers by asking them to +remember his power to protect himself by the use of enchantments.</p> + +<p>The Hawaiian legend says that Maui himself gathered cocoanut fibre in +great quantity and manufactured it into strong ropes. But the legends of +other islands say that he had the aid of his brothers, and while working +learned many useful lessons. While winding and twisting they discovered +how to make square ropes and flat ropes as well as the ordinary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> round +rope. In the Society Islands, it is said, Maui and his brothers made six +strong ropes of great length. These he called aeiariki (royal nooses).</p> + +<p>The New Zealand legend says that when Maui and his brothers had finished +making all the ropes required they took provisions and other things +needed and journeyed toward the east to find the place where the sun +should rise. Maui carried with him the magic jaw-bone which he had +secured from Muri, his ancestress, in the under-world.</p> + +<p>They traveled all night and concealed themselves by day so that the sun +should not see them and become too suspicious and watchful. In this way +they journeyed, until "at length they had gone very far to the eastward +and had come to the very edge of the place out of which the sun rises. +There they set to work and built on each side a long, high wall of clay, +with huts of boughs of trees at each end to hide themselves in."</p> + +<p>Here they laid a large noose made from their ropes and Maui concealed +himself on one side of this place along which the sun must come, while +his brothers hid on the other side.</p> + +<p>Maui seized his magic enchanted jaw-bone as the weapon with which to +fight the sun, and ordered his brothers to pull hard on the noose and +not to be frightened or moved to set the sun free.</p> + +<p>"At last the sun came rising up out of his place like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> a fire spreading +far and wide over the mountains and forests.</p> + +<p>He rises up.</p> + +<p>His head passes through the noose.</p> + +<p>The ropes are pulled tight.</p> + +<p>Then the monster began to struggle and roll himself about, while the +snare jerked backwards and forwards as he struggled. Ah! was not he held +fast in the ropes of his enemies.</p> + +<p>Then forth rushed that bold hero Maui with his enchanted weapon. The sun +screamed aloud and roared. Maui struck him fiercely with many blows. +They held him for a long time. At last they let him go, and then weak +from wounds the sun crept very slowly and feebly along his course."</p> + +<p>In this way the days were made longer so that men could perform their +daily tasks and fruits and food plants could have time to grow.</p> + +<p>The legend of the Hervey group of islands says that Maui made six snares +and placed them at intervals along the path over which the sun must +pass. The sun in the form of a man climbed up from Avaiki (Hawaiki). +Maui pulled the first noose, but it slipped down the rising sun until it +caught and was pulled tight around his feet.</p> + + + +<p>Maui ran quickly to pull the ropes of the second snare, but that also +slipped down, down, until it was tightened around the knees. Then Maui +hastened to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> the third snare, while the sun was trying to rush along +on his journey. The third snare caught around the hips. The fourth snare +fastened itself around the waist. The fifth slipped under the arms, and +yet the sun sped along as if but little inconvenienced by Maui's +efforts.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/i076.jpg" width="550" height="536" alt="Hale-a-ka-la Crater. Where the Sun Was Caught." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Hale-a-ka-la Crater. Where the Sun Was Caught.</span> +</div> + +<p>Then Maui caught the last noose and threw it around the neck of the sun, +and fastened the rope to a spur of rock. The sun struggled until nearly +strangled to death and then gave up, promising Maui that he would go as +slowly as was desired. Maui left the snares fastened to the sun to keep +him in constant fear.</p> + +<p>"These ropes may still be seen hanging from the sun at dawn and +stretching into the skies when he descends into the ocean at night. By +the assistance of these ropes he is gently let down into Ava-iki in the +evening, and also raised up out of shadow-land in the morning."</p> + +<p>Another legend from the Society Islands is related by Mr. Gill:</p> + +<p>Maui tried many snares before he could catch the sun. The sun was the +Hercules, or the Samson, of the heavens. He broke the strong cords of +cocoanut fibre which Maui made and placed around the opening by which +the sun climbed out from the under-world. Maui made stronger ropes, but +still the sun broke them every one.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then Maui thought of his sister's hair, the sister Inaika, whom he +cruelly treated in later years. Her hair was long and beautiful. He cut +off some of it and made a strong rope. With this he lassoed or rather +snared the sun, and caught him around the throat. The sun quickly +promised to be more thoughtful of the needs of men and go at a more +reasonable pace across the sky.</p> + +<p>A story from the American Indians is told in Hawaii's Young People, +which is very similar to the Polynesian legends.</p> + +<p>An Indian boy became very angry with the sun for getting so warm and +making his clothes shrink with the heat. He told his sister to make a +snare. The girl took sinews from a large deer, but they shriveled under +the heat. She took her own long hair and made snares, but they were +burned in a moment. Then she tried the fibres of various plants and was +successful. Her brother took the fibre cord and drew it through his +lips. It stretched and became a strong red cord. He pulled and it became +very long. He went to the place of sunrise, fixed his snare, and caught +the sun. When the sun had been sufficiently punished, the animals of the +earth studied the problem of setting the sun free. At last a mouse as +large as a mountain ran and gnawed the red cord. It broke and the sun +moved on, but the poor mouse had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> burned and shriveled into the +small mouse of the present day.</p> + +<p>A Samoan legend says that a woman living for a time with the sun bore a +child who had the name "Child of the Sun." She wanted gifts for the +child's marriage, so she took a long vine, climbed a tree, made the vine +into a noose, lassoed the sun, and made him give her a basket of +blessings.</p> + +<p>In Fiji, the natives tie the grasses growing on a hilltop over which +they are passing, when traveling from place to place. They do this to +make a snare to catch the sun if he should try to go down before they +reach the end of their day's journey.</p> + +<p>This legend is a misty memory of some time when the Polynesian people +were in contact with the short days of the extreme north or south. It is +a very remarkable exposition of a fact of nature perpetuated many +centuries in lands absolutely free from such natural phenomena.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V.</h2> + +<h3>MAUI FINDING FIRE.</h3> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Grant, oh grant me thy hidden fire,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">O Banyan Tree.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Perform an incantation,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Utter a prayer</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">To the Banyan Tree.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kindle a fire in the dust</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of the Banyan Tree."</span><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 8em;">—Translation of ancient Polynesian chant.</span><br /> +</p> + + +<p>Among students of mythology certain characters in the legends of the +various nations are known as "culture heroes." Mankind has from time to +time learned exceedingly useful lessons and has also usually ascribed +the new knowledge to some noted person in the national mythology. These +mythical benefactors who have brought these practical benefits to men +are placed among the "hero-gods." They have been teachers or "culture +heroes" to mankind.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> + +<p>Probably the fire finders of the different nations are among the best +remembered of all these benefactors. This would naturally be the case, +for no greater good has touched man's physical life than the discovery +of methods of making fire.</p> + +<p>Prometheus, the classical fire finder, is most widely known in +literature. But of all the helpful gods of mythology, Maui, the +mischievous Polynesian, is beyond question the hero of the largest +numbers of nations scattered over the widest extent of territory. +Prometheus belonged to Rome, but Maui belonged to the length and breadth +of the Pacific Ocean. Theft or trickery, the use of deceit of some kind, +is almost inseparably connected with fire finding all over the world. +Prometheus stole fire from Jupiter and gave it to men together with the +genius to make use of it in the arts and sciences. He found the rolling +chariot of the sun, secretly filled his hollow staff with fire, carried +it to earth, put a part in the breast of man to create enthusiasm or +animation, and saved the remainder for the comfort of mankind to be used +with the artist skill of Minerva and Vulcan. In Brittany the golden or +fire-crested wren steals fire and is red-marked while so doing. The +animals of the North American Indians are represented as stealing fire +sometimes from the cuttle fish and sometimes from one another. Some +swiftly-flying bird or fleet-footed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> coyote would carry the stolen fire +to the home of the tribe.</p> + +<p>The possession of fire meant to the ancients all that wealth means to +the family of today. It meant the possession of comfort. The gods were +naturally determined to keep this wealth in their own hands. For any one +to make a sharp deal and cheat a god of fire out of a part of this +valuable property or to make a courageous raid upon the fire guardian +and steal the treasure, was easily sufficient to make that one a +"culture hero." As a matter of fact a prehistoric family without fire +would go to any length in order to get it. The fire finders would +naturally be the hero-gods and stealing fire would be an exploit rather +than a crime.</p> + +<p>It is worth noting that in many myths not only was fire stolen, but +birds marked by red or black spots among their feathers were associated +with the theft.</p> + +<p>It would naturally be supposed that the Hawaiians living in a volcanic +country with ever-flowing fountains of lava, would connect their fire +myths with some volcano when relating the story of the origin of fire. +But like the rest of the Polynesians, they found fire in trees rather +than in rivers of melted rock. They must have brought their fire legends +and fire customs with them when they came to the islands of active +volcanoes.</p> + +<p>Flint rocks as fire producers are not found in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> Hawaiian myths, nor +in the stories from the island groups related to the Hawaiians. Indians +might see the fleeing buffalo strike fire from the stones under his hard +hoofs. The Tartars might have a god to teach them "the secret of the +stone's edge and the iron's hardness." The Peruvians could very easily +form a legend of their mythical father Guamansuri finding a way to make +fire after he had seen the sling stones, thrown at his enemies, bring +forth sparks of fire from the rocks against which they struck. The +thunder and the lightning of later years were the sparks and the crash +of stones hurled among the cloud mountains by the mighty gods.</p> + +<p>In Australia the story is told of an old man and his daughter who lived +in great darkness. After a time the father found the doorway of light +through which the sun passed on his journey. He opened the door and a +flood of sunshine covered the earth. His daughter looked around her home +and saw numbers of serpents. She seized a staff and began to kill them. +She wielded it so vigorously that it became hot in her hands. At last it +broke, but the pieces rubbed against each other and flashed into sparks +and flames. Thus it was learned that fire was buried in wood.</p> + +<p>Flints were known in Europe and Asia and America, but the Polynesian +looked to the banyan and kindred trees for the hidden sparks of fire. +The natives of De Peyster's Island say that their ancestors learned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> how +to make fire by seeing smoke rise from crossed branches rubbing together +while trees were shaken by fierce winds.</p> + +<p>In studying the Maui myths of the Pacific it is necessary to remember +that Polynesians use "t" and "k" without distinguishing them apart, and +also as in the Hawaiian Islands an apostrophe (') is often used in place +of "t" or "k". Therefore the Maui Ki-i-k-i'i of Hawaii becomes the +demi-god Tiki-tiki of the Gilbert Islands—or the Ti'i-ti'i of Samoa or +the Tiki of New Zealand—or other islands of the great ocean. We must +also remember that in the Hawaiian legends Kalana is Maui's father. This +in other groups becomes Talanga or Kalanga or Karanga. Kanaloa, the +great god of most of the different Polynesians, is also sometimes called +the Father of Maui. It is not strange that some of the exploits usually +ascribed to Maui should be in some places transferred to his father +under one name or the other. On one or two groups Mafuia, an ancestress +of Maui, is mentioned as finding the fire. The usual legend makes Maui +the one who takes fire away from Mafuia. The story of fire finding in +Polynesia sifts itself to Maui under one of his widely-accepted names, +or to his father or to his ancestress—with but very few exceptions. +This fact is important as showing in a very marked manner the race +relationship of a vast number of the islanders of the Pacific world. +From the Marshall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> Islands, in the west, to the Society Islands of the +east; from the Hawaiian Islands in the north to the New Zealand group in +the south, the footsteps of Maui the fire finder can be traced.</p> + +<p>The Hawaiian story of fire finding is one of the least marvelous of all +the legends. Hina, Maui's mother, wanted fish. One morning early Maui +saw that the great storm waves of the sea had died down and the fishing +grounds could be easily reached. He awakened his brothers and with them +hastened to the beach. This was at Kaupo on the island of Maui. Out into +the gray shadows of the dawn they paddled. When they were far from shore +they began to fish. But Maui, looking landward, saw a fire on the +mountain side.</p> + +<p>"Behold," he cried. "There is a fire burning. Whose can this fire be?"</p> + +<p>"Whose, indeed?" his brothers replied.</p> + +<p>"Let us hasten to the shore and cook our food," said one.</p> + +<p>They decided that they had better catch some fish to cook before they +returned. Thus, in the morning, before the hot sun drove the fish deep +down to the dark recesses of the sea, they fished until a bountiful +supply lay in the bottom of the canoe.</p> + +<p>When they came to land, Maui leaped out and ran up the mountain side to +get the fire. For a long, long time they had been without fire. The +great volcano<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> Haleakala above them had become extinct—and they had +lost the coals they had tried to keep alive. They had eaten fruits and +uncooked roots and the shell fish broken from the reef—and sometimes +the great raw fish from the far-out ocean. But now they hoped to gain +living fire and cooked food.</p> + +<p>But when Maui rushed up toward the cloudy pillar of smoke he saw a +family of birds scratching the fire out. Their work was finished and +they flew away just as he reached the place.</p> + +<p>Maui and his brothers watched for fire day after day—but the birds, the +curly-tailed Alae (or the mud-hens) made no fire. Finally the brothers +went fishing once more—but when they looked toward the mountain, again +they saw flames and smoke. Thus it happened to them again and again.</p> + +<p>Maui proposed to his brothers that they go fishing leaving him to watch +the birds. But the Alae counted the fishermen and refused to build a +fire for the hidden one who was watching them. They said among +themselves, "Three are in the boat and we know not where the other one +is, we will make no fire today."</p> + +<p>So the experiment failed again and again. If one or two remained or if +all waited on the land there would be no fire—but the dawn which saw +the four brothers in the boat, saw also the fire on the land.</p> + +<p>Finally Maui rolled some kapa cloth together and stuck it up in one end +of the canoe so that it would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> look like a man. He then concealed +himself near the haunt of the mud-hens, while his brothers went out +fishing. The birds counted the figures in the boat and then started to +build a heap of wood for the fire.</p> + +<p>Maui was impatient—and just as the old Alae began to select sticks with +which to make the flames he leaped swiftly out and caught her and held +her prisoner. He forgot for a moment that he wanted the secret of fire +making. In his anger against the wise bird his first impulse was to +taunt her and then kill her for hiding the secret of fire.</p> + +<p>But the Alae cried out: "If you are the death of me—my secret will +perish also—and you cannot have fire."</p> + +<p>Maui then promised to spare her life if she would tell him what to do.</p> + +<p>Then came the contest of wits. The bird told the demi-god to rub the +stalks of water plants together. He guarded the bird and tried the +plants. Water instead of fire ran out of the twisted stems. Then she +told him to rub reeds together—but they bent and broke and could make +no fire. He twisted her neck until she was half dead—then she cried +out: "I have hidden the fire in a green stick."</p> + +<p>Maui worked hard, but not a spark of fire appeared. Again he caught his +prisoner by the head and wrung her neck, and she named a kind of dry +wood. Maui rubbed the sticks together, but they only became<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> warm. The +neck twisting process was resumed—and repeated again and again, until +the mud-hen was almost dead—and Maui had tried tree after tree. At last +Maui found fire. Then as the flames rose he said: "There is one more +thing to rub." He took a fire stick and rubbed the top of the head of +his prisoner until the feathers fell off and the raw flesh appeared. +Thus the Hawaiian mud-hen and her descendants have ever since had bald +heads, and the Hawaiians have had the secret of fire making.</p> + +<p>Another Hawaiian legend places the scene of Maui's contest with the +mud-hens a little inland of the town of Hilo on the Island of Hawaii. +There are three small extinct craters very near each other known as The +Halae Hills. One, the southern or Puna side of the hills, is a place +called Pohaku-nui. Here dwelt two brother birds of the Alae family. They +were gods. One had the power of fire making. Here at Pohaku-nui they +were accustomed to kindle a fire and bake their dearly loved food—baked +bananas. Here Maui planned to learn the secret of fire. The birds had +kindled the fire and the bananas were almost done, when the elder Alae +called to the younger: "Be quick, here comes the swift son of Hina."</p> + +<p>The birds scratched out the fire, caught the bananas and fled. Maui told +his mother he would follow them until he learned the secret of fire. His +mother encouraged him because he was very strong and very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> swift. So he +followed the birds from place to place as they fled from him, finding +new spots on which to make their fires. At last they came to Waianae on +the island Oahu. There he saw a great fire and a multitude of birds +gathered around it, chattering loudly and trying to hasten the baking of +the bananas. Their incantation was this: "Let us cook quick." "Let us +cook quick." "The swift child of Hina will come."</p> + +<p>Maui's mother Hina had taught him how to know the fire-maker. "If you go +up to the fire, you will find many birds. Only one is the guardian. This +is the small, young Alae. His name is Alae-iki: Only this one knows how +to make fire." So whenever Maui came near to the fire-makers he always +sought for the little Alae. Sometimes he made mistakes and sometimes +almost captured the one he desired. At Waianae he leaped suddenly among +the birds. They scattered the fire, and the younger bird tried to snatch +his banana from the coals and flee, but Maui seized him and began to +twist his neck. The bird cried out, warning Maui not to kill him or he +would lose the secret of fire altogether. Maui was told that the fire +was made from a banana stump. He saw the bananas roasting and thought +this was reasonable. So, according to directions, he began to rub +together pieces of the banana. The bird hoped for an unguarded moment +when he might es<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>cape, but Maui was very watchful and was also very +angry when he found that rubbing only resulted in squeezing out juice. +Then he twisted the neck of the bird and was told to rub the stem of the +taro plant. This also was so green that it only produced water. Then he +was so angry that he nearly rubbed the head of the bird off—and the +bird, fearing for its life, told the truth and taught Maui how to find +the wood in which fire dwelt.</p> + +<p>They learned to draw out the sparks secreted in different kinds of +trees. The sweet sandalwood was one of these fire trees. Its Hawaiian +name is "Ili-ahi"—the "ili" (bark) and "ahi" (fire), the bark in which +fire is concealed.</p> + +<p>A legend of the Society Islands is somewhat similar. Ina (Hina) promised +to aid Maui in finding fire for the islanders. She sent him into the +under-world to find Tangaroa (Kanaloa). This god Tangaroa held fire in +his possession—Maui was to know him by his tattooed face. Down the dark +path through the long caves Maui trod swiftly until he found the god. +Maui asked him for fire to take up to men. The god gave him a lighted +stick and sent him away. But Maui put the fire out and went back again +after fire. This he did several times, until the wearied giver decided +to teach the intruder the art of fire making. He called a white duck to +aid him. Then, taking two sticks of dry wood, he gave the under one to +the bird and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> rapidly moved the upper stick across the under until fire +came. Maui seized the upper stick, after it had been charred in the +flame, and burned the head of the bird back of each eye. Thus were made +the black spots which mark the head of the white duck. Then arose a +quarrel between Tangaroa and Maui—but Maui struck down the god, and, +thinking he had killed him, carried away the art of making fire. His +father and mother made inquiries about their relative—Maui hastened +back to the fire fountain and made the spirit return to the body—then, +coming back to Ina, he bade her good bye and carried the fire sticks to +the upper-world. The Hawaiians, and probably others among the +Polynesians, felt that any state of unconsciousness was a form of death +in which the spirit left the body, but was called back by prayers and +incantations. Therefore, when Maui restored the god to consciousness, he +was supposed to have made the spirit released by death return into the +body and bring it back to life.</p> + +<p>In the Samoan legends as related by G. Turner, the name Ti'iti'i is +used. This is the same as the second name found in Maui Ki'i-ki'i. The +Samoan legend of Ti'iti'i is almost identical with the New Zealand fire +myth of Maui, and is very similar to the story coming from the Hervey +Islands from Savage Island and also from the Tokelau and other island +groups. The Samoan story says that the home of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> Mafuie the earthquake +god was in the land of perpetual fire. Maui's or Ti'iti'i's father +Talanga (Kalana) was also a resident of the under-world and a great +friend of the earthquake god.</p> + +<p>Ti'iti'i watched his father as he left his home in the upper-world. +Talanga approached a perpendicular wall of rock, said some prayer or +incantation—and passed through a door which immediately closed after +him. (This is a very near approach to the "open sesame" of the Arabian +Nights stories.)</p> + +<p>Ti'iti'i went to the rock, but could not find the way through. He +determined to conceal himself the next time so near that he could hear +his father's words.</p> + +<p>After some days he was able to catch all the words uttered by his father +as he knocked on the stone door—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"O rock! divide.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I am Talanga,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I come to work</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On my land</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Given by Mafuie."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Ti'iti'i went to the perpendicular wall and imitating his father's voice +called for a rock to open. Down through a cave he passed until he found +his father working in the under-world.</p> + +<p>The astonished father, learning how his son came, bade him keep very +quiet and work lest he arouse the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> anger of Mafuie. So for a time the +boy labored obediently by his father's side.</p> + +<p>In a little while the boy saw smoke and asked what it was. The father +told him that it was the smoke from the fire of Mafuie, and explained +what fire would do.</p> + +<p>The boy determined to get some fire—he went to the place from which the +smoke arose and there found the god, and asked him for fire. Mafuie gave +him fire to carry to his father. The boy quickly had an oven prepared +and the fire placed in it to cook some of the taro they had been +cultivating. Just as everything was ready an earthquake god came up and +blew the fire out and scattered the stones of the oven.</p> + +<p>Then Ti'iti'i was angry and began to talk to Mafuie. The god attacked +the boy, intending to punish him severely for daring to rebel against +the destruction of the fire.</p> + +<p>What a battle there was for a time in the under-world! At last Ti'iti'i +seized one of the arms of Mafuie and broke it off. He caught the other +arm and began to twist and bend it.</p> + +<p>Mafuie begged the boy to spare him. His right arm was gone. How could he +govern the earthquakes if his left arm were torn off also? It was his +duty to hold Samoa level and not permit too many earthquakes. It would +be hard to do that even with one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> arm—but it would be impossible if +both arms were gone.</p> + +<p>Ti'iti'i listened to the plea and demanded a reward if he should spare +the left arm. Mafuie offered Ti'iti'i one hundred wives. The boy did not +want them.</p> + +<p>Then the god offered to teach him the secret of fire finding to take to +the upper-world.</p> + +<p>The boy agreed to accept the fire secret, and thus learned that the gods +in making the earth had concealed fire in various trees for men to +discover in their own good time, and that this fire could be brought out +by rubbing pieces of wood together.</p> + +<p>The people of Samoa have not had much faith in Mafuie's plea that he +needed his left arm in order to keep Samoa level. They say that Mafuie +has a long stick or handle to the world under the islands—and when he +is angry or wishes to frighten them he moves this handle and easily +shakes the islands. When an earthquake comes, they give thanks to +Ti'iti'i for breaking off one arm—because if the god had two arms they +believe he would shake them unmercifully.</p> + +<p>One legend of the Hervey Islands says that Maui and his brothers had +been living on uncooked food—but learned that their mother sometimes +had delicious food which had been cooked. They learned also that fire +was needed in order to cook their food. Then Maui wanted fire and +watched his mother.</p> + +<p>Maui's mother was the guardian of the way to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> invisible world. When +she desired to pass from her home to the other world, she would open a +black rock and pass inside. Thus she went to Hawaiki, the under-world. +Maui planned to follow her, but first studied the forms of birds that he +might assume the body of the strongest and most enduring. After a time +he took the shape of a pigeon and, flying to the black rock, passed +through the door and flew down the long dark passage-way.</p> + +<p>After a time he found the god of fire living in a bunch of banyan +sticks. He changed himself into the form of a man and demanded the +secret of fire.</p> + +<p>The fire god agreed to give Maui fire if he would permit himself to be +tossed into the sky by the god's strong arms.</p> + +<p>Maui agreed on condition that he should have the right to toss the fire +god afterwards.</p> + +<p>The fire-god felt certain that there would be only one exercise of +strength—he felt that he had everything in his own hands—so readily +agreed to the tossing contest. It was his intention to throw his +opponent so high that when he fell, if he ever did fall, there would be +no antagonist uncrushed.</p> + +<p>He seized Maui in his strong arms and, swinging him back and forth, +flung him upward—but the moment Maui left his hands he changed himself +into a feather and floated softly to the ground.</p> + +<p>Then the boy ran swiftly to the god and seized him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> by the legs and +lifted him up. Then he began to increase in size and strength until he +had lifted the fire god very high. Suddenly he tossed the god upward and +caught him as he fell—again and again—until the bruised and dizzy god +cried enough, and agreed to give the victor whatever he demanded.</p> + +<p>Maui asked for the secret of fire producing. The god taught him how to +rub the dry sticks of certain kinds of trees together, and, by friction, +produce fire, and especially how fire could be produced by rubbing fire +sticks in the fine dust of the banyan tree.</p> + +<p>A Society Island legend says Maui borrowed a sacred red pigeon, +belonging to one of the gods, and, changing himself into a dragon fly, +rode this pigeon through a black rock into Avaiki (Hawaiki), the +fire-land of the under-world. He found the god of fire, Mau-ika, living +in a house built from a banyan tree. Mau-ika taught Maui the kinds of +wood into which when fire went out on the earth a fire goddess had +thrown sparks in order to preserve fire. Among these were the "au" +(Hawaiian hau), or "the lemon hibiscus"—the "argenta," the "fig" and +the "banyan." She taught him also how to make fire by swift motion when +rubbing the sticks of these trees. She also gave him coals for his +present need.</p> + +<p>But Maui was viciously mischievous and set the banyan house on fire, +then mounted his pigeon and fled toward the upper-world. But the flames +hastened<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> after him and burst out through the rock doors into the sunlit +land above—as if it were a volcanic eruption.</p> + +<p>The Tokelau Islanders say that Talanga (Kalana) known in other groups of +islands as the father of Maui, desired fire in order to secure warmth +and cooked food. He went down, down, very far down in the caves of the +earth. In the lower world he found Mafuika—an old blind woman, who was +the guardian of fire. He told her he wanted fire to take back to men. +She refused either to give fire or to teach how to make it. Talanga +threatened to kill her, and finally persuaded her to teach how to make +fire in any place he might dwell—and the proper trees to use, the +fire-yielding trees. She also taught him how to cook food—and also the +kind of fish he should cook, and the kinds which should be eaten raw. +Thus mankind learned about food as well as fire.</p> + +<p>The Savage Island legend adds the element of danger to Maui's +mischievous theft of fire. The lad followed his father one day and saw +him pull up a bunch of reeds and go down into the fire-land beneath. +Maui hastened down to see what his father was doing. Soon he saw his +opportunity to steal the secret of fire. Then he caught some fire and +started for the upper-world.</p> + +<p>His father caught a glimpse of the young thief and tried to stop him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 546px;"> +<img src="images/i099.jpg" width="546" height="550" alt="Hawaiian Vines and Bushes." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Hawaiian Vines and Bushes.</span> +</div> + +<p>Maui ran up the passage through the black cave—bushes and trees +bordered his road.</p> + +<p>The father hastened after his son and was almost ready to lay hands upon +him, when Maui set fire to the bushes. The flames spread rapidly, +catching the underbrush and the trees on all sides and burst out in the +face of the pursuer. Destruction threatened the under-world, but Maui +sped along his way. Then he saw that the fire was chasing him. Bush +after bush leaped into flame and hurled sparks and smoke and burning air +after him. Choked and smoke-surrounded, he broke through the door of the +cavern and found the fresh air of the world. But the flames followed him +and swept out in great power upon the upper-world a mighty volcanic +eruption.</p> + +<p>The New Zealand legends picture Maui as putting out, in one night, all +the fires of his people. This was serious mischief, and Maui's mother +decided that he should go to the under-world and see his ancestress, +Mahuika, the guardian of fire, and get new fire to repair the injury he +had wrought. She warned him against attempting to play tricks upon the +inhabitants of the lower regions.</p> + + +<p>Maui gladly hastened down the cave-path to the house of Mahuika, and +asked for fire for the upper-world. In some way he pleased her so that +she pulled off a finger nail in which fire was burning and gave it to +him. As soon as he had gone back to a place<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> where there was water, he +put the fire out and returned to Mahuika, asking another gift, which he +destroyed. This he did for both hands and feet until only one nail +remained. Maui wanted this. Then Mahuika became angry and threw the last +finger nail on the ground. Fire poured out and laid hold of everything. +Maui ran up the path to the upper-world, but the fire was +swifter-footed. Then Maui changed himself into an eagle and flew high up +into the air, but the fire and smoke still followed him. Then he saw +water and dashed into it, but it was too hot. Around him the forests +were blazing, the earth burning and the sea boiling. Maui, about to +perish, called on the gods for rain. Then floods of water fell and the +fire was checked. The great rain fell on Mahuika and she fled, almost +drowned. Her stores of fire were destroyed, quenched by the storm. But +in order to save fire for the use of men, as she fled she threw sparks +into different kinds of trees where the rain could not reach them, so +that when fire was needed it might be brought into the world again by +rubbing together the fire sticks.</p> + +<p>The Chatham Islanders give the following incantation, which they said +was used by Maui against the fierce flood of fire which was pursuing +him:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"To the roaring thunder;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the great rain—the long rain;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the drizzling rain—the small rain;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the rain pattering on the leaves.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">These are the storms—the storms</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cause them to fall;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To pour in torrents."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>The legend of Savage Island places Maui in the role of fire-maker. He +has stolen fire in the under-world. His father tries to catch him, but +Maui sets fire to the bushes by the path until a great conflagration is +raging which pursues him to the upper-world.</p> + +<p>Some legends make Maui the fire-teacher as well as the fire-finder. He +teaches men how to use hardwood sticks in the fine dry dust on the bark +of certain trees, or how to use the fine fibre of the palm tree to catch +sparks.</p> + +<p>In Tahiti the fire god lived in the "Hale-a-o-a," or House of the +Banyan. Sometimes human sacrifices were placed upon the sacred branches +of this tree of the fire god.</p> + +<p>In the Bowditch or Fakaofa Islands the goddess of fire when conquered +taught not only the method of making fire by friction but also what fish +were to be cooked and what were to be eaten raw.</p> + +<p>Thus some of the myths of Maui, the mischievous, finding fire are told +by the side of the inrolling surf,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> while natives of many islands, +around their poi bowls, rest in the shade of the far-reaching boughs and +thick foliage of the banyan and other fire-producing trees.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI.</h2> + +<h3>MAUI THE SKILLFUL.</h3> + + +<p>According to the New Zealand legends there were six Mauis—the Hawaiians +counted four. They were a band of brothers. The older five were known as +"the forgetful Mauis." The tricky and quick-witted youngest member of +the family was called Maui te atamai—"Maui the skillful."</p> + +<p>He was curiously accounted for in the New Zealand under-world. When he +went down through the long cave to his ancestor's home to find fire, he +was soon talked about. "Perhaps this is the man about whom so much is +said in the upper-world." His ancestress from whom he obtained fire +recognized him as the man called "the deceitful Maui." Even his parents +told him once, "We know you are a tricky fellow—more so than any other +man." One of the New Zealand fire legends while recording his flight to +the under-world and his appearance as a bird, says: "The men tried to +spear him, and to catch him in nets. At<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> last they cried out, 'Maybe you +are the man whose fame is great in the upper-world.' At once he leaped +to the ground and appeared in the form of a man."</p> + +<p>He was not famous for inventions, but he was always ready to improve +upon anything which was already in existence. He could take the sun in +hand and make it do better work. He could tie the moon so that it had to +swim back around the island to the place in the ocean from which it +might rise again, and go slowly through the night.</p> + +<p>His brothers invented a slender, straight and smooth spear with which to +kill birds. He saw the fluttering, struggling birds twist themselves off +the smooth point and escape. He made a good light bird spear and put +notches in it and kept most of the birds stuck. His brothers finally +examined his spear and learned the reason for its superiority. In the +same way they learned how to spear fish. They could strike and wound and +sometimes kill—but they could not with their smooth spears draw the +fish from the waters of the coral caves. But Maui the youngest made +barbs, so that the fish could not easily shake themselves loose. The +others soon made their spears like his.</p> + +<p>The brothers were said to have invented baskets in which to trap eels, +but many eels escaped. Maui improved the basket by secretly making an +inside partition as well as a cover, and the eels were securely trapped. +It took the brothers a long time to learn<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> the real difference between +their baskets and his. One of the family made a basket like his and +caught many eels. Then Maui became angry and chanted a curse over him +and bewildered him, then changed him into a dog.</p> + +<p>The Manahiki Islanders have the legend that Maui made the moon, but +could not get good light from it. He tried experiments and found that +the sun was quite an improvement. The sun's example stimulated the moon +to shine brighter.</p> + +<p>Once Maui became interested in tattooing and tried to make a dog look +better by placing dark lines around the mouth. The legends say that one +of the sacred birds saw the pattern and then marked the sky with the red +lines sometimes seen at sunrise and sunset. An Hawaiian legend says that +Maui tattooed his arm with a sacred name and thus that arm was strong +enough to hold the sun when he lassoed it. There is a New Zealand legend +in which Maui is made one of three gods who first created man and then +woman from one of the man's ribs.</p> + +<p>The Hawaiians dwelling in Hilo have many stories of Maui. They say that +his home was on the northern bank of the Wailuku River. He had a strong +staff made from an ohia tree (the native apple tree). With this he +punched holes through the lava, making natural bridges and boiling +pools, and new channels for its sometimes obstructed waters, so that the +people<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> could go up or down the river more easily. Near one of the +natural bridges is a figure of the moon carved in the rocks, referred by +some of the natives to Maui.</p> + +<p>Maui is said to have taught his brothers the different kinds of fish +nets and the use of the strong fibre of the olona, which was much better +than cocoanut threads.</p> + +<p>The New Zealand stories relate the spear-throwing contests of Maui and +his brothers. As children, however, they were not allowed the use of +wooden spears. They took the stems of long, heavy reeds and threw them +at each other, but Maui's reeds were charmed into stronger and harder +fibre so that he broke his mother's house and made her recognize him as +one of her children. He had been taken away as soon as he was born by +the gods to whom he was related. When he found his way back home his +mother paid no attention to him. Thus by a spear thrust he won a home.</p> + +<p>The brothers all made fish hooks, but Maui the youngest made two kinds +of hooks—one like his brothers' and one with a sharp barb. His +brothers' hooks were smooth so that it was difficult to keep the fish +from floundering and shaking themselves off, but they noticed that the +fish were held by Maui's hook better than by theirs. Maui was not +inclined to devote himself to hard work, and lived on his brothers as +much as possible—but when driven out by his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> wife or his mother he +would catch more fish than the other fishermen. They tried to examine +his hooks, but he always changed his hooks so that they could not see +any difference between his and theirs. At such times they called him the +mischievous one and tried to leave him behind while they went fishing. +They were, however, always ready to give him credit for his +improvements. They dealt generously with him when they learned what he +had really accomplished. When they caught him with his barbed hook they +forgot the past and called him "ke atamai"—the skillful.</p> + +<p>The idea that fish hooks made from the jawbones of human beings were +better than others, seemed to have arisen at first from the angle formed +in the lower jawbone. Later these human fish hooks were considered +sacred and therefore possessed of magic powers. The greater sanctity and +power belonged to the bones which bore more especial relation to the +owner. Therefore Maui's "magic hook," with which he fished up islands, +was made from the jawbone of his ancestress Mahuika. It is also said +that in order to have powerful hooks for every-day fishing he killed two +of his children. Their right eyes he threw up into the sky to become +stars. One became the morning and the other the evening star.</p> + +<p>The idea that the death of any members of the family must not stand in +the way of obtaining<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> magical power, has prevailed throughout Polynesia.</p> + +<p>From this angle in the jawbone Maui must have conceived the idea of +making a hook with a piece of bone or shell which should be fastened to +the large bone at a very sharp angle, thus making a kind of barb. Hooks +like this have been made for ages among the Polynesians.</p> + +<p>Maui and his brothers went fishing for eels with bait strung on the +flexible rib of a cocoanut leaf. The stupid brothers did not fasten the +ends of the string. Therefore the eels easily slipped the bait off and +escaped. But Maui made the ends of his string fast, and captured many +eels.</p> + +<p>The little things which others did not think about were the foundation +of Maui's fame. Upon these little things he built his courage to snare +the sun and seek fire for mankind.</p> + +<p>In a New Zealand legend, quoted by Edward Tregear, Maui is called +Maui-maka-walu, or "Maui with eyes eight." This eight-eyed Maui would be +allied to the Hindoo deities who with their eight eyes face the four +quarters of the world—thus possessing both insight into the affairs of +men and foresight into the future.</p> + +<p>Fornander, the Hawaiian ethnologist, says: "In Hawaiian mythology, +Kamapuaa, the demigod opponent of the goddess Pele, is described as +having eight eyes and eight feet; and in the legends Maka-walu,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> +'eight-eyed,' is a frequent epithet of gods and chiefs." He notes this +coincidence with the appearance of some of the principal Hindoo deities +as having some bearing upon the origin of the Polynesians. It may be +that a comparative study of the legends of other islands of the Pacific +by some student will open up other new and important facts.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/i111.jpg" width="550" height="547" alt="Hawaiian Bathing Pool." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Hawaiian Bathing Pool.</span> +</div> + +<p>In Tahiti, on the island Raiatea, a high priest or prophet lived in the +long, long ago. He was known as Maui the prophet of Tahiti. He was +probably not Maui the demigod. Nevertheless he was represented as +possessing very strange prophetical powers.</p> + +<p>According to the historian Ellis, who previous to 1830 spent eight years +in the Society and Hawaiian Islands, this prophet Maui clearly +prophesied the coming of an outriggerless canoe from some foreign land. +An outrigger is a log which so balances a canoe that it can ride safely +through the treacherous surf.</p> + +<p>The chiefs and prophets charged him with stating the impossible.</p> + +<p>He took his wooden calabash and placed it in a pool of water as an +illustration of the way such a boat should float.</p> + +<p>Then with the floating bowl before him he uttered the second prophecy, +that boats without line to tie the sails to the masts, or the masts to +the ships, should also come to Tahiti.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p> + +<p>When English ships under Captain Wallis and Captain Cook, in the latter +part of the eighteenth century, visited these islands, the natives cried +out, "O the canoes of Maui—the outriggerless canoes."</p> + +<p>Passenger steamships, and the men-of-war from the great nations, have +taught the Tahitians that boats without sails and masts can cross the +great ocean, and again they have recurred to the words of the prophet +Maui, and have exclaimed, "O the boats without sails and masts." This +rather remarkable prophecy could easily have occurred to Maui as he saw +a wooden calabash floating over rough waters.</p> + +<p>Maui's improvement upon nature's plan in regard to certain birds is also +given in the legends as a proof of his supernatural powers.</p> + +<p>White relates the story as follows: "Maui requested some birds to go and +fetch water for him. The first one would not obey, so he threw it into +the water. He requested another bird to go—and it refused, so he threw +it into the fire, and its feathers were burnt. But the next bird obeyed, +but could not carry the water, and he rewarded it by making the feathers +of the fore part of its head white. Then he asked another bird to go, +and it filled its ears with water and brought it to Maui, who drank, and +then pulled the bird's legs and made them long in payment for its act of +kindness."</p> + +<p>Diffenbach says: "Maui, the Adam of New Zea<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>land, left the cat's cradle +to the New Zealanders as an inheritance." The name "Whai" was given to +the game. It exhibited the various steps of creation according to Maori +mythology. Every change in the cradle shows some act in creation. Its +various stages were called "houses." Diffenbach says again: "In this +game of Maui they are great proficients. It is a game like that called +cat's cradle in Europe. It is intimately connected with their ancient +traditions and in the different figures which the cord is made to assume +whilst held on both hands, the outline of their different varieties of +houses, canoes or figures of men and women are imagined to be +represented." One writer connects this game with witchcraft, and says it +was brought from the under-world. Some parts of the puzzle show the +adventures of Maui, especially his attempt to win immortality for men.</p> + +<p>In New Zealand it was said Maui found a large, fine-grained stone block, +broke it in pieces, and from the fragments learned how to fashion stone +implements.</p> + +<p>White also tells the New Zealand legend of Maui and the winds.</p> + +<p>"Maui caught and held all the winds save the west wind. He put each wind +into a cave, so that it might not blow. He sought in vain for the west +wind, but could not find from whence it came. If he had found the cave +in which it stayed he would have closed the entrance to that cave with +rocks. When the west<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> wind blows lightly it is because Maui has got near +to it, and has nearly caught it, and it has gone into its home, the +cave, to escape him. When the winds of the south, east, and north blow +furiously it is because the rocks have been removed by the stupid people +who could not learn the lessons taught by Maui. At other times Maui +allows these winds to blow in hurricanes to punish that people, and also +that he may ride on these furious winds in search of the west wind."</p> + +<p>In the Hawaiian legends Maui is represented as greatly interested in +making and flying kites. His favorite place for the sport was by the +boiling pools of the Wailuku river near Hilo. He had the winds under his +control and would call for them to push his kites in the direction he +wished. His incantation calling up the winds is given in this Maui +proverb—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Strong wind come,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Soft wind come."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>White in his "Ancient History of the Maoris," relates some of Maui's +experiences with the people whom he found on the islands brought up from +the under-world. On one island he found a sand house with eight hundred +gods living in it. Apparently Maui discovered islands with inhabitants, +and was reported to have fished them up out of the depths of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> the ocean. +Fishing was sailing over the ocean until distant lands were drawn near +or "fished up."</p> + +<p>Maui walked over the islands and found men living on them and fires +burning near their homes. He evidently did not know much about fire, for +he took it in his hands. He was badly burned and rushed into the sea. +Down he dived under the cooling waters and came up with one of the New +Zealand islands on his shoulders. But his hands were still burning, so +wherever he held the island it was set on fire.</p> + +<p>These fires are still burning in the secret recesses of the volcanoes, +and sometimes burst out in flowing lava. Then Maui paid attention to the +people whom he had fished up. He tried to teach them, but they did not +learn as he thought they should. He quickly became angry and said, "It +is a waste of light for the sun to shine on such stupid people." So he +tried to hold his hands between them and the sun, but the rays of the +sun were too many and too strong; therefore, he could not shut them out. +Then he tried the moon and managed to make it dark a part of the time +each month. In this way he made a little trouble for the stupid people.</p> + +<p>There are other hints in the legends concerning Maui's desire to be +revenged upon any one who incurred his displeasure. It was said that +Maui for a time lived in the heavens above the earth. Here he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> had a +foster brother Maru. The two were cultivating the fields. Maru sent a +snowstorm over Maui's field. (It would seem as if this might be a +Polynesian memory of a cold land where their ancestors knew the cold +winter, or a lesson learned from the snow-caps of high mountains.) At +any rate, the snow blighted Maui's crops. Maui retaliated by praying for +rain to destroy Maru's fields. But Maru managed to save a part of his +crops. Other legends make Maui the aggressor. At the last, however, Maui +became very angry. The foster parents tried to soothe the two men by +saying, "Live in peace with each other and do not destroy each other's +food." But Maui was implacable and lay in wait for his foster brother, +who was in the habit of carrying fruit and grass as an offering to the +gods of a temple situated on the summit of a hill. Here Maui killed Maru +and then went away to the earth.</p> + +<p>This legend is told by three or four different tribes of New Zealand and +is very similar to the Hebrew story of Cain and Abel. At this late day +it is difficult to say definitely whether or not it owes its origin to +the early touch of Christianity upon New Zealand when white men first +began to live with the natives. It is somewhat similar to stories found +in the Tonga Islands and also in the Hawaiian group, where a son of the +first gods, or rather of the first men, kills a brother. In each case +there is the shadow of the Bib<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>lical idea. It seems safe to infer that +such legends are not entirely drawn from contact with Christian +civilization. The natives claim that these stories are very ancient, and +that their fathers knew them before the white men sailed on the +Pacific.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII.</h2> + +<h3>MAUI AND TUNA.</h3> + + +<p>When Maui returned from the voyages in which he discovered or "fished +up" from the ocean depths new islands, he gave deep thought to the +things he had found. As the islands appeared to come out of the water he +saw they were inhabited. There were houses and stages for drying and +preserving food. He was greeted by barking dogs. Fires were burning, +food cooking and people working. He evidently had gone so far away from +home that a strange people was found. The legend which speaks of the +death of his brothers, "eaten" by the great fish drawn up from the floor +of the sea, may very easily mean that the new people killed and ate the +brothers.</p> + +<p>Maui apparently learned some new lessons, for on his return he quickly +established a home of his own, and determined to live after the fashion +of the families in the new islands.</p> + +<p>Maui sought Hina-a-te-lepo, "daughter of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> swamp," and secured her as +his wife. The New Zealand tribes tell legends which vary in different +localities about this woman Hina. She sometimes bore the name +Rau-kura—"The red plume."</p> + +<p>She cared for his thatched house as any other Polynesian woman was in +the habit of doing. She attempted the hurried task of cooking his food +before he snared the sun and gave her sufficient daylight for her +labors.</p> + +<p>They lived near the bank of a river from which Hina was in the habit of +bringing water for the household needs.</p> + +<p>One day she went down to the stream with her calabash. She was entwined +with wreaths of leaves and flowers, as was the custom among Polynesian +women. While she was standing on the bank, Tuna-roa, "the long eel," saw +her. He swam up to the bank and suddenly struck her and knocked her into +the water and covered her with slime from the blow given by his tail.</p> + +<p>Hina escaped and returned to her home, saying nothing to Maui about the +trouble. But the next day, while getting water, she was again overthrown +and befouled by the slime of Tuna-roa.</p> + +<p>Then Hina became angry and reported the trouble to Maui.</p> + +<p>Maui decided to punish the long eel and started out to find his hiding +place. Some of the New Zealand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> legends as collected by White, state +that Tuna-roa was a very smooth skinned chief, who lived on the opposite +bank of the stream, and, seeing Hina, had insulted her.</p> + +<p>When Maui saw this chief, he caught two pieces of wood over which he was +accustomed to slide his canoe into the sea. These he carried to the +stream and laid them from bank to bank as a bridge over which he might +entice Tuna-roa to cross.</p> + +<p>Maui took his stone axe, Ma-Tori-Tori, "the severer," and concealed +himself near the bank of the river.</p> + +<p>When "the long eel" had crossed the stream, Maui rushed out and killed +him with a mighty blow of the stone axe, cutting the head from the body.</p> + +<p>Other legends say that Maui found Tuna-roa living as an eel in a deep +water hole, in a swamp on the sea-coast of Tata-a, part of the island +Ao-tea-roa. Other stories located Tuna-roa in the river near Maui's +home.</p> + +<p>Maui saw that he could not get at his enemy without letting off the +water which protected him.</p> + +<p>Therefore into the forest went Maui, and with sacred ceremonies, +selected trees from the wood of which he prepared tools and weapons.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, in addition to the insult given to Hina, Tuna-roa had caught +and devoured two of Maui's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> children, which made Maui more determined to +kill him.</p> + +<p>Maui made the narrow spade (named by the Maoris of New Zealand the "ko," +and by the Hawaiians "o-o") and the sharp spears, with which to pierce +either the earth or his enemy. These spears and spades were consecrated +to the work of preparing a ditch by which to draw off the water +protecting "the long eel."</p> + +<p>The work of trench-making was accomplished with many incantations and +prayers. The ditch was named "The sacred digging," and was tabooed to +all other purposes except that of catching Tuna-roa.</p> + +<p>Across this ditch Maui stretched a strong net, and then began a new +series of chants and ceremonies to bring down an abundance of rain. Soon +the flood came and the overflowing waters rushed down the sacred ditch. +The walls of the deep pool gave way and "the long eel" was carried down +the trench into the waiting net. Then there was commotion. Tuna-roa was +struggling for freedom.</p> + +<p>Maui saw him and hastened to grasp his stone axe, "the severer." +Hurrying to the net, he struck Tuna-roa a terrible blow, and cut off the +head. With a few more blows, he cut the body in pieces. The head and +tail were carried out into the sea. The head became fish and the tail +became the great conger-eel. Other parts of the body became sea +monsters. But some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> parts which fell in fresh water became the common +eels. From the hairs of the head came certain vines and creepers among +the plants.</p> + +<p>After the death of Tuna-roa the offspring of Maui were in no danger of +being killed and soon multiplied into a large family.</p> + +<p>Another New Zealand legend related by White says that Maui built a +sliding place of logs, over which Tuna-roa must pass when coming from +the river.</p> + +<p>Maui also made a screen behind which he could secrete himself while +watching for Tuna-roa.</p> + +<p>He commanded Hina to come down to the river and wait on the bank to +attract Tuna-roa. Soon the long eel was seen in the water swimming near +to Hina. Hina went to a place back of the logs which Maui had laid down.</p> + +<p>Tuna-roa came towards her, and began to slide down the skids.</p> + +<p>Maui sprang out from his hiding place and killed Tuna-roa with his axe, +and cut him in pieces.</p> + +<p>The tail became the conger-eel. Parts of his body became fresh-water +eels. Some of the blood fell upon birds and always after marked them +with red spots. Some of the blood was thrown into certain trees, making +this wood always red. The muscles became vines and creepers.</p> + +<p>From this time the children of Maui caught and ate the eels of both salt +and fresh water. Eel traps were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> made, and Maui taught the people the +proper chants or incantations to use when catching eels.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/i125.jpg" width="550" height="549" alt="A Coconut Grove in Kona." title="" /> +<span class="caption">A Coconut Grove in Kona.</span> +</div> + +<p>This legend of Maui and the long eel was found by White in a number of +forms among the different tribes of New Zealand, but does not seem to +have had currency in many other island groups.</p> + +<p>In Turner's "Samoa" a legend is related which was probably derived from +the Maui stories and yet differs in its romantic results. The Samoans +say that among their ancient ones dwelt a woman named Sina. Sina among +the Polynesians is the same as Hina—the "h" is softened into "s". She +captured a small eel and kept it as a pet. It grew large and strong and +finally attacked and bit her. She fled, but the eel followed her +everywhere. Her father came to her assistance and raised high mountains +between the eel and herself. But the eel passed over the barrier and +pursued her. Her mother raised a new series of mountains. But again the +eel surmounted the difficulties and attempted to seize Sina. She broke +away from him and ran on and on. Finally she wearily passed through a +village. The people asked her to stay and eat with them, but she said +they could only help her by delivering her from the pursuing eel. The +inhabitants of that village were afraid of the eel and refused to fight +for her. So she ran on to another place. Here the chief offered her a +drink of water and promised to kill the eel for her. He prepared awa, a +stupefying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> drink, and put poison in it. When the eel came along the +chief asked him to drink. He took the awa and prepared to follow Sina. +When he came to the place where she was the pains of death had already +seized him. While dying he begged her to bury his head by her home. This +she did, and in time a plant new to the islands sprang up. It became a +tree, and finally produced a cocoanut, whose two eyes could continually +look into the face of Sina.</p> + +<p>Tuna, in the legends of Fiji, was a demon of the sea. He lived in a deep +sea cave, into which he sometimes shut himself behind closed doors of +coral. When he was hungry, he swam through the ocean shadows, always +watching the restless surface. When a canoe passed above him, he would +throw himself swiftly through the waters, upset the canoe, and seize +some of the boatmen and devour them. He was greatly feared by all the +fishermen of the Fijian coasts.</p> + + +<p>Roko—a mo-o or dragon god—in his journey among the islands, stopped at +a village by the sea and asked for a canoe and boatmen. The people said: +"We have nothing but a very old canoe out there by the water." He went +to it and found it in a very bad condition. He put it in the water, and +decided that he could use it. Then he asked two men to go with him and +paddle, but they refused because of fear, and explained this fear by +telling the story of the water demon, who continually sought the +destruction of this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> canoe, and also their own death. Roko encouraged +them to take him to wage battle with Tuna, telling them he would destroy +the monster. They paddled until they were directly over Tuna's cave. +Roko told them to go off to one side and wait and watch, saying: "I am +going down to see this Tuna. If you see red blood boil up through the +water, you may be sure that Tuna has been killed. If the blood is black, +then you will know that he has the victory and I am dead."</p> + +<p>Roko leaped into the water and went down—down to the door of the cave. +The coral doors were closed. He grasped them in his strong hands and +tore them open, breaking them in pieces. Inside he found cave after cave +of coral, and broke his way through until at last he awoke Tuna. The +angry demon cried: "Who is that?" Roko answered: "It is I, Roko, alone. +Who are you?"</p> + +<p>Tuna aroused himself and demanded Roko's business and who guided him to +that place. Roko replied: "No one has guided me. I go from place to +place, thinking that there is no one else in the world."</p> + +<p>Tuna shook himself angrily. "Do you think I am nothing? This day is your +last."</p> + +<p>Roko replied: "Perhaps so. If the sky falls, I shall die."</p> + +<p>Tuna leaped upon Roko and bit him. Then came the mighty battle of the +coral caves. Roko broke Tuna into several pieces—and the red blood +poured<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> in boiling bubbles upward through the clear ocean waters, and +the boatmen cried: "The blood is red—the blood is red—Tuna is dead by +the hand of Roko."</p> + +<p>Roko lived for a time in Fiji, where his descendants still find their +home. The people use this chant to aid them in difficulties:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"My load is a red one.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It points in front to Kawa (Roko's home).</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Behind, it points to Dolomo—(a village on another island)."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>In the Hawaiian legends, Hina was Maui's mother rather than his wife, +and Kuna (Tuna) was a mo-o, a dragon or gigantic lizard possessing +miraculous powers.</p> + +<p>Hina's home was in the large cave under the beautiful Rainbow Falls near +the city of Hilo. Above the falls the bed of the river is along the +channel of an ancient lava flow. Sometimes the water pours in a torrent +over the rugged lava, sometimes it passes through underground passages +as well as along the black river bed, and sometimes it thrusts itself +into boiling pools.</p> + +<p>Maui lived on the northern side of the river, but a chief named +Kuna-moo—a dragon—lived in the boiling pools. He attacked Hina and +threw a dam across the river below Rainbow Falls, intending to drown +Hina in her cave. The great ledge of rock filled the river bed high up +the bank on the Hilo side of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> river. Hina called on Maui for aid. +Maui came quickly and with mighty blows cut out a new channel for the +river—the path it follows to this day. The waters sank and Hina +remained unharmed in her cave.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/i131.jpg" width="550" height="549" alt="Wailuku River—the Boiling Pots." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Wailuku River—the Boiling Pots.</span> +</div> + +<p>The place where Kuna dwelt was called Wai-kuna—the Kuna water. The +river in which Hina and Kuna dwelt bears the name Wailuku—"the +destructive water." Maui went above Kuna's home and poured hot water +into the river. This part of the myth could easily have arisen from a +lava outburst on the side of the volcano above the river. The hot water +swept in a flood over Kuna's home. Kuna jumped from the boiling pools +over a series of small falls near his home into the river below. Here +the hot water again scalded him and in pain he leaped from the river to +the bank, where Maui killed him by beating him with a club. His body was +washed down the river over the falls under which Hina dwelt, into the +ocean.</p> + +<p>The story of Kuna or Tuna is a legend with a foundation in the enmity +between two chiefs of the long ago, and also in a desire to explain the +origin of the family of eels and the invention of nets and traps.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII.</h2> + +<h3>MAUI AND HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW.</h3> + + +<p>The "Stories of Maui's Brother-in-Law," and of "Maui seeking +Immortality," are not found in Hawaiian mythology. We depend upon Sir +George Grey and John White for the New Zealand myths in which both of +these legends occur.</p> + +<p>Maui's sister Hina-uri married Ira-waru, who was willing to work with +his skillful brother-in-law. They hunted in the forests and speared +birds. They fished and farmed together. They passed through many +experiences similar to those Maui's own brothers had suffered before the +brother-in-law took their place as Maui's companion. They made spears +together—but Maui made notched barbs for his spear ends—and slipped +them off when Ira-waru came near. So for a long time the proceeds of +bird hunting fell to Maui. But after a time the brother-in-law learned +the secret as the brothers had before, and Maui was looked up to by his +fellow hunter as the skillful one. Sometimes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> Ira-waru was able to see +at once Maui's plan and adopt it. He discovered Maui's method of making +the punga or eel baskets for catching eels.</p> + +<p>The two hunters went to the forest to find a certain creeping vine with +which to weave their eel snares. Ira-waru made a basket with a hole, by +which the eels could enter, but they could turn around and go out the +same way. So he very seldom caught an eel. But Maui made his basket with +a long funnel-shaped door, by which the eels could easily slide into the +snare but could scarcely escape. He made a door in the side which he +fastened tight until he wished to pour the eels out.</p> + +<p>Ira-waru immediately made a basket like Maui. Then Maui became angry and +uttered incantations over Ira-waru. The man dropped on the ground and +became a dog. Maui returned home and met his sister, who charged him +with sorcery concerning her husband.</p> + +<p>Maui did not deny the exercise of his power, but taught his sister a +chant and sent her out to the level country. There she uttered her chant +and a strange dog with long hair came to her, barking and leaping around +her. Then she knew what Maui had done. "Thus Ira-waru became the first +of the long-haired dogs whose flesh has been tabooed to women."</p> + +<p>The Tahu and Hau tribes of New Zealand tell a different story. They say +that Maui went to visit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> Ira-waru. Together they set out on a journey. +After a time they rested by the wayside and became sleepy. Maui asked +Ira-waru to cleanse his head. This gave him the restful, soothing touch +which aided sleep. Then Maui proposed that Ira-waru sleep. Taking the +head in his hands, Maui put his brother-in-law to sleep. Then by +incantations he made the sleep very deep and prolonged. Meanwhile he +pulled the ears and arms and limbs until they were properly lengthened. +He drew out the under jaw until it had the form of a dog's mouth. He +stretched the end of the backbone into a tail, and then wakened Ira-waru +and drove him back when he tried to follow the path to the settlement.</p> + +<p>Hina-uri went out and called her husband. He came to her, leaping and +barking. She decided that this was her husband, and in her agony +reproached Maui and wandered away.</p> + +<p>The Rua-nui story-tellers of New Zealand say that Maui's anger was +aroused against Ira-waru because he ate all the bait when they went +fishing, and they could catch no fish after paddling out to the fishing +grounds. When they came to land, Maui told Ira-waru to lie down in the +sand as a roller over which to drag the canoe up the beach. When he was +lying helpless under the canoe, Maui changed him into a dog.</p> + +<p>The Arawa legends make the cause of Maui's anger<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> the success of +Ira-waru while fishing. Ira-waru had many fish while Maui had captured +but few. The story is told thus: "Ira-waru hooked a fish and in pulling +it in his line became entangled with that of Maui. Maui felt the jerking +and began to pull in his line. Soon they pulled their lines close up to +the canoe, one to the bow, the other to the stern, where each was +sitting. Maui said: 'Let me pull the lines to me, as the fish is on my +hook.' His brother-in-law said: 'Not so; the fish is on mine.' But Maui +said: 'Let me pull my line in.' Ira-waru did so and saw that the fish +was on his hook. Then he said: 'Untwist your lines and let mine go, that +I may pull the fish in.' Maui said: 'I will do so, but let me have +time.' He took the fish off Ira-waru's hook and saw that there was a +barb on the hook. He said to Ira-waru: 'Perhaps we ought to return to +land.' When they were dragging the canoe on shore, Maui said to +Ira-waru: 'Get between the canoe and outrigger and drag.' Ira-waru did +so and Maui leaped on the outrigger and weighed it heavily down and +crushed Ira-waru prostrate on the beach. Maui trod on him and pulled his +backbone long like a tail and changed him into a dog."</p> + +<p>Maui is said to have tattooed the muzzle of the dog with a beautiful +pattern which the birds (kahui-zara, a flock of tern) used in marking +the sky. From this also came the red glow which sometimes flushes the +face of man.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p> + +<p>Another Arawa version of the legend was that Maui and Ira-waru were +journeying together. Ira-waru was gluttonous and ate the best food. At +last Maui determined to punish his companion. By incantation he +lengthened the way until Ira-waru became faint and weary. Maui had +provided himself with a little food and therefore was enabled to endure +the long way. While Ira-waru slept Maui trod on his backbone and +lengthened it and changed the arms and limbs into the legs of a dog. +When Hina-uri saw the state of her husband she went into the thatched +house by which Ira-waru had so often stood watching the hollow log in +which she dried the fish and preserved the birds speared in the +mountains. She bound her girdle and hala-leaf apron around her and went +down to the sea to drown herself, that her body might be eaten by the +monsters of the sea. When she came to the shell-covered beach, she sat +down and sang her death song—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"I weep, I call to the steep billows of the sea</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And to him, the great, the ocean god;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To monsters, all now hidden,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To come and bury me,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who now am wrapped in mourning.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Let the waves wear their mourning, too,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And sleep as sleeps the dead."</span><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 9em;">—Ancient Maui Chant of New Zealand.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Then Hina-uri threw herself into the sea and was borne on the waves many +moons, at last drifting to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> shore, to be found by two fishermen. They +carried the body off to the fire and warmed it back to life. They +brushed off the sea moss and sea weeds and rubbed her until she awoke.</p> + +<p>Soon they told their chief, Tini-rau, what a beautiful woman they had +found in the sea. He came and took her away to make her one of his +wives. But the other wives were jealous and drove Hina-uri away from the +chief's houses.</p> + +<p>Another New Zealand legend says that Hina came to the sea and called for +a little fish to aid her in going away from the island. It tried to +carry her, but was too weak. Hina struck it with her open hand. It had +striped sides forever after. She tried a larger fish, but fell off +before they had gone far from shore. Her blow gave this fish its +beautiful blue spots. Another received black spots. Another she stamped +her foot upon, making it flat. At last a shark carried her far away. She +was very thirsty, and broke a cocoanut on the shark's head, making a +bump, which has been handed down for generations. The shark carried her +to the home of the two who rescued her and gave her new strength.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Rupe or Maui-mua, a brother of Hina-uri and Maui, grieved for +his sister. He sought for her throughout the land and then launched his +canoe upon the blue waters surrounding Ao-tea-roa (The Great White Land; +the ancient native New Zealand)<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> and searched the coasts. He only +learned that his sister had, as the natives said, "leaped into the +waters and been carried away into the heavens."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/i140.jpg" width="550" height="550" alt=""Outside Were Other Worlds."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"Outside Were Other Worlds."</span> +</div> + +<p>Rupe's heart filled with the desire to find and protect the frenzied +sister who had probably taken a canoe and floated away, out of the +horizon, seen from New Zealand coasts, into new horizons. During the +Viking age of the Pacific, when many chiefs sailed long distances, +visiting the most remote islands of Polynesia, they frequently spoke of +breaking through from the home land into new heavens—or of climbing up +the path of the sun on the waters into a new heaven. This was their +poetical way of passing from horizon to horizon. The horizon around +their particular island surrounded their complete world. Outside, +somewhere, were other worlds and other heavens. Rupe's voyage was an +idyll of the Pacific. It was one more story to be added to the prose +poems of consecrated travel. It was a brother feeling through the +mysteries of unknown lands for a sister, as dear to him as an Evangeline +has been to other men.</p> + +<p>From the mist-land of the Polynesian race comes this story of the +trickery of Maui the learned, and the faithfulness of his older brother +Maui-mua or Rupe—one of the "five forgetful Mauis." Rupe hoisted +mat-sails over his canoe and thus made the winds serve him. He paddled +the canoe onward through the hours when calms rested on glassy waves.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> + +<p>Thus he passed out of sight of Ao-tea-roa, away from his brothers, and +out of the reach of all tricks and incantations of Maui, the +mischievous. He sailed until a new island rose out of the sea to greet +him. Here in a "new heaven" he found friends to care for him and prepare +him for his longer journey. His restless anxiety for his sister urged +him onward until days lengthened into months and months into years. He +passed from the horizons of newly-discovered islands, into the horizons +of circling skies around islands of which he had never heard before. +Sometimes he found relatives, but more frequently his welcome came from +those who could trace no historical touch in their genealogies.</p> + +<p>Here and there, apparently, he found traces of a woman whose description +answered that of his sister Hina-uri. At last he looked through the +heavens upon a new world, and saw his sister in great trouble.</p> + +<p>According to some legends the jealous wives of the great chief, +Tini-rau, attack Hina, who was known among them as Hina-te-ngaru-moana, +"Hina, the daughter of the ocean." Tini-rau and Hina lived away from the +village of the chief until their little boy was born. When they needed +food, the chief said, "Let us go to my settlement and we shall have food +provided."</p> + +<p>But Hina chanted:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Let it down, let it down,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Descend, oh! descend—"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>and sufficient food fell before them. After a time their frail clothing +wore out, and the cold chilled them, then Hina again uttered the +incantation and clothing was provided for their need.</p> + +<p>But the jealous wives, two in number, finally heard where Hina and the +chief were living, and started to see them.</p> + +<p>Tini-rau said to Hina, "Here come my other wives—be careful how you act +before them."</p> + +<p>She replied, "If they come in anger it will be evil."</p> + +<p>She armed herself with an obsidian or volcanic-glass knife, and waited +their coming.</p> + +<p>They tried to throw enchantments around her to kill her. Then one of +them made a blow at her with a weapon, but she turned it aside and +killed her enemy with the obsidian knife.</p> + +<p>Then the other wife made an attack, and again the obsidian knife brought +death. She ripped open the stomachs of the jealous ones and showed the +chief fish lines and sinkers and other property which they had eaten in +the past and which Tini-rau had never been able to trace.</p> + +<p>Another legend says that the two women came to kill Hina when they heard +of the birth of her boy. For a time she was greatly terrified. Then she +saw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> that they were coming from different directions. She attacked the +nearest one with a stone and killed her. The body burst open, and was +seen to be full of green stone. Then she killed the second wife in the +same way, and found more green stones. "Thus, according to the legends, +originated the greenstone" from which the choicest and most valuable +stone tools have since been made. For a time the chief and Hina lived +happily together. Then he began to neglect her and abuse her, until she +cried aloud for her brother—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"O Rupe! come down.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Take me and my child."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Rupe assumed the form of a bird and flew down to this world in which he +had found his sister. He chanted as he came down—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"It is Rupe, yes Rupe,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The elder brother;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And I am here."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>He folded the mother and her boy under his wings and flew away with +them. Sir George Gray relates a legend in which Maui-mua or Rupe is +recorded as having carried his sister and her child to one of the new +lands, found in his long voyage, where dwelt an aged relative, of chief +rank, with his retainers.</p> + +<p>Some legends say that Tini-rau tried to catch Rupe,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> who was compelled +to drop the child in order to escape with the mother. Tini-rau caught +the child and carefully cared for him until he grew to be a strong young +lad.</p> + +<p>Then he wanted to find his mother and bring her back to his father. How +this was done, how Rupe took his sister back to the old chief, and how +civil wars arose are not all these told in the legends of the Maoris. +Thus the tricks of Maui the mischievous brought trouble for a time, but +were finally overshadowed by happy homes in neighboring lands for his +suffering sister and her descendants.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX.</h2> + +<h3>MAUI'S KITE FLYING.</h3> + + +<p>Maui the demi-god was sometimes the Hercules of Polynesia. His exploits +were fully as marvelous as those of the hero of classic mythology. He +snared the sun. He pulled up islands from the ocean depths. He lifted +the sky into its present position and smoothed its arched surface with +his stone adze. These stories belong to all Polynesia.</p> + +<p>There are numerous less important local myths, some of them peculiar to +New Zealand, some to the Society Islands and some to the Hawaiian group.</p> + +<p>One of the old native Hawaiians says that in the long, long ago the +birds were flying around the homes of the ancient people. The flutter of +their wings could be heard and the leaves and branches moved when the +motion of the wings ceased and the wanderers through the air found +resting places. Then came sweet music from the trees and the people +marvelled. Only one of all mankind could see the winged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> warblers. Maui, +the demi-god, had clear vision. The swift-flying wings covered with red +or gold he saw. The throats tinted many colors and reflecting the +sunlight with diamond sparks of varied hues he watched while they +trembled with the melody of sweet bird songs. All others heard but did +not see. They were blind and yet had open vision.</p> + +<p>Sometimes the iiwi (a small red bird) fluttered in the air and uttered +its shrill, happy song, and Maui saw and heard. But the bird at that +time was without color in the eyes of the ancient people and only the +clear voice was heard, while no speck of bird life flecked the clear sky +overhead.</p> + +<p>At one time a god from one of the other islands came to visit Maui. Each +boasted of and described the beauties and merits of his island. While +they were conversing, Maui called for his friends the birds. They +gathered around the house and fluttered among the leaves of the +surrounding trees. Soon their sweet voices filled the air on all sides. +All the people wondered and worshiped, thinking they heard the fairy or +menehune people. It was said that Maui had painted the bodies of his +invisible songsters and for a long time had kept the delight of their +flashing colors to himself. But when the visitor had rejoiced in the +mysterious harmonies, Maui decided to take away whatever veil shut out +the sight of these things beautiful, that his bird friends might be +known and honored<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> ever after. So he made the birds reveal themselves +perched in the trees or flying in the air. The clear eyes of the god +first recognized the new revelation, then all the people became dumb +before the sweet singers adorned in all their brilliant tropical +plumage.</p> + +<p>The beautiful red birds, iiwi and akakani, and the birds of glorious +yellow feathers, the oo and the mamo, were a joy to both eye and ear and +found high places in Hawaiian legend and story, and all gave their most +beautiful feathers for the cloaks and helmets of the chiefs.</p> + +<p>The Maoris of New Zealand say that Maui could at will change himself +into a bird and with his feathered friends find a home in leafy +shelters. In bird form he visited the gods of the under-world. His +capricious soul was sensitive to the touch of all that mysterious life +of nature.</p> + +<p>With the birds as companions and the winds as his servants Maui must +soon have turned his inventive mind to kite making.</p> + +<p>The Hawaiian myths are perhaps the only ones of the Pacific Ocean which +give to any of the gods the pleasure and excitement of kite flying. +Maui, after repeated experiments, made a large kite for himself. It was +much larger than any house of his time or generation. He twisted a long +line from the strong fibers of the native plant known as the olona. He +endowed both kite and string with marvelous powers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> and launched the +kite up toward the clouds. It rose very slowly. The winds were not +lifting it into the sky.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/i150.jpg" width="550" height="528" alt="The Home of the Winds, Hilo Coast." title="" /> +<span class="caption">The Home of the Winds, Hilo Coast.</span> +</div> + +<p>Maui remembered that an old priest lived in Waipio valley, the largest +and finest valley of the large island, Hawaii, on which he made his +home.</p> + +<p>This priest had a covered calabash in which he compelled the winds to +hide when he did not wish them to play on land and sea. The priest's +name was Kaleiioku, and his calabash was known as ipu-makani-a ka +maumau, "the calabash of the perpetual winds." Maui called for the +priest who had charge of the winds to open his calabash and let them +come up to Hilo and blow along the Wailuku river. The natives say that +the place where Maui stood was marked by the pressure of his feet in the +lava rocks of the river bank as he braced himself to hold the kite +against the increasing force of the winds which pushed it towards the +sky. Then the enthusiasm of kite flying filled his youthful soul and he +cried aloud, screaming his challenge along the coast of the sea toward +Waipio—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"O winds, winds of Waipio,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In the calabash of Kaleiioku.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Come from the ipu-makani,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O wind, the wind of Hilo,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Come quickly, come with power."</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then the priest lifted the cover of the calabash of the winds and let +the strong winds of Hilo escape. Along the sea coast they rushed until +as they entered Hilo Bay they heard the voice of Maui calling—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"O winds, winds of Hilo,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hasten and come to me."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>With a tumultuous rush the strong winds turned toward the mountains. +They forced their way along the gorges and palisades of the Wailuku +river. They leaped into the heavens, making a fierce attack upon the +monster which Maui had sent into the sky. The kite struggled as it was +pushed upward by the hands of the fierce winds, but Maui rejoiced. His +heart was uplifted by the joy of the conflict in which his strength to +hold was pitted against the power of the winds to tear away. And again +he shouted toward the sea—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"O winds, the winds of Hilo,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Come to the mountains, come."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>The winds which had been stirring up storms on the face of the waters +came inland. They dashed against Maui. They climbed the heights of the +skies until they fell with full violence against their mighty foe +hanging in the heavens.</p> + +<p>The kite had been made of the strongest kapa (paper cloth) which Maui's +mother could prepare.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> It was not torn, although it was bent backward to +its utmost limit. Then the strain came on the strong cord of olona +fibre. The line was stretched and strained as the kite was pushed back. +Then Maui called again and again for stronger winds to come. The cord +was drawn out until the kite was far above the mountains. At last it +broke and the kite was tossed over the craters of the volcanoes to the +land of the district of Ka-u on the other side of the island.</p> + +<p>Then Maui was angry and hastily leaped over the mountains, which are +nearly fourteen thousand feet in altitude. In a half dozen strides he +had crossed the fifty or sixty miles from his home to the place where +the kite lay. He could pass over many miles with a single step. His name +was Maui-Mama, "Maui the Swift." When Maui returned with his kite he was +more careful in calling the winds to aid him in his sport.</p> + +<p>The people watched their wise neighbor and soon learned that the kite +could be a great blessing to them. When it was soaring in the sky there +was always dry and pleasant weather. It was a day for great rejoicing. +They could spread out their kapa cloth to dry as long as the kite was in +the sky. They could carry out their necessary work without fear of the +rain. Therefore when any one saw the kite beginning to float along the +mountain side he would call out joyfully, "E! Maui's kite is in the +heavens." Maui would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> send his kite into the blue sky and then tie the +line to the great black stones in the bed of the Wailuku river.</p> + +<p>Maui soon learned the power of his kite when blown upon by a fierce +wind. With his accustomed skill he planned to make use of his strong +servant, and therefore took the kite with him on his journeys to the +other islands, using it to aid in making swift voyages. With the wind in +the right direction, the kite could pull his double canoe very easily +and quickly to its destination.</p> + +<p>Time passed, and even the demi-god died. The fish hook with which he +drew the Hawaiian Islands up from the depths of the sea was allowed to +lie on the lava by the Wailuku river until it became a part of the +stone. The double canoe was carried far inland and then permitted to +petrify by the river side. The two stones which represent the double +canoe now bear the name "Waa-Kauhi," and the kite has fallen from the +sky far up on the mountain side, where it still rests, a flat plot of +rich land between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X.</h2> + +<h3>THE OAHU LEGENDS OF MAUI.</h3> + + +<p>Several Maui legends have been located on the island of Oahu. They were +given by Mr. Kaaia to Mr. T. G. Thrum, the publisher of what is well +known in the Hawaiian Islands as "Thrum's Annual." He has kindly +furnished them for added interest to the present volume. The legends +have a distinctly local flavor confined entirely to Oahu. It has seemed +best to reserve them for a chapter by themselves although they are +chiefly variations of stories already told.</p> + + +<h3>MAUI AND THE TWO GODS.</h3> + +<p>This history of Maui and his grandmother Hina begins with their arrival +from foreign lands. They dwelt in Kane-ana (Kane's cave), Waianae, Oahu. +This is an "ana," or cave, at Puu-o-hulu. Hina had wonderful skill in +making all kinds of tapa according to the custom of the women of ancient +Hawaii.</p> + +<p>Maui went to the Koolau side and rested at Kaha-luu, a diving place in +Koolaupoko. In that place there is a noted hill called Ma-eli-eli. This +is the story of that hill. Maui threw up a pile of dirt and concealed +rubbish under it. The two gods, Kane and Kanaloa, came along and asked +Maui what he was doing. He said, "What you see. You two dig on that side +to the foot of the pali, (precipice) and I will go down at Kaha-luu. If +you two dig through first, you may kill me. If I get through first I +will kill you." They agreed, and began to dig and throw up the dirt. +Then Maui dug three times and tossed up some of the hills of that place. +Kane and Kanaloa saw that Maui was digging very fast, so they put forth +very great strength and threw the dirt into a hill. Meanwhile Maui ran +away to the other side of the island. Thus by the aid of the gods the +hill Ma-eli-eli was thrown up and received its name "eli," meaning +"dig." "Ma-eli-eli" meant "the place of digging."</p> + + +<h3>HOW THEY FOUND FIRE.</h3> + +<p>It was said that Maui and Hina had no fire. They were often cold and had +no cooked food. Maui saw flames rising in a distant place and ran to see +how they were made. When he came to that place the fire was out and some +birds flew away. One of them was Ka-Alae-huapi, "the stingy Alae"—a +small duck, the Hawaiian mud hen. Maui watched again and saw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> fire. +When he went up the birds saw him coming and scattered the fire, +carrying the ashes into the water; but he leaped and caught the little +Alae. "Ah!" he said, "I will kill you, because you do not let me have +fire." The bird replied, "If you kill me you cannot find fire." Maui +said, "Where is fire?" The Alae said, "Go up on the high land where +beautiful plants with large leaves are standing; rub their branches." +Maui set the bird free and went inland from Halawa and found dry land +taro. He began to rub the stalks, but only juice came out like water. He +had no red fire. He was very angry and said, "If that lying Alae is +caught again by me I will be its death."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/i158.jpg" width="550" height="549" alt="Bay of Waipio Valley." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Bay of Waipio Valley.</span> +</div> + +<p>After a while he saw the fire burning and ran swiftly. The birds saw him +and cried, "The cooking is over. Here comes the swift grandchild of +Hina." They scattered the fire, threw the ashes away and flew into the +water. But again Maui caught the Alae and began to kill it, saying: "You +gave me a plant full of water from which to get fire." The bird said, +"If I die you can never find fire. I will give you the secret of fire. +Take a branch of that dry tree and rub." Maui held the bird fast in one +hand while he rubbed with the other until smoke and fire came out. Then +he took the fire stick and rubbed the head of the bird, making a place +where red and white feathers have grown ever since.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p> + +<p>He returned to Hina and taught her how to make fire, using the two fire +sticks and how to twist coconut fibre to catch the fire when it had been +kindled in wood. But the Alae was not forgotten. It was called huapi, +"stingy," because it selfishly kept the knowledge of fire making to +itself.</p> + + +<h3>MAUI CATCHING THE SUN.</h3> + +<p>Maui watched Hina making tapa. The wet tapa was spread on a long tapa +board, and Hina began at one end to pound it into shape; pounding from +one end to another. He noticed that sunset came by the time she had +pounded to the middle of the board. The sun hurried so fast that she +could only begin her work before the day was past.</p> + +<p>He went to the hill Hele-a-ka-la, which means "journey of the sun." He +thought he would catch the sun and make it move slowly. He went up the +hill and waited. When the sun began to rise, Maui made himself long, +stretching up toward the sky. Soon the shining legs of the sun came up +the hillside. He saw Maui and began to run swiftly, but Maui reached out +and caught one of the legs, saying: "O sun, I will kill you. You are a +mischief maker. You make trouble for Hina by going so fast." Then he +broke the shining leg of the sun. The sufferer said, "I will change my +way and go slowly—six months slow and six<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> months faster." Thus arose +the saying, "Long shall be the daily journey of the sun and he shall +give light for all the people's toil." Hina learned that she could pound +until she was tired while the farmers could plant and take care of their +fields. Thus also this hill received its name Hele-a-ka-la. This is one +of the hills of Waianae near the precipice of the hill Puu-o-hulu.</p> + + +<h3>UNITING THE ISLANDS.</h3> + +<p>Maui suggested to Hina that he had better try to draw the islands +together, uniting them in one land. Hina told Maui to go and see +Alae-nui-a-Hina, who would tell him what to do. The Alae told him they +must go to Ponaha-ke-one (a fishing place outside of Pearl Harbor) and +find Ka-uniho-kahi, "the one toothed," who held the land under the sea.</p> + +<p>Maui went back to Hina. She told him to ask his brothers to go fishing +with him. They consented and pushed out into the sea. Soon Maui saw a +bailing dish floating by the canoe and picked it up. It was named +Hina-a-ke-ka, "Hina who fell off." They paddled to Ponaha-ke-one. When +they stopped they saw a beautiful young woman in the boat. Then they +anchored and again looked in the boat, but the young woman was gone. +They saw the bailing dish and threw it into the sea.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p> + +<p>Maui-mua threw his hook and caught a large fish, which was seen to be a +shark as they drew it to the surface. At once they cut the line. So also +Maui-hope and Maui-waena. At last Maui threw his hook Manai-i-ka-lani +into the sea. It went down, down into the depths. Maui cried, +"Hina-a-ke-ka has my hook in her hand. By her it will be made fast." +Hina went down with the hook until she met Ka-uniho-kahi. She asked him +to open his mouth, then threw the hook far inside and made it fast. Then +she pulled the line so that Maui should know that the fish was caught. +Maui fastened the line to the outrigger of the canoe and asked his +brothers to paddle with all diligence, and not look back. Long, long, +they paddled and were very tired. Then Maui took a paddle and dipped +deep in the sea. The boat moved more swiftly through the sea. The +brothers looked back and cried, "There is plenty of land behind us." The +charm was broken. The hook came out of "the one toothed," and the raised +islands sank back into their place. The native say, "The islands are now +united to America. Perhaps Maui has been at work."</p> + + +<h3>MAUI AND PEA-PEA THE EIGHT-EYED.</h3> + +<p>Maui had been fishing and had caught a great fish upon which he was +feasting. He looked inland and saw his wife, Kumu-lama, seized and +carried away<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> by Pea-pea-maka-walu, "Pea-pea the eight-eyed." This +is a legend derived from the myths of many islands in which Lupe or Rupe +(pigeon) changed himself into a bird and flew after his sister Hina who +had been carried on the back of a shark to distant islands. Sometimes as +a man and sometimes as a bird he prosecuted his search until Hina was +found.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 547px;"> +<img src="images/i164.jpg" width="547" height="550" alt="The Ie-ie Vine." title="" /> +<span class="caption">The Ie-ie Vine.</span> +</div> + +<p>Maui pursued Pea-pea, but could not catch him. He carried Maui's wife +over the sea to a far away island. Maui was greatly troubled but his +grandmother sent him inland to find an old man who would tell him what +to do. Maui went inland and looking down toward Waipahu saw this man +Ku-olo-kele. He was hump-backed. Maui threw a large stone and hit the +"hill on the back" knocked it off and made the back straight. The old +man lifted up the stone and threw it to Waipahu, where it lies to this +day. Then he and Maui talked together. He told Maui to go and catch +birds and gather ti leaves and fibers of the ie-ie vine, and fill his +house. These things Maui secured and brought to him. He told Maui to go +home and return after three days.</p> + +<p>Ku-olo-kele took the ti leaves and the ie-ie threads and made the body +of a great bird which he covered with bird feathers. He fastened all +together with the ie-ie. This was done in the first day. The second day +he placed food inside and tried his bird and it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> flew all right. +"Thus," as the Hawaiians say, "the first flying ship was made in the +time of Maui." This is a modern version of Rupe changing himself into a +bird.</p> + +<p>On the third day Maui came and saw the wonderful bird body thoroughly +prepared for his journey. Maui went inside. Ku-olo-kele said, "When you +reach that land, look for a village. If the people are not there look to +the beach. If there are many people, your wife and Pea-pea the +eight-eyed will be there. Do not go near, but fly out over the sea. The +people will say, 'O, the strange bird;' but Pea-pea will say, 'This is +my bird. It is tabu.' You can then come to the people."</p> + +<p>Maui pulled the ie-ie ropes fastened to the wings and made them move. +Thus he flew away into the sky. Two days was his journey before he came +to that strange island, Moana-liha-i-ka-wao-kele. It was a beautiful +land. He flew inland to a village, but there were no people; according +to the ancient chant:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"The houses of Lima-loa stand,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But there are no people;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They are at Mana."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>The people were by the sea. Maui flew over them. He saw his wife, but he +passed on flying out over the sea, skimming like a sea bird down to the +water and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> rising gracefully up to the sky. Pea-pea called out, "This +is my bird. It is tabu." Maui heard and came to the beach. He was caught +and placed in a tabu box. The servants carried him up to the village and +put him in the chief's sleeping house, when Pea-pea and his people +returned to their homes.</p> + +<p>In the night Pea-pea and Maui's wife lay down to sleep. Maui watched +Pea-pea, hoping that he would soon sleep. Then he would kill him. Maui +waited. One eye was closed, seven eyes were opened. Then four eyes +closed, leaving three. The night was almost past and dawn was near. Then +Maui called to Hina with his spirit voice, "O Hina, keep it dark." Hina +made the gray dawn dark in the three eyes and two closed in sleep. The +last eye was weary, and it also slept. Then Maui went out of the bird +body and cut off the head of Pea-pea and put it inside the bird. He +broke the roof of the house until a large opening was made. He took his +wife, Kumu-lama, and flew away to the island of Oahu. The winds blew +hard against the flying bird. Rain fell in torrents around it, but those +inside had no trouble.</p> + +<p>"Thus Maui returned with his wife to his home in Oahu. The story is pau +(finished)."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI.</h2> + +<h3>MAUI SEEKING IMMORTALITY.</h3> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Climb up, climb up,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the highest surface of heaven,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To all the sides of heaven.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Climb then to thy ancestor,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The sacred bird in the sky,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To thy ancestor Rehua</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">In the heavens.</span><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">—New Zealand kite incantation.</span><br /> +</p> + + +<p>The story of Maui seeking immortality for the human race is one of the +finest myths in the world. For pure imagination and pathos it is +difficult to find any tale from Grecian or Latin literature to compare +with it. In Greek and Roman fables gods suffered for other gods, and yet +none were surrounded with such absolutely mythical experiences as those +through which the demi-god Maui of the Pacific Ocean passed when he +entered the gates of death with the hope of winning immortality for +mankind. The really remarkable group of legends which cluster<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> around +Maui is well concluded by the story of his unselfish and heroic battle +with death.</p> + +<p>The different islands of the Pacific have their Hades, or abode of dead. +It is, with very few exceptions, down in the interior of the earth. +Sometimes the tunnels left by currents of melted lava are the passages +into the home of departed spirits. In Samoa there are two circular holes +among the rocks at the west end of the island Savaii. These are the +entrances to the under-world for chiefs and people. The spirits of those +who die on the other islands leap into the sea and swim around the land +from island to island until they reach Savaii. Then they plunge down +into their heaven or their hades.</p> + +<p>The Tongans had a spirit island for the home of the dead. They said that +some natives once sailed far away in a canoe and found this island. It +was covered with all manner of beautiful fruits, among which rare birds +sported. They landed, but the trees were shadows. They grasped but could +not hold them. The fruits and the birds were shadows. The men ate, but +swallowed nothing substantial. It was shadow-land. They walked through +all the delights their eyes looked upon, but found no substance. They +returned home, but ever seemed to listen to spirits calling them back to +the island. In a short time all the voyagers were dead.</p> + +<p>There is no escape from death. The natives of New<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> Zealand say: "Man +may have descendants, but the daughters of the night strangle his +offspring"; and again: "Men make heroes, but death carries them away."</p> + +<p>There are very few legends among the Polynesians concerning the death of +Maui. And these are usually fragmentary, except among the Maoris of New +Zealand.</p> + +<p>The Hawaiian legend of the death of Maui is to the effect that he +offended some of the greater gods living in Waipio valley on the Island +of Hawaii. Kanaloa, one of the four greatest gods of Hawaii, seized him +and dashed him against the rocks. His blood burst from the body and +colored the earth red in the upper part of the valley. The Hawaiians in +another legend say that Maui was chasing a boy and girl in Honolii +gulch, Hawaii. The girl climbed a breadfruit tree. Maui changed himself +into an eel and stretched himself along the side of the trunk of the +tree. The tree stretched itself upward and Maui failed to reach the +girl. A priest came along and struck the eel and killed it, and so Maui +died. This is evidently a changed form of the legend of Maui and the +long eel. Another Hawaiian fragment approaches very near to the +beautiful New Zealand myth. The Hawaiians said that Maui attempted to +tear a mountain apart. He wrenched a great hole in the side. Then the +elepaio bird sang and the charm was broken. The cleft<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> in the mountain +could not be enlarged. If the story could be completed it would not be +strange if the death of Maui came with this failure to open the path +through the mountain.</p> + +<p>The Hervey Islands say that after Maui fished up the islands his hook +was thrown into the heavens and became the curved tail of the +constellation of stars which we know as "The Scorpion." Then the people +became angry with Maui and threw him up into the sky and his body is +still thought to be hanging among the stars of the scorpion.</p> + +<p>The Samoans, according to Turner, say that Maui went fishing and tried +to catch the land under the seas and pull it to the surface. Finally an +island appeared, but the people living on it were angry with Maui and +drove him away into the heavens.</p> + +<p>As he leaped from the island it separated into two parts. Thus the +Samoans account for the origin of two of their islands and also for the +passing away of Maui from the earth.</p> + +<p>The natives of New Zealand have many myths concerning the death of Maui. +Each tribe tells the story with such variations as would be expected +when the fact is noted that these tribes have preserved their +individuality through many generations. The substance of the myth, +however, is the same.</p> + +<p>In Maui's last days he longed for the victory over death. His innate +love of life led him to face the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> possibility of escaping and +overcoming the relentless enemy of mankind and thus bestow the boon of +deathlessness upon his fellow-men. He had been successful over and over +again in his contests with both gods and men. When man was created, he +stood erect, but, according to an Hawaiian myth, had jointless arms and +limbs. A web of skin connected and fastened tightly the arms to the body +and the legs to each other. "Maui was angry at this motionless statue +and took him and broke his legs at ankle, knee and hip and then, tearing +them and the arms from the body, destroyed the web. Then he broke the +arms at the elbow and shoulder. Then man could move from place to place, +but he had neither fingers or toes." Here comes the most ancient +Polynesian statement of the theory of evolution: "Hunger impelled man to +seek his food in the mountains, where his toes were cut out by the +brambles in climbing, and his fingers were also formed by the sharp +splinters of the bamboo while searching with his arms for food in the +ground."</p> + +<p>It was not strange that Maui should feel self-confident when considering +the struggle for immortality as a gift to be bestowed upon mankind. And +yet his father warned him that his time of failure would surely come.</p> + +<p>White, who has collected many of the myths and legends of New Zealand, +states that after Maui had ill-treated Mahu-ika, his grandmother, the +goddess<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> and guardian of fire in the under-world, his father and mother +tried to teach him to do differently. But he refused to listen. Then the +father said:</p> + +<p>"You heard our instructions, but please yourself and persist for life or +death."</p> + +<p>Maui replied: "What do I care? Do you think I shall cease? Rather I will +persist forever and ever."</p> + +<p>Then his father said: "There is one so powerful that no tricks can be of +any avail."</p> + +<p>Maui asked: "By what shall I be overcome?" The answer was that one of +his ancestors, Hine-nui-te-po (Great Hine of the night), the guardian of +life, would overcome him.</p> + +<p>When Maui fished islands out of the deep seas, it was said that Hine +made her home on the outer edge of one of the outermost islands. There +the glow of the setting sun lighted the thatch of her house and covered +it with glorious colors. There Great Hine herself stood flashing and +sparkling on the edge of the horizon.</p> + +<p>Maui, in these last days of his life, looked toward the west and said: +"Let us investigate this matter and learn whether life or death shall +follow."</p> + +<p>The father replied: "There is evil hanging over you. When I chanted the +invocation of your childhood, when you were made sacred and guarded by +charms, I forgot a part of the ceremony. And for this you are to die."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then Maui said, "Will this be by Hine-nui-te-po? What is she like?"</p> + +<p>The father said that the flashing eyes they could see in the distance +were dark as greenstone, the teeth were as sharp as volcanic glass, her +mouth was large like a fish, and her hair was floating in the air like +sea-weed.</p> + +<p>One of the legends of New Zealand says that Maui and his brothers went +toward the west, to the edge of the horizon, where they saw the goddess +of the night. Light was flashing from her body. Here they found a great +pit—the home of night. Maui entered the pit—telling his brothers not +to laugh. He passed through and turning about started to return. The +brothers laughed and the walls of night closed in around him and held +him till he died.</p> + +<p>The longer legend tells how Maui after his conversation with his father, +remembered his conflict with the moon. He had tied her so that she could +not escape, but was compelled to bathe in the waters of life and return +night after night lest men should be in darkness when evening came.</p> + +<p>Maui said to the goddess of the moon: "Let death be short. As the moon +dies and returns with new strength, so let men die and revive again."</p> + +<p>But she replied: "Let death be very long, that man may sigh and sorrow. +When man dies, let him go<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> into darkness, become like earth, that those +he leaves behind may weep and wail and mourn."</p> + +<p>Maui did not lay aside his purpose, but, according to the New Zealand +story, "did not wish men to die, but to live forever. Death appeared +degrading and an insult to the dignity of man. Man ought to die like the +moon, which dips in the life-giving waters of Kane and is renewed again, +or like the sun, which daily sinks into the pit of night and with +renewed strength rises in the morning."</p> + +<p>Maui sought the home of Hine-nui-te-po—the guardian of life. He heard +her order her attendants to watch for any one approaching and capture +all who came walking upright as a man. He crept past the attendants on +hands and feet, found the place of life, stole some of the food of the +goddess and returned home. He showed the food to his brothers and +persuaded them to go with him into the darkness of the night of death. +On the way he changed them into the form of birds. In the evening they +came to the house of the goddess on the island long before fished up +from the seas.</p> + +<p>Maui warned the birds to refrain from making any noise while he made the +supreme effort of his life. He was about to enter upon his struggle for +immortality. He said to the birds: "If I go into the stomach of this +woman, do not laugh until I have gone<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> through her, and come out again +at her mouth; then you can laugh at me."</p> + +<p>His friends said: "You will be killed." Maui replied: "If you laugh at +me when I have only entered her stomach I shall be killed, but if I have +passed through her and come out of her mouth I shall escape and +Hine-nui-te-po will die."</p> + +<p>His friends called out to him: "Go then. The decision is with you."</p> + +<p>Hine was sleeping soundly. The flashes of lightning had all ceased. The +sunlight had almost passed away and the house lay in quiet gloom. Maui +came near to the sleeping goddess. Her large, fish-like mouth was open +wide. He put off his clothing and prepared to pass through the ordeal of +going to the hidden source of life, to tear it out of the body of its +guardian and carry it back with him to mankind. He stood in all the +glory of savage manhood. His body was splendidly marked by the +tattoo-bones, and now well oiled shone and sparkled in the last rays of +the setting sun.</p> + +<p>He leaped through the mouth of the enchanted one and entered her +stomach, weapon in hand, to take out her heart, the vital principle +which he knew had its home somewhere within her being. He found +immortality on the other side of death. He turned to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> come back again +into life when suddenly a little bird (the Pata-tai) laughed in a clear, +shrill tone, and Great Hine, through whose mouth Maui was passing, +awoke. Her sharp, obsidian teeth closed with a snap upon Maui, cutting +his body in the center. Thus Maui entered the gates of death, but was +unable to return, and death has ever since been victor over rebellious +men. The natives have the saying:</p> + +<p>"If Maui had not died, he could have restored to life all who had gone +before him, and thus succeeded in destroying death."</p> + +<p>Maui's brothers took the dismembered body and buried it in a cave called +Te-ana-i-hana, "The cave dug out," possibly a prepared burial place.</p> + +<p>Maui's wife made war upon the spirits, the gods, and killed as many as +she could to avenge her husband's death. One of the old native poets of +New Zealand, in chanting the story to Mr. White, said: "But though Maui +was killed, his offspring survived. Some of these are at Hawa-i-i-ki and +some at Aotea-roa (New Zealand), but the greater part of them remained +at Hawa-i-ki. This history was handed down by the generations of our +ancestors of ancient times, and we continue to rehearse it to our +children, with our incantations and genealogies, and all other matters +relating to our race."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"But death is nothing new,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death is, and has been ever since old Maui died.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then Pata-tai laughed loud</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And woke the goblin-god,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who severed him in two, and shut him in,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So dusk of eve came on."</span><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 9em;">—Maori death chant, New Zealand.</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII.</h2> + +<h3>HINA OF HILO.</h3> + + +<p>Hina is not an uncommon name in Hawaiian genealogies. It is usually +accompanied by some adjective which explains or identifies the person to +whom the name is given. In Hawaii the name Hina is feminine. This is +also true throughout all Polynesia except in a few cases where Hina is +reckoned as a man with supernatural attributes. Even in these cases it +is apparent that the legend has been changed from its original form as +it has been carried to small islands by comparatively ignorant people +when moving away from their former homes.</p> + +<p>Hina is a Polynesian goddess whose story is very interesting—one worthy +of study when comparing the legends of the island groups of the Pacific. +The Hina of Hilo is the same as the goddess of that name most widely +known throughout Polynesia—and yet her legends are located by the +ancient Hawaiians in Hilo, as if that place were her only home. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +legends are so old that the Hawaiians have forgotten their origin in +other lands. The stories were brought with the immigrants who settled on +the Hilo coast. Thus the stories found their final location with the +families who brought them. There are three Hawaiian Hinas practically +distinct from each other, although a supernatural element is connected +with each one. Hina who was stolen from Hawaii by a chief of the Island +of Molokai was an historical character, although surrounded by mythical +stories. Another Hina, who was the wife of Kuula, the fish god, was +pre-eminently a local deity, having no real connection with the legends +of the other islands of the Pacific, although sometimes the stories told +concerning her have not been kept entirely distinct from the legends of +the Hina of Hilo.</p> + +<p>The Hilo Hina was the true legendary character closely connected with +all Polynesia. The stories about her are of value not simply as legends, +but as traditions closely uniting the Hawaiian Islands with the island +groups thousands of miles distant. The Wailuku river, which flows +through the town of Hilo, has its own peculiar and weird beauty. For +miles it is a series of waterfalls and rapids. It follows the course of +an ancient lava flow, sometimes forcing its way under bridges of lava, +thus forming what are called boiling pots, and sometimes pouring in +massive sheets over the edges of precipices which never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> disintegrate. +By the side of this river Hina's son Maui had his lands. In the very bed +of the river, in a cave under one of the largest falls, Hina made her +own home, concealed from the world by the silver veil of falling water +and lulled to sleep by the continual roar of the flood falling into the +deep pool below. By the side of this river, the legends say, she pounded +her tapa and prepared her food. Here were the small, graceful mamake and +the coarser wauke trees, from which the bark was stripped with which she +made tapa cloth. Branches were cut or broken from these and other trees +whose bark was fit for the purpose. These branches were well soaked +until the bark was removed easily. Then the outer bark was scraped off, +leaving only the pliable inner bark. The days were very short and there +was no time for rest while making tapa cloth. Therefore, as soon as the +morning light reddened the clouds, Hina would take her calabash filled +with water to pour upon the bark, and her little bundle of round clubs +(the hohoa) and her four-sided mallets (the i-e-kuku) and hasten to the +sacred spot where, with chants and incantations, the tapa was made.</p> + +<p>The bark was well soaked in the water all the days of the process of +tapa making. Hina took small bundles of the wet inner bark and laid them +on the kua or heavy tapa board, pounding them together into a pulpy mass +with her round clubs. Then using the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> four-sided mallets, she beat this +pulp into thin sheets. Beautiful tapa, soft as silk, was made by adding +pulpy mass to pulpy mass and beating it day after day until the fibres +were lost and a sheet of close-woven bark cloth was formed. Although +Hina was a goddess and had a family possessing miraculous power, it +never entered the mind of the Hawaiian legend tellers to endow her with +ease in producing wonderful results. The legends of the Southern Pacific +Islands show more imagination. They say that Ina (Hina) was such a +wonderful artist in making beautiful tapas that she was placed in the +skies, where she beat out glistening fine tapas, the white and glorious +clouds. When she stretches these cloud sheets out to dry, she places +stones along the edges, so that the fierce winds of the heavens shall +not blow them away. When she throws these stones aside, the skies +reverberate with thunder. When she rolls her cloud sheets of tapa +together, the folds glisten with flashes of light and lightning leaps +from sheet to sheet.</p> + +<p>The Hina of Hilo was grieved as she toiled because after she had pounded +the sheets out so thin that they were ready to be dried, she found it +almost impossible to secure the necessary aid of the sun in the drying +process. She would rise as soon as she could see and hasten to spread +out the tapa made the day before. But the sun always hurried so fast +that the sheets could not dry. He leaped from the ocean<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> waters in the +earth, rushed across the heavens and plunged into the dark waters again +on the other side of the island before she could even turn her tapas so +that they might dry evenly. This legend of very short days is strange +because of its place not only among the myths of Hawaii but also because +it belongs to practically all the tropical islands of the Pacific Ocean. +In Tahiti the legends said that the sun rushed across the sky very +rapidly. The days were too short for fruits to ripen or for work to be +finished. In Samoa the "mats" made by Sina had no time to dry. The +ancestors of the Polynesians sometime somewhere must have been in the +region of short days and long nights. Hina found that her incantations +had no influence with the sun. She could not prevail upon him to go +slower and give her more time for the completion of her task. Then she +called on her powerful son, Maui-ki-i-ki-i, for aid.</p> + +<p>Some of the legends of the Island Maui say that Hina dwelt by the sea +coast of that island near the high hill Kauwiki at the foot of the great +mountain Haleakala, House of the Sun, and that there, facing the +southern skies under the most favorable conditions for making tapa, she +found the days too short for the tapa to dry. At the present time the +Hawaiians point out a long, narrow stone not far from the surf and +almost below the caves in which the great queen Kaahumanu spent the +earliest days of her childhood.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> This stone is said to be the kua or +tapa board on which Hina pounded the bark for her cloth. Other legends +of that same island locate Hina's home on the northeast coast near +Pohakuloa.</p> + +<p>The Hilo legends, however, do not deem it necessary that Hina and Maui +should have their home across the wide channel which divides the Island +Hawaii from the Island Maui in order to wage war successfully with the +inconsiderate sun. Hina remained in her home by the Wailuku river, +sometimes resting in her cave under Rainbow Falls, and sometimes working +on the river bank, trusting her powerful son Maui to make the +swiftly-passing lord of day go more slowly.</p> + +<p>Maui possessed many supernatural powers. He could assume the form of +birds or insects. He could call on the winds to do his will, or he +could, if he wished, traverse miles with a single stride. It is +interesting to note that the Hilo legends differ as to the way in which +Ma-ui the man passed over to Mau-i the island. One legend says that he +crossed the channel, miles wide, with a single step. Another says that +he launched his canoe and with a breath the god of the winds placed him +on the opposite coast, while another story says that Maui assumed the +form of a white chicken, which flew over the waters to Haleakala. Here +he took ropes made from the fibre of trees and vines and lassoed the sun +while it climbed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> the side of the mountain and entered the great crater +which hollows out the summit. The sun came through a large gap in the +eastern side of the crater, rushing along as rapidly as possible. Then +Maui threw his lassoes one after the other over the sun's legs (the rays +of light), holding him fast and breaking off some of them. With a magic +club Maui struck the face of the sun again and again. At last, wounded +and weary, and also limping on its broken legs, the sun promised Maui to +go slowly forevermore.</p> + +<p>"La" among the Polynesians, like the word "Ra" among the Egyptians, +means "sun" or "day" or "sun-god"—and the mountain where the son of +Hina won his victory over the monster of the heavens has long borne the +name Hale-a-ka-la, or House of the Sun.</p> + +<p>Hina of Hilo soon realized the wonderful deed which Maui had done. She +spread out her fine tapas with songs of joy and cheerily performed the +task which filled the hours of the day. The comfort of sunshine and +cooling winds came with great power into Hina's life, bringing to her +renewed joy and beauty.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII.</h2> + +<h3>HINA AND THE WAILUKU RIVER.</h3> + + +<p>There are two rivers of rushing, tumbling rapids and waterfalls in the +Hawaiian Islands, both bearing the name of Wailuku. One is on the Island +of Maui, flowing out of a deep gorge in the side of the extinct volcano +Iao. Yosemite-like precipices surround this majestically-walled crater. +The name Iao means "asking for clouds." The head of the crater-valley is +almost always covered with great masses of heavy rain clouds. Out of the +crater the massed waters rush in a swift-flowing stream of only four or +five miles, emptying into Kahului harbor. The other Wailuku river is on +the Island of Hawaii. The snows melt on the summits of the two great +mountains, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. The water seeps through the porous +lava from the eastern slope of Mauna Loa and the southern slope of Mauna +Kea, meeting where the lava flows of centuries from each mountain have +piled up against each other. Through<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> the fragments of these volcanic +battles the waters creep down the mountain side toward the sea.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 548px;"> +<img src="images/i188.jpg" width="548" height="550" alt="Rainbow Falls, Hina's Home." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Rainbow Falls, Hina's Home.</span> +</div> + +<p>At one place, a number of miles above the city of Hilo, the waters were +heard gurgling and splashing far below the surface. Water was needed for +the sugar plantations, which modern energy has established all along the +eastern coast of the large island. A tunnel was cut into the lava, the +underground stream was tapped—and an abundant supply of water secured +and sluiced down to the large plantations below. The head waters of the +Wailuku river gathered from the melting snow of the mountains found +these channels, which centered at last in the bed of a very ancient and +very interesting lava flow. Sometimes breaking forth in a large, +turbulent flood, the stream forces its way over and around the huge +blocks of lava which mark the course of the eruption of long ago. +Sometimes it courses in a tunnel left by the flowing lava and comes up +from below in a series of boiling pools. Then again it falls in majestic +sheets over high walls of worn precipices. Several large falls and some +very picturesque smaller cascades interspersed with rapids and natural +bridges give to this river a beauty peculiarly its own. The most weird +of all the rough places through which the Wailuku river flows is that +known as the basin of Rainbow Falls near Hilo. Here Hina, the moon +goddess of the Polynesians, lived in a great open cave, over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> which the +falls hung their misty, rainbow-tinted veil. Her son Maui, the mighty +demi-god of Polynesia, supposed by some writers to be the sun-god of the +Polynesians, had extensive lands along the northern bank of the river. +Here among his cultivated fields he had his home, from which he went +forth to accomplish the wonders attributed to him in the legends of the +Hawaiians.</p> + +<p>Below the cave in which Hina dwelt the river fought its way through a +narrow gorge and then, in a series of many small falls, descended to the +little bay, where its waters mingled with the surf of the salt sea. Far +above the cave, in the bed of the river, dwelt Kuna. The district +through which that portion of the river runs bears to this day the name +"Wai-kuna" or "Kuna's river." When the writer was talking with the +natives concerning this part of the old legend, they said "Kuna is not a +Hawaiian word. It means something like a snake or a dragon, something we +do not have in these islands." This, they thought, made the connection +with the Hina legend valueless until they were shown that Tuna (or kuna) +was the New Zealand name of a reptile which attacked Hina and struck her +with his tail like a crocodile, for which Maui killed him. When this was +understood, the Hawaiians were greatly interested to give the remainder +of this legend and compare it with the New Zealand story. In New Zealand +there are sev<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>eral statements concerning Tuna's dwelling place. He is +sometimes represented as coming from a pool to attack Hina and sometimes +from a distant stream, and sometimes from the river by which Hina dwelt. +The Hawaiians told of the annoyances which Hina endured from Kuna while +he lived above her home in the Wailuku. He would stop up the river and +fill it with dirt as when the freshets brought down the debris of the +storms from the mountain sides. He would throw logs and rolling stones +into the stream that they might be carried over the falls and drive Hina +from her cave. He had sought Hina in many ways and had been repulsed +again and again until at last hatred took the place of all more kindly +feelings and he determined to destroy the divine chiefess.</p> + +<p>Hina was frequently left with but little protection, and yet from her +home in the cave feared nothing that Kuna could do. Precipices guarded +the cave on either side, and any approach of an enemy through the +falling water could be easily thwarted. So her chants rang out through +the river valley even while floods swirled around her, and Kuna's +missiles were falling over the rocky bed of the stream toward her. Kuna +became very angry and, uttering great curses and calling upon all his +magic forces to aid him, caught a great stone and at night hurled it +into the gorge of the river below Hina's home, filling the river bed +from bank to bank. "Ah, Hina! Now is the danger, for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> the river rises. +The water cannot flow away. Awake! Awake!"</p> + +<p>Hina is not aware of this evil which is so near. The water rises and +rises, higher and higher. "Auwe! Auwe! Alas, alas, Hina must perish!" +The water entered the opening of the cave and began to creep along the +floor. Hina cannot fly, except into the very arms of her great enemy, +who is waiting to destroy her. Then Hina called for Maui. Again and +again her voice went out from the cave. It pierced through the storms +and the clouds which attended Kuna's attack upon her. It swept along the +side of the great mountain. It crossed the channel between the islands +of Hawaii and Maui. Its anguish smote the side of the great mountain +Haleakala, where Maui had been throwing his lassoes around the sun and +compelling him to go more slowly. When Maui heard Hina's cry for help +echoing from cliff to cliff and through the ravines, he leaped at once +to rush to her assistance.</p> + +<p>Some say that Hina, the goddess, had a cloud servant, the "ao-opua," the +"warning cloud," which rose swiftly above the falls when Hina cried for +aid and then, assuming a peculiar shape, stood high above the hills that +Maui might see it. Down the mountain he leaped to his magic canoe. +Pushing it into the sea with two mighty strokes of his paddle he crossed +the sea to the mouth of the Wailuku river. Here even to the present day +lies a long double rock, surrounded<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> by the waters of the bay, which +the natives call Ka waa o Maui, "The canoe of Maui." It represents to +Hawaiian thought the magic canoe with which Maui always sailed over the +ocean more swiftly than any winds could carry him. Leaving his canoe, +Maui seized the magic club with which he had conquered the sun after +lassoing him, and rushed along the dry bed of the river to the place of +danger. Swinging the club swiftly around his head, he struck the dam +holding back the water of the rapidly-rising river.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/i194.jpg" width="550" height="550" alt="Wailuku River, the Home of Kuna." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Wailuku River, the Home of Kuna.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Ah! Nothing can withstand the magic club. The bank around one end of +the dam gives way. The imprisoned waters leap into the new channel. Safe +is Hina the goddess."</p> + +<p>Kuna heard the crash of the club against the stones of the river bank +and fled up the river to his home in the hidden caves by the pools in +the river bed. Maui rushed up the river to punish Kuna-mo-o for the +trouble he had caused Hina. When he came to the place where the dragon +was hidden under deep waters, he took his magic spear and thrust it +through the dirt and lava rocks along one side of the river, making a +long hole, through which the waters rushed, revealing Kuna-mo-o's hiding +place. This place of the spear thrust is known among the Hawaiians as Ka +puka a Maui, "the door made by Maui." It is also known as "The natural +bridge of the Wailuku river."</p> + +<p>Kuna-mo-o fled to his different hiding places, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> Maui broke up the +river bed and drove the dragon out from every one, following him from +place to place as he fled down the river. Apparently this is a legendary +account of earthquakes. At last Kuna-mo-o found what seemed to be a safe +hiding place in a series of deep pools, but Maui poured a lava flow into +the river. He threw red-hot burning stones into the water until the +pools were boiling and the steam was rising in clouds. Kuna uttered +incantation after incantation, but the water scalded and burned him. +Dragon as he was, his hard, tough skin was of no avail. The pain was +becoming unbearable. With cries to his gods he leaped from the pools and +fled down the river. The waters of the pools are no longer scalding, but +they have never lost the tumbling, tossing, foaming, boiling swirl which +Maui gave to them when he threw into them the red-hot stones with which +he hoped to destroy Kuna, and they are known today as "The Boiling +Pots."</p> + +<p>Some versions of the legend say that Maui poured boiling water in the +river and sent it in swift pursuit of Kuna, driving him from point to +point and scalding his life out of him. Others say that Maui chased the +dragon, striking him again and again with his consecrated weapons, +following Kuna down from falls to falls until he came to the place where +Hina dwelt. Then, feeling that there was little use in flight, Kuna +battled with Maui. His struggles were of no avail.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> He was forced over +the falls into the stream below. Hina and her women encouraged Maui by +their chants and strengthened him by the most powerful incantations with +which they were acquainted. Great was their joy when they beheld Kuna's +ponderous body hurled over the falls. Eagerly they watched the dragon as +the swift waters swept him against the dam with which he had hoped to +destroy Hina; and when the whirling waves caught him and dashed him +through the new channel made by Maui's magic club, they rejoiced and +sang the praise of the mighty warrior who had saved them. Maui had +rushed along the bank of the river with tremendous strides overtaking +the dragon as he was rolled over and over among the small waterfalls +near the mouth of the river. Here Maui again attacked Kuna, at last +beating the life out of his body. "Moo-Kuna" was the name given by the +Hawaiians to the dragon. "Moo" means anything in lizard shape, but Kuna +was unlike any lizard known in the Hawaiian Islands. Moo Kuna is the +name sometimes given to a long black stone lying like an island in the +waters between the small falls of the river. As one who calls attention +to this legendary black stone says: "As if he were not dead enough +already, every big freshet in the stream beats him and pounds him and +drowns him over and over as he would have drowned Hina." A New Zealand +legend relates a conflict of incantations, somewhat like the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> filling in +of the Wailuku river by Kuna, and the cleaving of a new channel by Maui +with the different use of means. In New Zealand the river is closed by +the use of powerful incantations and charms and reopened by the use of +those more powerful.</p> + +<p>In the Hervey Islands, Tuna, the god of eels, loved Ina (Hina) and +finally died for her, giving his head to be buried. From this head +sprang two cocoanut trees, bearing fruit marked with Tuna's eyes and +mouth.</p> + +<p>In Samoa the battle was between an owl and a serpent. The owl conquered +by calling in the aid of a friend.</p> + +<p>This story of Hina apparently goes far back in the traditions of +Polynesians, even to their ancient home in Hawaiki, from which it was +taken by one branch of the family to New Zealand and by another to the +Hawaiian Islands and other groups in the Pacific Ocean. The dragon may +even be a remembrance of the days when the Polynesians were supposed to +dwell by the banks of the River Ganges in India, when crocodiles were +dangerous enemies and heroes saved families from their destructive +depredations.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV.</h2> + +<h3>GHOSTS OF THE HILO HILLS.</h3> + + +<p>The legends about Hina and her famous son Maui and her less widely known +daughters are common property among the natives of the beautiful little +city of Hilo. One of these legends of more than ordinary interest finds +its location in the three small hills back of Hilo toward the mountains.</p> + +<p>These hills are small craters connected with some ancient lava flow of +unusual violence. The eruption must have started far up on the slopes of +Mauna Loa. As it sped down toward the sea it met some obstruction which, +although overwhelmed, checked the flow and caused a great mass of +cinders and ashes to be thrown out until a large hill with a hollow +crater was built up, covering many acres of ground.</p> + +<p>Soon the lava found another vent and then another obstruction and a +second and then a third hill were formed nearer the sea. These hills or +extinct craters bear the names Halai, Opeapea and Puu Honu. They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> are +not far from the Wailuku river, famous for its picturesque waterfalls +and also for the legends which are told along its banks. Here Maui had +his lands overlooking the steep bluffs. Here in a cave under the Rainbow +Falls was the home of Hina, the mother of Maui, according to the +Hawaiian stories. Other parts of the Pacific sometimes make Hina Maui's +wife, and sometimes a goddess from whom he descended. In the South Sea +legends Hina was thought to have married the moon. Her home was in the +skies, where she wove beautiful tapa cloths (the clouds), which were +bright and glistening, so that when she rolled them up flashes of light +(cloud lightning) could be seen on the earth. She laid heavy stones on +the corners of these tapas, but sometimes the stones rolled off and made +the thunder. Hina of the Rainbow Falls was a famous tapa maker whose +tapa was the cause of Maui's conflict with the sun.</p> + +<p>Hina had several daughters, four of whose names are given: Hina Ke Ahi, +Hina Ke Kai, Hina Mahuia, and Hina Kuluua. Each name marked the peculiar +"mana" or divine gift which Hina, the mother, had bestowed upon her +daughters.</p> + +<p>Hina Ke Ahi meant the Hina who had control of fire. This name is +sometimes given to Hina the mother. Hina Ke Kai was the daughter who had +power over the sea. She was said to have been in a canoe with her +brother Maui when he fished up Co<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>coanut Island, his line breaking +before he could pull it up to the mainland and make it fast. Hina Kuluua +was the mistress over the forces of rain. The winds and the storms were +supposed to obey her will. Hina Mahuia is peculiarly a name connected +with the legends of the other island groups of the Pacific. Mahuia or +Mafuie was a god or goddess of fire all through Polynesia.</p> + +<p>The legend of the Hilo hills pertains especially to Hina Ke Ahi and Hina +Kuluua. Hina the mother gave the hill Halai to Hina Ke Ahi and the hill +Puu Honu to Hina Kuluua for their families and dependents.</p> + +<p>The hills were of rich soil and there was much rain. Therefore, for a +long time, the two daughters had plenty of food for themselves and their +people, but at last the days were like fire and the sky had no rain in +it. The taro planted on the hillsides died. The bananas and sugar cane +and sweet potatoes withered and the fruit on the trees was blasted. The +people were faint because of hunger, and the shadow of death was over +the land. Hina Ke Ahi pitied her suffering friends and determined to +provide food for them. Slowly her people labored at her command. Over +they went to the banks of the river course, which was only the bed of an +ancient lava stream, over which no water was flowing; the famished +laborers toiled, gathering and carrying back whatever wood they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> could +find, then up the mountain side to the great koa and ohia forests, +gathering their burdens of fuel according to the wishes of their +chiefess.</p> + +<p>Their sorcerers planted charms along the way and uttered incantations to +ward off the danger of failure. The priests offered sacrifices and +prayers for the safe and successful return of the burden-bearers. After +many days the great quantity of wood desired by the goddess was piled up +by the side of the Halai Hill.</p> + +<p>Then came the days of digging out the hill and making a great imu or +cooking oven and preparing it with stones and wood. Large quantities of +wood were thrown into the place. Stones best fitted for retaining heat +were gathered and the fires kindled. When the stones were hot, Hina Ke +Ahi directed the people to arrange the imu in its proper order for +cooking the materials for a great feast. A place was made for sweet +potatoes, another for taro, another for pigs and another for dogs. All +the form of preparing the food for cooking was passed through, but no +real food was laid on the stones. Then Hina told them to make a place in +the imu for a human sacrifice. Probably out of every imu of the long ago +a small part of the food was offered to the gods, and there may have +been a special place in the imu for that part of the food to be cooked. +At any rate Hina had this oven so built that the people understood that +a remarkable sacrifice<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> would be offered in it to the gods, who for some +reason had sent the famine upon the people.</p> + +<p>Human sacrifices were frequently offered by the Hawaiians even after the +days of the coming of Captain Cook. A dead body was supposed to be +acceptable to the gods when a chief's house was built, when a chief's +new canoe was to be made or when temple walls were to be erected or +victories celebrated. The bodies of the people belonged to the will of +the chief. Therefore it was in quiet despair that the workmen obeyed +Hina Ke Ahi and prepared the place for sacrifice. It might mean their +own holocaust as an offering to the gods. At last Hina Ke Ahi bade the +laborers cease their work and stand by the side of the oven ready to +cover it with the dirt which had been thrown out and piled up by the +side. The people stood by, not knowing upon whom the blow might fall.</p> + +<p>But Hina Ke Ahi was "Hina the kind," and although she stood before them +robed in royal majesty and power, still her face was full of pity and +love. Her voice melted the hearts of her retainers as she bade them +carefully follow her directions.</p> + +<p>"O my people. Where are you? Will you obey and do as I command? This imu +is my imu. I shall lie down on its bed of burning stones. I shall sleep +under its cover. But deeply cover me or I may perish. Quickly throw the +dirt over my body. Fear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> not the fire. Watch for three days. A woman +will stand by the imu. Obey her will."</p> + +<p>Hina Ke Ahi was very beautiful, and her eyes flashed light like fire as +she stepped into the great pit and lay down on the burning stones. A +great smoke arose and gathered over the imu. The men toiled rapidly, +placing the imu mats over their chiefess and throwing the dirt back into +the oven until it was all thoroughly covered and the smoke was quenched.</p> + +<p>Then they waited for the strange, mysterious thing which must follow the +sacrifice of this divine chiefess.</p> + +<p>Halai hill trembled and earthquakes shook the land round about. The +great heat of the fire in the imu withered the little life which was +still left from the famine. Meanwhile Hina Ke Ahi was carrying out her +plan for securing aid for her people. She could not be injured by the +heat for she was a goddess of fire. The waves of heat raged around her +as she sank down through the stones of the imu into the underground +paths which belonged to the spirit world. The legend says that Hina made +her appearance in the form of a gushing stream of water which would +always supply the want of her adherents. The second day passed. Hina was +still journeying underground, but this time she came to the surface as a +pool named Moe Waa (canoe sleep) much nearer the sea. The third day came +and Hina caused a great spring of sweet water to burst forth from the +sea shore in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> very path of the ocean surf. This received the name +Auauwai. Here Hina washed away all traces of her journey through the +depths. This was the last of the series of earthquakes and the +appearance of new water springs. The people waited, feeling that some +more wonderful event must follow the remarkable experiences of the three +days. Soon a woman stood by the imu, who commanded the laborers to dig +away the dirt and remove the mats. When this was done, the hungry people +found a very great abundance of food, enough to supply their want until +the food plants should have time to ripen and the days of the famine +should be over.</p> + +<p>The joy of the people was great when they knew that their chiefess had +escaped death and would still dwell among them in comfort. Many were the +songs sung and stories told about the great famine and the success of +the goddess of fire.</p> + +<p>The second sister, Hina Kuluua, the goddess of rain, was always very +jealous of her beautiful sister Hina Ke Ahi, and many times sent rain to +put out fires which her sister tried to kindle. Hina Ke Ahi could not +stand the rain and so fled with her people to a home by the seaside.</p> + +<p>Hina Kuluua (or Hina Kuliua as she was sometimes known among the +Hawaiians) could control rain and storms, but for some reason failed to +provide a food supply for her people, and the famine wrought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> havoc +among them. She thought of the stories told and songs sung about her +sister and wished for the same honor for herself. She commanded her +people to make a great imu for her in the hill Puu Honu. She knew that a +strange power belonged to her and yet, blinded by jealousy, forgot that +rain and fire could not work together. She planned to furnish a great +supply of food for her people in the same way in which her sister had +worked.</p> + +<p>The oven was dug. Stones and wood were collected and the same ghostly +array of potatoes, taro, pig and dog prepared as had been done before by +her sister.</p> + +<p>The kahunas or priests knew that Hina Kuluua was going out of her +province in trying to do as her sister had done, but there was no use in +attempting to change her plans. Jealousy is self-willed and obstinate +and no amount of reasoning from her dependents could have any influence +over her.</p> + +<p>The ordinary incantations were observed, and Hina Kuluua gave the same +directions as those her sister had given. The imu was to be well heated. +The make-believe food was to be put in and a place left for her body. It +was the goddess of rain making ready to lie down on a bed prepared for +the goddess of fire. When all was ready, she lay down on the heated +stones and the oven mats were thrown over her and the ghostly +provisions. Then the covering of dirt was thrown back upon the mats and +heated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> stones, filling the pit which had been dug. The goddess of +rain was left to prepare a feast for her people as the goddess of fire +had done for her followers.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 548px;"> +<img src="images/i208.jpg" width="548" height="550" alt="On Lava Beds." title="" /> +<span class="caption">On Lava Beds.</span> +</div> + +<p>Some of the legends have introduced the demi-god Maui into this story. +The natives say that Maui came to "burn" or "cook the rain" and that he +made the oven very hot, but that the goddess of rain escaped and hung +over the hill in the form of a cloud. At least this is what the people +saw—not a cloud of smoke over the imu, but a rain cloud. They waited +and watched for such evidences of underground labor as attended the +passage of Hina Ke Ahi through the earth from the hill to the sea, but +the only strange appearance was the dark rain cloud. They waited three +days and looked for their chiefess to come in the form of a woman. They +waited another day and still another and no signs or wonders were +manifest. Meanwhile Maui, changing himself into a white bird, flew up +into the sky to catch the ghost of the goddess of rain which had escaped +from the burning oven. Having caught this spirit, he rolled it in some +kapa cloth which he kept for food to be placed in an oven and carried it +to a place in the forest on the mountain side where again the attempt +was made to "burn the rain," but a great drop escaped and sped upward +into the sky. Again Maui caught the ghost of the goddess and carried it +to a pali or precipice below the great volcano Kilauea, where he again +tried to destroy it in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> the heat of a great lava oven, but this time the +spirit escaped and found a safe refuge among kukui trees on the mountain +side, from which she sometimes rises in clouds which the natives say are +the sure sign of rain.</p> + +<p>Whether this Maui legend has any real connection with the two Hinas and +the famine we do not surely know. The legend ordinarily told among the +Hawaiians says that after five days had passed the retainers decided on +their own responsibility to open the imu. No woman had appeared to give +them directions. Nothing but a mysterious rain cloud over the hill. In +doubt and fear, the dirt was thrown off and the mats removed. Nothing +was found but the ashes of Hina Kuluua. There was no food for her +followers and the goddess had lost all power of appearing as a chiefess. +Her bitter and thoughtless jealousy brought destruction upon herself and +her people. The ghosts of Hina Ke Ahi and Hina Kuluua sometimes draw +near to the old hills in the form of the fire of flowing lava or clouds +of rain while the old men and women tell the story of the Hinas, the +sisters of Maui, who were laid upon the burning stones of the imus of a +famine.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV.</h2> + +<h3>HINA, THE WOMAN IN THE MOON.</h3> + + +<p>The Wailuku river has by its banks far up the mountain side some of the +most ancient of the various interesting picture rocks of the Hawaiian +Islands. The origin of the Hawaiian picture writing is a problem still +unsolved, but the picture rocks of the Wailuku river are called "na kii +o Maui," "the Maui pictures." Their antiquity is beyond question.</p> + +<p>The most prominent figure cut in these rocks is that of the crescent +moon. The Hawaiian legends do not attempt any direct explanation of the +meaning of this picture writing. The traditions of the Polynesians both +concerning Hina and Maui look to Hina as the moon goddess of their +ancestors, and in some measure the Hawaiian stories confirm the +traditions of the other island groups of the Pacific.</p> + +<p>Fornander, in his history of the Polynesian race, gives the Hawaiian +story of Hina's ascent to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> moon, but applies it to a Hina the wife +of a chief called Aikanaka rather than to the Hina of Hilo, the wife of +Akalana, the father of Maui. However, Fornander evidently found some +difficulty in determining the status of the one to whom he refers the +legend, for he calls her "the mysterious wife of Aikanaka." In some of +the Hawaiian legends Hina, the mother of Maui, lived on the southeast +coast of the Island Maui at the foot of a hill famous in Hawaiian story +as Kauiki. Fornander says that this "mysterious wife" of Aikanaka bore +her children Puna and Huna, the latter a noted sea-rover among the +Polynesians, at the foot of this hill Kauiki. It can very easily be +supposed that a legend of the Hina connected with the demi-god Maui +might be given during the course of centuries to the other Hina, the +mother of Huna. The application of the legend would make no difference +to anyone were it not for the fact that the story of Hina and her ascent +to the moon has been handed down in different forms among the traditions +of Samoa, New Zealand, Tonga, Hervey Islands, Fate Islands, Nauru and +other Pacific island groups. The Polynesian name of the moon, Mahina or +Masina, is derived from Hina, the goddess mother of Maui. It is even +possible to trace the name back to "Sin," the moon god of the Assyrians.</p> + +<p>The moon goddess of Ponape was Ina-maram. (Hawaiian Hina-malamalama), +"Hina giving light."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the Paumotan Islands an eclipse of the sun is called Higa-higa-hana +(Hina-hiua-hana), "The act (hana) of Hina—the moon."</p> + +<p>In New Zealand moonless nights were called "Dark Hina."</p> + +<p>In Tahiti it is said there was war among the gods. They cursed the +stars. Hina saved them, although they lost a little light. Then they +cursed the sea, but Hina preserved the tides. They cursed the rivers, +but Hina saved the springs—the moving waters inland, like the tides in +the ocean.</p> + +<p>The Hawaiians say that Hina and her maidens pounded out the softest, +finest kapa cloth on the long, thick kapa board at the foot of Kauiki. +Incessantly the restless sea dashed its spray over the picturesque +groups of splintered lava rocks which form the Kauiki headland. Here +above the reach of the surf still lies the long, black stone into which +the legends say Hina's kapa board was changed. Here Hina took the leaves +of the hala tree and, after the manner of the Hawaiian women of the ages +past, braided mats for the household to sleep upon, and from the nuts of +the kukui trees fashioned the torches which were burned around the homes +of those of high chief rank.</p> + +<p>At last she became weary of her work among mortals. Her family had +become more and more troublesome. It was said that her sons were unruly +and her husband lazy and shiftless. She looked into the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> heavens and +determined to flee up the pathway of her rainbow through the clouds.</p> + +<p>The Sun was very bright and Hina said, "I will go to the Sun." So she +left her home very early in the morning and climbed up, higher, higher, +until the heat of the rays of the sun beat strongly upon her and +weakened her so that she could scarcely crawl along her beautiful path. +Up a little higher and the clouds no longer gave her even the least +shadow. The heat from the sun was so great that she began to feel the +fire shriveling and torturing her. Quickly she slipped down into the +storms around her rainbow and then back to earth. As the day passed her +strength came back, and when the full moon rose through the shadows of +the night she said, "I will climb to the moon and there find rest."</p> + +<p>But when Hina began to go upward her husband saw her and called to her: +"Do not go into the heavens." She answered him: "My mind is fixed; I +will go to my new husband, the moon." And she climbed up higher and +higher. Her husband ran toward her. She was almost out of reach, but he +leaped and caught her foot. This did not deter Hina from her purpose. +She shook off her husband, but as he fell he broke her leg so that the +lower part came off in his hands. Hina went up through the stars, crying +out the strongest incantations she could use. The powers of the night +aided her. The mysterious hands of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> darkness lifted her, until she stood +at the door of the moon. She had packed her calabash with her most +priceless possessions and had carried it with her even when injured by +her cruel husband. With her calabash she limped into the moon and found +her abiding home. When the moon is full, the Hawaiians of the long ago, +aye and even today, look into the quiet, silvery light and see the +goddess in her celestial home, her calabash by her side.</p> + +<p>The natives call her now Lono-moku, "the crippled Lono." From this watch +tower in the heavens she pointed out to Kahai, one of her descendents, +the way to rise up into the skies. The ancient chant thus describes his +ascent:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"The rainbow is the path of Kahai.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kahai rose. Kahai bestirred himself.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kahai passed on the floating cloud of Kane.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Perplexed were the eyes of Alihi.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kahai passed on on the glancing light.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The glancing light on men and canoes.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Above was Hanaiakamalama." (Hina).</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Thus under the care of his ancestress Hina, Kahai, the great sea-rover, +made his ascent in quest of adventures among the immortals.</p> + +<p>In the Tongan Islands the legends say that Hina remains in the moon +watching over the "fire-walkers" as their great protecting goddess.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Hervey Island traditions say that the Moon (Marama) had often seen +Hina and admired her, and at last had come down and caught her up to +live with himself. The moonlight in its glory is called Ina-motea, "the +brightness of Ina."</p> + +<p>The story as told on Atiu Island (one of the Society group) is that Hina +took her human husband with her to the moon, where they dwelt happily +for a time, but as he grew old she prepared a rainbow, down which he +descended to the earth to die, leaving Hina forevermore as "the woman in +the moon." The Savage Islanders worshiped the spirits of their +ancestors, saying that many of them went up to the land of Sina, the +always bright land in the skies. To the natives of Niue Island, Hina has +been the goddess ruling over all tapa making. They say that her home is +"Motu a Hina," "the island of Hina," the home of the dead in the skies.</p> + +<p>The Samoans said that the Moon received Hina and a child, and also her +tapa board and mallet and material for the manufacture of tapa cloth. +Therefore, when the moon is shining in full splendor, they shade their +eyes and look for the goddess and the tools with which she fashions the +tapa clouds in the heavens.</p> + +<p>The New Zealand legend says that the woman went after water in the +night. As she passed down the path to the spring the bright light of the +full moon made the way easy for her quick footsteps, but when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> she had +filled her calabash and started homeward, suddenly the bright light was +hidden by a passing cloud and she stumbled against a stone in the path +and fell to the ground, spilling the water she was carrying. Then she +became very angry and cursed the moon heartily. Then the moon became +angry and swiftly swept down upon her from the skies, grasping her and +lifting her up. In her terrible fight she caught a small tree with one +hand and her calabash with the other. But oh! the strong moon pulled her +up with the tree and the calabash and there in the full moon they can +all be traced when the nights are clear.</p> + +<p>Pleasant or Nauru Island, in which a missionary from Central Union +Church, Honolulu, is laboring, tells the story of Gigu, a beautiful +young woman, who has many of the experiences of Hina. She opened the +eyes of the Mother of the Moon as Hina, in some of the Polynesian +legends, is represented to have opened the eyes of one of the great +goddesses, and in reward is married to Maraman, the Moon, with whom she +lives ever after, and in whose embrace she can always be seen when the +moon is full. Gigu is Hina under another and more guttural form of +speech. Maraman is the same as Malama, one of the Polynesian names for +the moon.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2> + + +<ul class="none"><li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Akea or Atea, see Wakea, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Akalana, or Ataranga, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Alae birds, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Alae-Huapi, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Alae-nui-a-Hina, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ao-tea-roa, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a>, <a href='#Page_108'>108</a>, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Aumakuas, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ava-iki, or Hawa-i-ki, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a>, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a>, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a>, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Awa, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Axe, stone, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a></span></li> + +<li> </li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bailing dish, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bananas, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Banyan, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Barbs, spears, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Birds, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a>, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a>, <a href='#Page_135'>135</a>, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bird-machine, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Birds, painted, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Black rock, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Boiling pots, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a>, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bones, fish hooks, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brittany, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bua-Tarana-ga, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a></span></li> + +<li> </li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cain and Abel, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Calabash, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>, <a href='#Page_31'>31</a>, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cannibalism, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Canoe, Maui's, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cats-cradle, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cloud, Maui's-ao-opua, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Coco-nut Island, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cook, Captain, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cooking the rain, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Coral, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Creation, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Crocodile, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a></span></li> + +<li> </li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_38'>38</a>, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a>, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death chant, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dog, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dragon, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a></span></li> + +<li> </li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Earth twisted, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Eclipse, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a>, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Eel, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a>, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a>, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Eel baskets, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Eight-eyed, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ellis, William, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Egypt, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Evolution, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a></span></li> + +<li> </li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fairies, <a href='#Page_113'>113</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fire-finding—</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Australia, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Bowditch Islands, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Chatham Islands, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">De Peysters Islands, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Hawaii, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Hervey Islands, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Indians, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">New Zealand, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Peruvians, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Samoa, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Savage Islands, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Society Islands, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Tartary, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Tokelau Island, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">First man, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fishing up islands—</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Hawaii, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Hervey Islands, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">New Hebrides, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">New Zealand, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Samoa, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Tonga, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fish hooks, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fish nets, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Flood, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Flying machine, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forbes, Rev. A. O., <a href='#Page_42'>42</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fornander, A., <a href='#Page_83'>83</a></span></li> + +<li> </li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ganges, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gilbert Islands, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gill, W. W., <a href='#Page_36'>36</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gray, Sir George, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a>, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Green stone, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a>, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Guardian of under-world, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a>, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a></span></li> + +<li> </li> + + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hades, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Halai hills, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hale-a-ka-la, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hale-a-o-a, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hau tree, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hau spirit, Preface</span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Haumia-Tiki-Tiki, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hawa-iki, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a>, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a>, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hawaii-loa, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hawke's bay, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hele-a-ka-la, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hercules, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hervey Islands, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hide-and-seek, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hilo, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hina, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>, <a href='#Page_139'>139</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hina-a-ke-ahi, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hina-a-ke-ka, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hina-a-te-lepo, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hina-Kulu-ua, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hina-uri, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hine-nui-te-po, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>, <a href='#Page_133'>133</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hina's daughters, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Horizon or heaven, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Human sacrifices, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hump-back, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Huna, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a></span></li> + +<li> </li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Iao, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ie-ie, fiber, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Iiwi, <a href='#Page_113'>113</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ika-o-Maui, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ili-ahi, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Immortality, Maui, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Imu, oven, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ina, see Hina, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>, <a href='#Page_142'>142</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">India, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Indians, fire-finding, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Indians, snaring sun, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ira Waru, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a></span></li> + +<li> </li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kaahumanu, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ka-alae-huapi, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kahai chant, <a href='#Page_169'>169</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ka-iwi-o-Pele, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kalakaua, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kalana-Kalanga, see Akalana, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kalau-hele-moa, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kamapuaa, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kanaloa, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kane, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a>, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>, <a href='#Page_135'>135</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kane's cave, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kauai, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kauiki, or Kauwiki, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>, <a href='#Page_168'>168</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kaula Island, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kipahula, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ki-i-ki-i, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kite-flying, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a>, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a>, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ko, spade, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kohala, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Koolau, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ku, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kualii, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kuna, see Tuna, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ku-olo—Kele, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ku-ula, fish god, <a href='#Page_140'>140</a></span></li> + +<li> </li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">La, or Ra, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Langi, Lani, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lahaina, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lasso, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a>, <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lifting the sky—</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Ellice Islands, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Gilbert Islands, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Hawaii, <a href='#Page_31'>31</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Hervey Islands, <a href='#Page_36'>36</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Manahiki, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">New Zealand, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Samoa, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Liliuokalani chants, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a>, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Long Eel, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lono, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a></span></li> + +<li> </li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ma-eli-eli hill, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Magic fish hook, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mahui, Mahuika, Mafuia, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mahina, or Masina, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mamo bird, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Manahiki Islands, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maori, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marama, or Malama, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marshall Islands, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maru, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mauna Kea, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maui Akalana—</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Akamai, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a>, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">baptized, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>, <a href='#Page_133'>133</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">birth, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">bird or insect, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a>, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">brothers, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a>, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a>, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">canoes, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">children, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a>, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">creation, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">death, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Hawaii, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Hervey Islands, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">New Zealand, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Samoa, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">eight-eyed, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">footprints, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">god or demi-god, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">home, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>, <a href='#Page_31'>31</a>, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">hook, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">of the malo, Preface</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">prophet, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">sister, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">the swift, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">uncles, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a></span></li> + + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maui-Mua, or Rupe, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a>, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maui Hope, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maui Waena, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mercury, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Moemoe, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mo-o, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Moon, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Moon, Hina the goddess, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a>, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Motu, or Mokua Hina, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mudhen, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Muri, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a>, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a></span></li> + +<li> </li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nauru Islands, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">New Heavens, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">New Hebrides Islands, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">New Zealand, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Niu Islands, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a></span></li> + +<li> </li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oahu legends—</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Maui and the two gods, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">How they found fire, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Maui catching the sun, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Uniting the islands, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Maui and Pea-pea, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Obsidian, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ohia trees, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Olona, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a>, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">O-o, spade, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">O-o, bird, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a></span></li> + +<li> </li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Paoa, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Papa, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Payton, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pea-pea, the eight-eyed, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pearl Harbor, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Peruvians, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pictographs, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pigeon, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pimoe, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pohakunui, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prometheus, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Puka-a-Maui, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pumice stone, <a href='#Page_38'>38</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Puna, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Puu-o-hulu, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a></span></li> + +<li> </li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ra or La, sun-god, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rainbow Falls, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Raro Tonga, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Roko, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rongo, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ru, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rupe, Maui-mua, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a>, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a></span></li> + +<li> </li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Samoa, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sandalwood, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Savage Islands, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Savaii, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Scorpion, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Serpent, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sharks, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Short days, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sina, see Hina, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a>, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Snaring the sun—</span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Fiji, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Hawaii, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a>, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Hervey Islands, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Indians, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">New Zealand, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Samoa, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Society Islands, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Tonga, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Snow, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Society Islands, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spears, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spirits, islands of, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stone implements, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sun, created, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Supporter of the Heavens, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a></span></li> + +<li> </li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tabu, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a>, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tahiti, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Talanga or Kalana, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tane, see Kane, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tangaroa or Kanaloa, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tapa, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a>, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a>, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>, <a href='#Page_141'>141</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Taro, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tattooing, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a>, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tawhiri, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Te-ika-o-Maui, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ti leaves, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ti-i-Ti-i}<br /> } Kii-Kii, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tiki-Tiki}</span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tini-rau, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a>, <a href='#Page_108'>108</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tokelau Island, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tonga, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tonga-iti, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tracey Islands, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tu or Ku, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tuna or Kuna, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Fiji, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Hawaii, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Hervey Islands, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">New Zealand, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a></span></li> +<li><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Samoa, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Turner, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a></span></li> + +<li> </li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ulua, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Under-world, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>, <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Uniting the islands, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Upolu, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a></span></li> + +<li> </li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vatea, or Wakea, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vatupu Islands, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a></span></li> + +<li> </li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Waianae, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Waikuna, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a>, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wailuku, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_140'>140</a>, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Waipahu, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Waipio, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wakea, Vatea, Atea, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Water of life, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">White, John, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a>, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a>, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wife of Maui, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wiliwili tree, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Winds, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a></span></li> + +<li><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Woman in the Moon, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a></span></li> +</ul> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Legends of Ma-ui--a demi god of +Polynesia, and of his mother Hina, by W. 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D. Westervelt + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Legends of Ma-ui--a demi god of Polynesia, and of his mother Hina + +Author: W. D. Westervelt + +Release Date: May 30, 2010 [EBook #32601] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEGENDS *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + +[Illustration: Hale-a-ka-la Crater, the House of the Sun.] + + + + + LEGENDS + OF + MA-UI--A DEMI GOD + OF + POLYNESIA + AND OF + HIS MOTHER HINA. + + BY + W. D. WESTERVELT. + + HONOLULU: + THE HAWAIIAN GAZETTE CO., LTD. + 1910 + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. Maui's Home 3 + + II. Maui the Fisherman 12 + + III. Maui Lifting the Sky 31 + + IV. Maui Snaring the Sun 40 + + V. Maui Finding Fire 56 + + VI. Maui the Skillful 78 + + VII. Maui and Tuna 91 + + VIII. Maui and His Brother-in-Law 101 + + IX. Maui's Kite-Flying 112 + + X. Oahu Legends of Maui 119 + + XI. Maui Seeking Immortality 128 + + XII. Hina of Hilo 139 + + XIII. Hina and the Wailuku River 146 + + XIV. The Ghosts of the Hilo Hills 155 + + XV. Hina, the Woman in the Moon 165 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + OPPOSITE + PAGE + + Frontispiece--Haleakala Crater + + "Rugged Lava of Wailuku River" 7 + + Leaping to Swim to Coral Reefs 12 + + Sea of Sacred Caves 14 + + Spearing Fish 21 + + Here are the Canoes 29 + + Iao Mountain from the Sea 43 + + Haleakala 53 + + Hawaiian Vines and Bushes 74 + + Bathing Pool 84 + + Coconut Grove 96 + + Boiling Pots--Wailuku River 100 + + Outside were other Worlds 107 + + Hilo Coast--Home of the Winds 115 + + Bay of Waipio Valley 121 + + The Ieie Vine 125 + + Rainbow Falls 147 + + Wailuku River--The Home of Kuna 151 + + On Lava Beds 163 + + + + +HELPS TO PRONUNCIATION + + +There are three simple rules which practically control Hawaiian +pronunciation: (1) Give each vowel the German sound. (2) Pronounce each +vowel. (3) Never allow a consonant to close a syllable. + +Interchangeable consonants are many. The following are the most common: +h=s; l=r; k=t; n=ng; v=w. + + + + +PREFACE + + +Maui is a demi god whose name should probably be pronounced Ma-u-i, _i. +e._, Ma-oo-e. The meaning of the word is by no means clear. It may mean +"to live," "to subsist." It may refer to beauty and strength, or it may +have the idea of "the left hand" or "turning aside." The word is +recognized as belonging to remote Polynesian antiquity. + +MacDonald, a writer of the New Hebrides Islands, gives the derivation of +the name Maui primarily from the Arabic word "Mohyi," which means +"causing to live" or "life," applied sometimes to the gods and sometimes +to chiefs as "preservers and sustainers" of their followers. + +The Maui story probably contains a larger number of unique and ancient +myths than that of any other legendary character in the mythology of any +nation. + +There are three centers for these legends, New Zealand in the south, +Hawaii in the north, and the Tahitian group including the Hervey Islands +in the east. In each of these groups of islands, separated by thousands +of miles, there are the same legends, told in almost the same way, and +with very little variation in names. The intermediate groups of islands +of even as great importance as Tonga, Fiji or Samoa, possess the same +legends in more or less of a fragmentary condition, as if the three +centers had been settled first when the Polynesians were driven away +from the Asiatic coasts by their enemies, the Malays. From these +centers voyagers sailing away in search of adventures would carry +fragments rather than complete legends. This is exactly what has been +done and there are as a result a large number of hints of wonderful +deeds. The really long legends as told about the demi god Ma-u-i and his +mother Hina number about twenty. + +It is remarkable that these legends have kept their individuality. The +Polynesians are not a very clannish people. For some centuries they have +not been in the habit of frequently visiting each other. They have had +no written language, and picture writing of any kind is exceedingly rare +throughout Polynesia and yet in physical traits, national customs, +domestic habits, and language, as well as in traditions and myths, the +different inhabitants of the islands of Polynesia are as near of kin as +the cousins of the United States and Great Britain. + +The Maui legends form one of the strongest links in the mythological +chain of evidence which binds the scattered inhabitants of the Pacific +into one nation. An incomplete list aids in making clear the fact that +groups of islands hundreds and even thousands of miles apart have been +peopled centuries past by the same organic race. Either complete or +fragmentary Maui legends are found in the single islands and island +groups of Aneityum, Bowditch or Fakaofa, Efate, Fiji, Fotuna, Gilbert, +Hawaii, Hervey, Huahine, Mangaia, Manihiki, Marquesas, Marshall, Nauru, +New Hebrides, New Zealand, Samoa, Savage, Tahiti or Society, Tauna, +Tokelau and Tonga. + +S. Percy Smith of New Zealand in his book Hawaiki mentions a legend +according to which Maui made a voyage after overcoming a sea monster, +visiting the Tongas, the Tahitian group, Vai-i or Hawaii, and the +Paumotu Islands. Then Maui went on to U-peru, which Mr. Smith says "may +be Peru." It was said that Maui named some of the islands of the +Hawaiian group, calling the island Maui "Maui-ui in remembrance of his +efforts in lifting up the heavens." Hawaii was named Vai-i, and Lanai +was called Ngangai--as if Maui had found the three most southerly +islands of the group. + +The Maui legends possess remarkable antiquity. Of course, it is +impossible to give any definite historical date, but there can scarcely +be any question of their origin among the ancestors of the Polynesians +before they scattered over the Pacific ocean. They belong to the +prehistoric Polynesians. The New Zealanders claim Maui as an ancestor of +their most ancient tribes and sometimes class him among the most ancient +of their gods, calling him "creator of land" and "creator of man." +Tregear, in a paper before the New Zealand Institute, said that Maui was +sometimes thought to be "the sun himself," "the solar fire," "the sun +god," while his mother Hina was called "the moon goddess." The noted +greenstone god of the Maoris of New Zealand, Potiki, may well be +considered a representation of Maui-Tiki-Tiki, who was sometimes called +Maui-po-tiki. + +Whether these legends came to the people in their sojourn in India +before they migrated to the Straits of Sunda is not certain; but it may +well be assumed that these stories had taken firm root in the memories +of the priests who transmitted the most important traditions from +generation to generation, and that this must have been done before they +were driven away from the Asiatic coasts by the Malays. + +Several hints of Hindoo connection is found in the Maui legends. The +Polynesians not only ascribed human attributes to all animal life with +which they were acquainted, but also carried the idea of an alligator or +dragon with them, wherever they went, as in the mo-o of the story +Tuna-roa. + +The Polynesians also had the idea of a double soul inhabiting the body. +This is carried out in the ghost legends more fully than in the Maui +stories, and yet "the spirit separate from the spirit which never +forsakes man" according to Polynesian ideas, was a part of the Maui +birth legends. This spirit, which can be separated or charmed away from +the body by incantations was called the "hau." When Maui's father +performed the religious ceremonies over him which would protect him and +cause him to be successful, he forgot a part of his incantation to the +"hau," therefore Maui lost his protection from death when he sought +immortality for himself and all mankind. + +How much these things aid in proving a Hindoo or rather Indian origin +for the Polynesians is uncertain, but at least they are of interest +along the lines of race origin. + +The Maui group of legends is preeminently peculiar. They are not only +different from the myths of other nations, but they are unique in the +character of the actions recorded. Maui's deeds rank in a higher class +than most of the mighty efforts of the demi gods of other nations and +races, and are usually of more utility. Hercules accomplished nothing to +compare with "lifting the sky," "snaring the sun," "fishing for +islands," "finding fire in his grandmother's finger nails," or "learning +from birds how to make fire by rubbing dry sticks," or "getting a magic +bone" from the jaw of an ancestor who was half dead, that is dead on one +side and therefore could well afford to let the bone on that side go for +the benefit of a descendant. The Maui legends are full of helpful +imaginations, which are distinctly Polynesian. + +The phrase "Maui of the Malo" is used among the Hawaiians in connection +with the name Maui a Kalana, "Maui the son of Akalana." It may be well +to note the origin of the name. It was said that Hina usually sent her +retainers to gather sea moss for her, but one morning she went down to +the sea by herself. There she found a beautiful red malo, which she +wrapped around her as a pa-u or skirt. When she showed it to Akalana, +her husband, he spoke of it as a gift of the gods, thinking that it +meant the gift of Mana or spiritual power to their child when he should +be born. In this way the Hawaiians explain the superior talent and +miraculous ability of Maui which placed him above his brothers. + +These stories were originally printed as magazine articles, chiefly in +the Paradise of the Pacific, Honolulu; therefore there are sometimes +repetitions which it seemed best to leave, even when reprinted in the +present form. + + + + +I. + +MAUI'S HOME + + "Akalana was the man; + Hina-a-ke-ahi was the wife; + Maui First was born; + Then Maui-waena; + Maui Kiikii was born; + Then Maui of the malo." + + --Queen Liliuokalani's Family Chant. + + +Four brothers, each bearing the name of Maui, belong to Hawaiian legend. +They accomplished little as a family, except on special occasions when +the youngest of the household awakened his brothers by some unexpected +trick which drew them into unwonted action. The legends of Hawaii, +Tonga, Tahiti, New Zealand and the Hervey group make this youngest Maui +"the discoverer of fire" or "the ensnarer of the sun" or "the fisherman +who pulls up islands" or "the man endowed with magic," or "Maui with +spirit power." The legends vary somewhat, of course, but not as much as +might be expected when the thousands of miles between various groups of +islands are taken into consideration. + +Maui was one of the Polynesian demi-gods. His parents belonged to the +family of supernatural beings. He himself was possessed of supernatural +powers and was supposed to make use of all manner of enchantments. In +New Zealand antiquity a Maui was said to have assisted other gods in the +creation of man. Nevertheless Maui was very human. He lived in thatched +houses, had wives and children, and was scolded by the women for not +properly supporting his household. + +The time of his sojourn among men is very indefinite. In Hawaiian +genealogies Maui and his brothers were placed among the descendants of +Ulu and "the sons of Kii," and Maui was one of the ancestors of +Kamehameha, the first king of the united Hawaiian Islands. This would +place him in the seventh or eighth century of the Christian Era. But it +is more probable that Maui belongs to the mist-land of time. His +mischievous pranks with the various gods would make him another Mercury +living in any age from the creation to the beginning of the Christian +era. + +The Hervey Island legends state that Maui's father was "the supporter of +the heavens" and his mother "the guardian of the road to the invisible +world." + +In the Hawaiian chant, Akalana was the name of his father. In other +groups this was the name by which his mother was known. Kanaloa, the +god, is sometimes known as the father of Maui. In Hawaii Hina was his +mother. Elsewhere Ina, or Hina, was the grandmother, from whom he +secured fire. + +The Hervey Island legends say that four mighty ones lived in the old +world from which their ancestors came. This old world bore the name +Ava-iki, which is the same as Hawa-ii, or Hawaii. The four gods were +Mauike, Ra, Ru, and Bua-Taranga. + +It is interesting to trace the connection of these four names with +Polynesian mythology. Mauike is the same as the demi-god of New Zealand, +Mafuike. On other islands the name is spelled Mauika, Mafuika, Mafuia, +Mafuie, and Mahuika. Ra, the sun god of Egypt, is the same as Ra in New +Zealand and La (sun) in Hawaii. Ru, the supporter of the heavens, is +probably the Ku of Hawaii, and the Tu of New Zealand and other islands, +one of the greatest of the gods worshiped by the ancient Hawaiians. The +fourth mighty one from Ava-ika was a woman, Bua-taranga, who guarded the +path to the underworld. Talanga in Samoa, and Akalana in Hawaii were the +same as Taranga. Pua-kalana (the Kalana flower) would probably be the +same in Hawaiian as Bua-taranga in the language of the Society Islands. + +Ru, the supporter of the Heavens, married Bua-taranga, the guardian of +the lower world. Their one child was Maui. The legends of Raro-Tonga +state that Maui's father and mother were the children of Tangaroa +(Kanaloa in Hawaiian), the great god worshiped throughout Polynesia. +There were three Maui brothers and one sister, Ina-ika (Ina, the fish). + +The New Zealand legends relate the incidents of the babyhood of Maui. + +Maui was prematurely born, and his mother, not caring to be troubled +with him, cut off a lock of her hair, tied it around him and cast him +into the sea. In this way the name came to him, Maui-Tiki-Tiki, or "Maui +formed in the topknot." The waters bore him safely. The jelly fish +enwrapped and mothered him. The god of the seas cared for and protected +him. He was carried to the god's house and hung up in the roof that he +might feel the warm air of the fire, and be cherished into life. When he +was old enough, he came to his relations while they were all gathered in +the great House of Assembly, dancing and making merry. Little Maui crept +in and sat down behind his brothers. Soon his mother called the children +and found a strange child, who proved that he was her son, and was taken +in as one of the family. Some of the brothers were jealous, but the +eldest addressed the others as follows: + +"Never mind; let him be our dear brother. In the days of peace remember +the proverb, 'When you are on friendly terms, settle your disputes in a +friendly way; when you are at war, you must redress your injuries by +violence.' It is better for us, brothers, to be kind to other people. +These are the ways by which men gain influence--by laboring for +abundance of food to feed others, by collecting property to give to +others, and by similar means by which you promote the good of others." + +[Illustration: Rugged Lava of Wailuku River.] + +Thus, according to the New Zealand story related by Sir George Grey, +Maui was received in his home. + +Maui's home was placed by some of the Hawaiian myths at Kauiki, a +foothill of the great extinct crater Haleakala, on the Island of Maui. +It was here he lived when the sky was raised to its present position. +Here was located the famous fort around which many battles were fought +during the years immediately preceding the coming of Captain Cook. This +fort was held by warriors of the Island of Hawaii a number of years. It +was from this home that Maui was supposed to have journeyed when he +climbed Mt. Haleakala to ensnare the sun. + +And yet most of the Hawaiian legends place Maui's home by the rugged +black lava beds of the Wailuku river near Hilo on the island Hawaii. +Here he lived when he found the way to make fire by rubbing sticks +together, and when he killed Kuna, the great eel, and performed other +feats of valor. He was supposed to cultivate the land on the north side +of the river. His mother, usually known as Hina, had her home in a lava +cave under the beautiful Rainbow Falls, one of the fine scenic +attractions of Hilo. An ancient demigod, wishing to destroy this home, +threw a great mass of lava across the stream below the falls. The rising +water was fast filling the cave. + +Hina called loudly to her powerful son Maui. He came quickly and found +that a large and strong ridge of lava lay across the stream. One end +rested against a small hill. Maui struck the rock on the other side of +the hill and thus broke a new pathway for the river. The water swiftly +flowed away and the cave remained as the home of the Maui family. + +According to the King Kalakaua family legend, translated by Queen +Liliuokalani, Maui and his brothers also made this place their home. +Here he aroused the anger of two uncles, his mother's brothers, who were +called "Tall Post" and "Short Post," because they guarded the entrance +to a cave in which the Maui family probably had its home. + +"They fought hard with Maui, and were thrown, and red water flowed +freely from Maui's forehead. This was the first shower by Maui." Perhaps +some family discipline followed this knocking down of door posts, for it +is said: + + "They fetched the sacred Awa bush, + Then came the second shower by Maui; + The third shower was when the elbow of Awa was broken; + The fourth shower came with the sacred bamboo." + +Maui's mother, so says a New Zealand legend, had her home in the +under-world as well as with her children. Maui determined to find the +hidden dwelling place. His mother would meet the children in the evening +and lie down to sleep with them and then disappear with the first +appearance of dawn. Maui remained awake one night, and when all were +asleep, arose quietly and stopped up every crevice by which a ray of +light could enter. The morning came and the sun mounted up--far up in +the sky. At last his mother leaped up and tore away the things which +shut out the light. + +"Oh, dear; oh, dear! She saw the sun high in the heavens; so she hurried +away, crying at the thought of having been so badly treated by her own +children." + +Maui watched her as she pulled up a tuft of grass and disappeared in the +earth, pulling the grass back to its place. + +Thus Maui found the path to the under-world. Soon he transformed himself +into a pigeon and flew down, through the cave, until he saw a party of +people under a sacred tree, like those growing in the ancient first +Hawaii. He flew to the tree and threw down berries upon the people. They +threw back stones. At last he permitted a stone from his father to +strike him, and he fell to the ground. "They ran to catch him, but lo! +the pigeon had turned into a man." + +Then his father "took him to the water to be baptized" (possibly a +modern addition to the legend). Prayers were offered and ceremonies +passed through. But the prayers were incomplete and Maui's father knew +that the gods would be angry and cause Maui's death, and all because in +the hurried baptism a part of the prayers had been left unsaid. Then +Maui returned to the upper world and lived again with his brothers. + +Maui commenced his mischievous life early, for Hervey Islanders say that +one day the children were playing a game dearly loved by +Polynesians--hide-and-seek. Here a sister enters into the game and hides +little Maui under a pile of dry sticks. His brothers could not find him, +and the sister told them where to look. The sticks were carefully +handled, but the child could not be found. He had shrunk himself so +small that he was like an insect under some sticks and leaves. Thus +early he began to use enchantments. + +Maui's home, at the best, was only a sorry affair. Gods and demigods +lived in caves and small grass houses. The thatch rapidly rotted and +required continual renewal. In a very short time the heavy rains beat +through the decaying roof. The home was without windows or doors, save +as low openings in the ends or sides allowed entrance to those willing +to crawl through. Off on one side would be the rude shelter, in the +shadow of which Hina pounded the bark of certain trees into wood pulp +and then into strips of thin, soft wood-paper, which bore the name of +"Tapa cloth." This cloth Hina prepared for the clothing of Maui and his +brothers. Tapa cloth was often treated to a coat of cocoa-nut, or +candle-nut oil, making it somewhat waterproof and also more durable. + +Here Maui lived on edible roots and fruits and raw fish, knowing little +about cooked food, for the art of fire making was not yet known. In +later years Maui was supposed to live on the eastern end of the island +Maui, and also in another home on the large island Hawaii, on which he +discovered how to make fire by rubbing dry sticks together. Maui was the +Polynesian Mercury. As a little fellow he was endowed with peculiar +powers, permitting him to become invisible or to change his human form +into that of an animal. He was ready to take anything from any one by +craft or force. Nevertheless, like the thefts of Mercury, his pranks +usually benefited mankind. + +It is a little curious that around the different homes of Maui, there is +so little record of temples and priests and altars. He lived too far +back for priestly customs. His story is the rude, mythical survival of +the days when of church and civil government there was none and worship +of the gods was practically unknown, but every man was a law unto +himself, and also to the other man, and quick retaliation followed any +injury received. + + + + +II. + +MAUI THE FISHERMAN + + "Oh the great fish hook of Maui! + Manai-i-ka-lani 'Made fast to the heavens'--its name; + An earth-twisted cord ties the hook. + Engulfed from the lofty Kauiki. + Its bait the red billed Alae, + The bird made sacred to Hina. + It sinks far down to Hawaii, + Struggling and painfully dying. + Caught is the land under the water, + Floated up, up to the surface, + But Hina hid a wing of the bird + And broke the land under the water. + Below, was the bait snatched away + And eaten at once by the fishes, + The Ulua of the deep muddy places." + + --Chant of Kualii, about A. D. 1700. + + +One of Maui's homes was near Kauiki, a place well known throughout the +Hawaiian Islands because of its strategic importance. For many years it +was the site of a fort around which fierce battles were fought by the +natives of the island Maui, repelling the invasions of their neighbors +from Hawaii. + +[Illustration: Leaping to Swim to Coral Reefs.] + +Haleakala (the House of the Sun), the mountain from which Maui the +demi-god snared the sun, looks down ten thousand feet upon the Kauiki +headland. Across the channel from Haleakala rises Mauna Kea, "The White +Mountain"--the snow-capped--which almost all the year round rears its +white head in majesty among the clouds. + +In the snowy breakers of the surf which washes the beach below these +mountains, are broken coral reefs--the fishing grounds of the Hawaiians. +Here near Kauiki, according to some Hawaiian legends, Maui's mother Hina +had her grass house and made and dried her kapa cloth. Even to the +present day it is one of the few places in the islands where the kapa is +still pounded into sheets from the bark of the hibiscus and kindred +trees. + +Here is a small bay partially reef-protected, over which year after year +the moist clouds float and by day and by night crown the waters with +rainbows--the legendary sign of the home of the deified ones. Here when +the tide is out the natives wade and swim, as they have done for +centuries, from coral block to coral block, shunning the deep resting +places of their dread enemy, the shark, sometimes esteemed divine. Out +on the edge of the outermost reef they seek the shellfish which cling +to the coral, or spear the large fish which have been left in the +beautiful little lakes of the reef. Coral land is a region of the sea +coast abounding in miniature lakes and rugged valleys and steep +mountains. Clear waters with every motion of the tide surge in and out +through sheltered caves and submarine tunnels, according to an ancient +Hawaiian song-- + + "Never quiet, never failing, never sleeping, + Never very noisy is the sea of the sacred caves." + +Sea mosses of many hues are the forests which drape the hillsides of +coral land and reflect the colored rays of light which pierce the +ceaselessly moving waves. Down in the beautiful little lakes, under +overhanging coral cliffs, darting in and out through the fringes of +seaweed, the purple mullet and royal red fish flash before the eyes of +the fisherman. Sometimes the many-tinted glorious fish of paradise +reveal their beauties, and then again a school of black and gold +citizens of the reef follow the tidal waves around projecting crags and +through the hidden tunnels from lake to lake, while above the fisherman +follows spearing or snaring as best he can. Maui's brothers were better +fishermen than he. They sought the deep sea beyond the reef and the +larger fish. They made hooks of bone or of mother of pearl, with a +straight, slender, sharp-pointed piece leaning backward at a sharp +angle. This was usually a consecrated bit of bone or mother of pearl, +and was supposed to have peculiar power to hold fast any fish which had +taken the bait. + +[Illustration: In the Sea of Sacred Caves.] + +These bones were usually taken from the body of some one who while +living had been noted for great power or high rank. This sharp piece was +tightly tied to the larger bone or shell, which formed the shank of the +hook. The sacred barb of Maui's hook was a part of the magic bone he had +secured from his ancestors in the under-world--the bone with which he +struck the sun while lassooing him and compelling him to move more +slowly through the heavens. + +"Earth-twisted"--fibres of vines--twisted while growing, was the cord +used by Maui in tying the parts of his magic hook together. + +Long and strong were the fish lines made from the olona fibre, holding +the great fish caught from the depths of the ocean. The fibres of the +olona vine were among the longest and strongest threads found in the +Hawaiian Islands. + +Such a hook could easily be cast loose by the struggling fish, if the +least opportunity were given. Therefore it was absolutely necessary to +keep the line taut, and pull strongly and steadily, to land the fish in +the canoe. + +Maui did not use his magic hook for a long time. He seemed to understand +that it would not answer ordinary needs. Possibly the idea of making +the supernatural hook did not occur to him until he had exhausted his +lower wit and magic upon his brothers. + +It is said that Maui was not a very good fisherman. Sometimes his end of +the canoe contained fish which his brothers had thought were on their +hooks until they were landed in the canoe. + +Many times they laughed at him for his poor success, and he retaliated +with his mischievous tricks. + +"E!" he would cry, when one of his brothers began to pull in, while the +other brothers swiftly paddled the canoe forward. "E!" See we both have +caught great fish at the same moment. Be careful now. Your line is +loose. "Look out! Look out!" + +All the time he would be pulling his own line in as rapidly as possible. +Onward rushed the canoe. Each fisherman shouting to encourage the +others. Soon the lines by the tricky manipulation of Maui would be +crossed. Then as the great fish was brought near the side of the boat +Maui the little, the mischievous one, would slip his hook toward the +head of the fish and flip it over into the canoe--causing his brother's +line to slacken for a moment. Then his mournful cry rang out: "Oh, my +brother, your fish is gone. Why did you not pull more steadily? It was a +fine fish, and now it is down deep in the waters." Then Maui held up his +splendid catch (from his brother's hook) and received somewhat +suspicious congratulations. But what could they do, Maui was the smart +one of the family. + +Their father and mother were both members of the household of the gods. +The father was "the supporter of the heavens" and the mother was "the +guardian of the way to the invisible world," but pitifully small and +very few were the gifts bestowed upon their children. Maui's brothers +knew nothing beyond the average home life of the ordinary Hawaiian, and +Maui alone was endowed with the power to work miracles. Nevertheless the +student of Polynesian legends learns that Maui is more widely known than +almost all the demi-gods of all nations as a discoverer of benefits for +his fellows, and these physical rather than spiritual. After many +fishing excursions Maui's brothers seemed to have wit enough to +understand his tricks, and thenceforth they refused to take him in their +canoe when they paddled out to the deep-sea fishing grounds. Then those +who depended upon Maui to supply their daily needs murmured against his +poor success. His mother scolded him and his brothers ridiculed him. + +In some of the Polynesian legends it is said that his wives and children +complained because of his laziness and at last goaded him into a new +effort. + +The ex-Queen Liliuokalani, in a translation of what is called "the +family chant," says that Maui's mother sent him to his father for a hook +with which to supply her need. + + "Go hence to your father, + 'Tis there you find line and hook. + This is the hook--'Made fast to the heavens--' + 'Manaia-ka-lani'--'tis called. + When the hook catches land + It brings the old seas together. + Bring hither the large Alae, + The bird of Hina." + +When Maui had obtained his hook, he tried to go fishing with his +brothers. He leaped on the end of their canoe as they pushed out into +deep water. They were angry and cried out: "This boat is too small for +another Maui." So they threw him off and made him swim back to the +beach. When they returned from their day's work, they brought back only +a shark. Maui told them if he had been with them better fish would have +been upon their hooks--the Ulua, for instance, or, possibly, the +Pimoe--the king of fish. At last they let him go far out outside the +harbor of Kipahula to a place opposite Ka Iwi o Pele, "The bone of +Pele," a peculiar piece of lava lying near the beach at Hana on the +eastern side of the island Maui. There they fished, but only sharks were +caught. The brothers ridiculed Maui, saying: "Where are the Ulua, and +where is Pimoe?" + +Then Maui threw his magic hook into the sea, baited with one of the Alae +birds, sacred to his mother Hina. He used the incantation, "When I let +go my hook with divine power, then I get the great Ulua." + +The bottom of the sea began to move. Great waves arose, trying to carry +the canoe away. The fish pulled the canoe two days, drawing the line to +its fullest extent. When the slack began to come in the line, because of +the tired fish, Maui called for the brothers to pull hard against the +coming fish. Soon land rose out of the water. Maui told them not to look +back or the fish would be lost. One brother did look back--the line +slacked, snapped, and broke, and the land lay behind them in islands. + +One of the Hawaiian legends also says that while the brothers were +paddling in full strength, Maui saw a calabash floating in the water. He +lifted it into the canoe, and behold! his beautiful sister Hina of the +sea. The brothers looked, and the separated islands lay behind them, +free from the hook, while Cocoanut Island--the dainty spot of beauty in +Hilo harbor--was drawn up--a little ledge of lava--in later years the +home of a cocoanut grove. + +The better, the more complete, legend comes from New Zealand, which +makes Maui so mischievous that his brothers refuse his +companionship--and therefore, thrown on his own resources, he studies +how to make a hook which shall catch something worth while. In this +legend Maui is represented as making his own hook and then pleading with +his brothers to let him go with them once more. But they hardened their +hearts against him, and refused again and again. + +Maui possessed the power of changing himself into different forms. At +one time while playing with his brothers he had concealed himself for +them to find. They heard his voice in a corner of the house--but could +not find him. Then under the mats on the floor, but again they could not +find him. There was only an insect creeping on the floor. Suddenly they +saw their little brother where the insect had been. Then they knew he +had been tricky with them. So in these fishing days he resolved to go +back to his old ways and cheat his brothers into carrying him with them +to the great fishing grounds. + +Sir George Gray says that the New Zealand Maui went out to the canoe and +concealed himself as an insect in the bottom of the boat so that when +the early morning light crept over the waters and his brothers pushed +the canoe into the surf they could not see him. They rejoiced that Maui +did not appear, and paddled away over the waters. + +They fished all day and all night and on the morning of the next day, +out from among the fish in the bottom of the boat came their troublesome +brother. + +They had caught many fine fish and were satisfied, so thought to paddle +homeward; but their younger brother plead with them to go out, far out, +to the deeper seas and permit him to cast his hook. He said he wanted +larger and better fish than any they had captured. + +[Illustration: Spearing Fish.] + +So they paddled to their outermost fishing grounds--but this did not +satisfy Maui-- + + "Farther out on the waters, + O! my brothers, + I seek the great fish of the sea." + +It was evidently easier to work for him than to argue with +him--therefore far out in the sea they went. The home land disappeared +from view; they could see only the outstretching waste of waters. Maui +urged them out still farther. Then he drew his magic hook from under his +malo or loin-cloth. The brothers wondered what he would do for bait. The +New Zealand legend says that he struck his nose a mighty blow until the +blood gushed forth. When this blood became clotted, he fastened it upon +his hook and let it down into the deep sea. + +Down it went to the very bottom and caught the under world. It was a +mighty fish--but the brothers paddled with all their might and main and +Maui pulled in the line. It was hard rowing against the power which held +the hook down in the sea depths--but the brothers became enthusiastic +over Maui's large fish, and were generous in their strenuous endeavors. +Every muscle was strained and every paddle held strongly against the sea +that not an inch should be lost. There was no sudden leaping and darting +to and fro, no "give" to the line; no "tremble" as when a great fish +would shake itself in impotent wrath when held captive by a hook. It was +simply a struggle of tense muscle against an immensely heavy dead +weight. To the brothers there came slowly the feeling that Maui was in +one of his strange moods and that something beyond their former +experiences with their tricky brother was coming to pass. + +At last one of the brothers glanced backward. With a scream of intense +terror he dropped his paddle. The others also looked. Then each caught +his paddle and with frantic exertion tried to force their canoe onward. +Deep down in the heavy waters they pushed their paddles. Out of the +great seas the black, ragged head of a large island was rising like a +fish--it seemed to be chasing them through the boiling surf. In a little +while the water became shallow around them, and their canoe finally +rested on a black beach. + +Maui for some reason left his brothers, charging them not to attempt to +cut up this great fish. But the unwise brothers thought they would fill +the canoe with part of this strange thing which they had caught. They +began to cut up the back and put huge slices into their canoe. But the +great fish--the island--shook under the blows and with mighty earthquake +shocks tossed the boat of the brothers, and their canoe was destroyed. +As they were struggling in the waters, the great fish devoured them. The +island came up more and more from the waters--but the deep gashes made +by Maui's brothers did not heal--they became the mountains and valleys +stretching from sea to sea. + +White of New Zealand says that Maui went down into the underworld to +meet his great ancestress, who was one side dead and one side alive. +From the dead side he took the jaw bone, made a magic hook, and went +fishing. When he let the hook down into the sea, he called: + + "Take my bait. O Depths! + Confused you are. O Depths! + And coming upward." + +Thus he pulled up Ao-tea-roa--one of the large islands of New Zealand. +On it were houses, with people around them. Fires were burning. Maui +walked over the island, saw with wonder the strange men and the +mysterious fire. He took fire in his hands and was burned. He leaped +into the sea, dived deep, came up with the other large island on his +shoulders. This island he set on fire and left it always burning. It is +said that the name for New Zealand given to Captain Cook was Te ika o +Maui, "The fish of Maui." Some New Zealand natives say that he fished up +the island on which dwelt "Great Hina of the Night," who finally +destroyed Maui while he was seeking immortality. + +One legend says that Maui fished up apparently from New Zealand the +large island of the Tongas. He used this chant: + + "O Tonga-nui! + Why art Thou + Sulkily biting, biting below? + Beneath the earth + The power is felt, + The foam is seen, + Coming. + O thou loved grandchild + Of Tangaroa-meha." + +This is an excellent poetical description of the great fish delaying the +quick hard bite. Then the island comes to the surface and Maui, the +beloved grandchild of the Polynesian god Kanaloa, is praised. + +It was part of one of the legends that Maui changed himself into a bird +and from the heavens let down a line with which he drew up land, but the +line broke, leaving islands rather than a mainland. About two hundred +lesser gods went to the new islands in a large canoe. The greater gods +punished them by making them mortal. + +Turner, in his book on Samoa, says there were three Mauis, all brothers. +They went out fishing from Rarotonga. One of the brothers begged the +"goddess of the deep rocks" to let his hooks catch land. Then the island +Manahiki was drawn up. A great wave washed two of the Mauis away. The +other Maui found a great house in which eight hundred gods lived. Here +he made his home until a chief from Rarotonga drove him away. He fled +into the sky, but as he leaped he separated the land into two islands. + +Other legends of Samoa say that Tangaroa, the great god, rolled stones +from heaven. One became the island Savaii, the other became Upolu. A god +is sometimes represented as passing over the ocean with a bag of sand. +Wherever he dropped a little sand islands sprang up. + +Payton, the earnest and honored missionary of the New Hebrides Islands, +evidently did not know the name Mauitikitiki, so he spells the name of +the fisherman Ma-tshi-ktshi-ki, and gives the myth of the fishing up of +the various islands. The natives said that Maui left footprints on the +coral reefs of each island where he stood straining and lifting in his +endeavors to pull up each other island. He threw his line around a large +island intending to draw it up and unite it with the one on which he +stood, but his line broke. Then he became angry and divided into two +parts the island on which he stood. This same Maui is recorded by Mr. +Payton as being in a flood which put out one volcano--Maui seized +another, sailed across to a neighboring island and piled it upon the top +of the volcano there, so the fire was placed out of reach of the flood. + +In the Hervey Group of the Tahitian or Society Islands the same story +prevails and the natives point out the place where the hook caught and a +print was made by the foot in the coral reef. But they add some very +mythical details. Maui's magic fish hook is thrown into the skies, where +it continuously hangs, the curved tail of the constellation which we +call Scorpio. Then one of the gods becoming angry with Maui seized him +and threw him also among the stars. There he stays looking down upon his +people. He has become a fixed part of the scorpion itself. + +The Hawaiian myths sometimes represent Maui as trying to draw the +islands together while fishing them out of the sea. When they had pulled +up the island of Kauai they looked back and were frightened. They +evidently tried to rush away from the new monster and thus broke the +line. Maui tore a side out of the small crater Kaula when trying to draw +it to one of the other islands. Three aumakuas, three fishes supposed to +be spirit-gods, guarded Kaula and defeated his purpose. At Hawaii +Cocoanut Island broke off because Maui pulled too hard. Another place +near Hilo on the large island of Hawaii where the hook was said to have +caught is in the Wailuku river below Rainbow Falls. + +Maui went out from his home at Kauiki, fishing with his brothers. After +they had caught some fine fish the brothers desired to return, but Maui +persuaded them to go out farther. Then when they became tired and +determined to go back, he made the seas stretch out and the shores +recede until they could see no land. Then drawing the magic hook, he +baited it with the Alae or sacred mud hen belonging to his Mother Hina. +Queen Liliuokalani's family chant has the following reference to this +myth: + + "Maui longed for fish for Hina-akeahi (Hina of the fire, his mother), + Go hence to your father, + There you will find line and hook. + Manaiakalani is the hook. + Where the islands are caught, + The ancient seas are connected. + The great bird Alae is taken, + The sister bird, + Of that one of the hidden fire of Maui." + +Maui evidently had no scruples against using anything which would help +him carry out his schemes. He indiscriminately robbed his friends and +the gods alike. + +Down in the deep sea sank the hook with its struggling bait, until it +was seized by "the land under the water." + +But Hina the mother saw the struggle of her sacred bird and hastened to +the rescue. She caught a wing of the bird, but could not pull the Alae +from the sacred hook. The wing was torn off. Then the fish gathered +around the bait and tore it in pieces. If the bait could have been kept +entire, then the land would have come up in a continent rather than as +an island. Then the Hawaiian group would have been unbroken. But the +bait broke--and the islands came as fragments from the under world. + +Maui's hook and canoe are frequently mentioned in the legends. The +Hawaiians have a long rock in the Wailuku river at Hilo which they call +Maui's canoe. Different names were given to Maui's canoe by the Maoris +of New Zealand. "Vine of Heaven," "Prepare for the North," "Land of the +Receding Sea." His fish hook bore the name "Plume of Beauty." + +On the southern end of Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, there is a curved ledge +of rocks extending out from the coast. This is still called by the +Maoris "Maui's fish-hook," as if the magic hook had been so firmly +caught in the jaws of the island that Maui could not disentangle it, but +had been compelled to cut it off from his line. + +There is a large stone on the sea coast of North Kohala on the island of +Hawaii which the Hawaiians point out as the place where Maui's magic +hook caught the island and pulled it through the sea. + +In the Tonga Islands, a place known as Hounga is pointed out by the +natives as the spot where the magic hook caught in the rocks. The hook +itself was said to have been in the possession of a chief-family for +many generations. + +[Illustration: Here are the Canoes.] + +Another group of Hawaiian legends, very incomplete, probably referring +to Maui, but ascribed to other names, relates that a fisherman caught a +large block of coral. He took it to his priest. After sacrificing, and +consulting the gods, the priest advised the fisherman to throw the coral +back into the sea with incantations. While so doing this block became +Hawaii-loa. The fishing continued and blocks of coral were caught and +thrown back into the sea until all the islands appeared. Hints of this +legend cling to other island groups as well as to the Hawaiian Islands. +Fornander credits a fisherman from foreign lands as thus bringing forth +the Hawaiian Islands from the deep seas. The reference occurs in part of +a chant known as that of a friend of Paao--the priest who is supposed to +have come from Samoa to Hawaii in the eleventh century. This priest +calls for his companions: + + "Here are the canoes. Get aboard. + Come along, and dwell on Hawaii with the green back. + A land which was found in the ocean, + A land thrown up from the sea-- + From the very depths of Kanaloa, + The white coral, in the watery caves, + That was caught on the hook of the fisherman." + +The god Kanaloa is sometimes known as a ruler of the under-world, whose +land was caught by Maui's hook and brought up in islands. Thus in the +legends the thought has been perpetuated that some one of the ancestors +of the Polynesians made voyages and discovered islands. + +In the time of Umi, King of Hawaii, there is the following record of an +immense bone fish-hook, which was called the "fish-hook of Maui:" + +"In the night of Muku (the last night of the month), a priest and his +servants took a man, killed him, and fastened his body to the hook, +which bore the name Manai-a-ka-lani, and dragged it to the heiau +(temple) as a 'fish,' and placed it on the altar." + +This hook was kept until the time of Kamehameha I. From time to time he +tried to break it, and pulled until he perspired. + +Peapea, a brother of Kaahumanu, took the hook and broke it. He was +afraid that Kamehameha would kill him. Kaahumanu, however, soothed the +King, and he passed the matter over. The broken bone was probably thrown +away. + + + + +III. + +MAUI LIFTING THE SKY. + + +Maui's home was for a long time enveloped by darkness. The heavens had +fallen down, or, rather, had not been separated from the earth. +According to some legends, the skies pressed so closely and so heavily +upon the earth that when the plants began to grow, all the leaves were +necessarily flat. According to other legends, the plants had to push up +the clouds a little, and thus caused the leaves to flatten out into +larger surface, so that they could better drive the skies back and hold +them in place. Thus the leaves became flat at first, and have so +remained through all the days of mankind. The plants lifted the sky inch +by inch until men were able to crawl about between the heavens and the +earth, and thus pass from place to place and visit one another. + +After a long time, according to the Hawaiian legends, a man, supposed to +be Maui, came to a woman and said: "Give me a drink from your gourd +calabash, and I will push the heavens higher." The woman handed the +gourd to him. When he had taken a deep draught, he braced himself +against the clouds and lifted them to the height of the trees. Again he +hoisted the sky and carried it to the tops of the mountains; then with +great exertion he thrust it upwards once more, and pressed it to the +place it now occupies. Nevertheless dark clouds many times hang low +along the eastern slope of Maui's great mountain--Haleakala--and descend +in heavy rains upon the hill Kauwiki; but they dare not stay, lest Maui +the strong come and hurl them so far away that they cannot come back +again. + +A man who had been watching the process of lifting the sky ridiculed +Maui for attempting such a difficult task. When the clouds rested on the +tops of the mountains, Maui turned to punish his critic. The man had +fled to the other side of the island. Maui rapidly pursued and finally +caught him on the sea coast, not many miles north of the town now known +as Lahaina. After a brief struggle the man was changed, according to the +story, into a great black rock, which can be seen by any traveler who +desires to localize the legends of Hawaii. + +In Samoa Tiitii, the latter part of the full name of Mauikiikii, is used +as the name of the one who braced his feet against the rocks and pushed +the sky up. The foot-prints, some six feet long, are said to be shown +by the natives. + +Another Samoan story is almost like the Hawaiian legend. The heavens had +fallen, people crawled, but the leaves pushed up a little; but the sky +was uneven. Men tried to walk, but hit their heads, and in this confined +space it was very hot. A woman rewarded a man who lifted the sky to its +proper place by giving him a drink of water from her cocoanut shell. + +A number of small groups of islands in the Pacific have legends of their +skies being lifted, but they attribute the labor to the great eels and +serpents of the sea. + +One of the Ellice group, Niu Island, says that as the serpent began to +lift the sky the people clapped their hands and shouted "Lift up!" +"High!" "Higher!" But the body of the serpent finally broke into pieces +which became islands, and the blood sprinkled its drops on the sky and +became stars. + +One of the Samoan legends says that a plant called daiga, which had one +large umbrella-like leaf, pushed up the sky and gave it its shape. + +The Vatupu, or Tracey Islanders, said at one time the sky and rocks were +united. Then steam or clouds of smoke rose from the rocks, and, pouring +out in volumes, forced the sky away from the earth. Man appeared in +these clouds of steam or smoke. Perspiration burst forth as this man +forced his way through the heated atmosphere. From this perspiration +woman was formed. Then were born three sons, two of whom pushed up the +sky. One, in the north, pushed as far as his arms would reach. The one +in the south was short and climbed a hill, pushing as he went up, until +the sky was in its proper place. + +The Gilbert Islanders say the sky was pushed up by men with long poles. + +The ancient New Zealanders understood incantations by which they could +draw up or discover. They found a land where the sky and the earth were +united. They prayed over their stone axe and cut the sky and land apart. +"Hau-hau-tu" was the name of the great stone axe by which the sinews of +the great heaven above were severed, and Langi (sky) was separated from +Papa (earth). + +The New Zealand Maoris were accustomed to say that at first the sky +rested close upon the earth and therefore there was utter darkness for +ages. Then the six sons of heaven and earth, born during this period of +darkness, felt the need of light and discussed the necessity of +separating their parents--the sky from the earth--and decided to attempt +the work. + +Rongo (Hawaiian god Lono) the "father of food plants," attempted to lift +the sky, but could not tear it from the earth. Then Tangaroa (Kanaloa), +the "father of fish and reptiles," failed. Haumia Tiki-tiki (Maui +Kiikii), the "father of wild food plants," could not raise the clouds. +Then Tu (Hawaiian Ku), the "father of fierce men," struggled in vain. +But Tane (Hawaiian Kane), the "father of giant forests," pushed and +lifted until he thrust the sky far up above him. Then they discovered +their descendants--the multitude of human beings who had been living on +the earth concealed and crushed by the clouds. Afterwards the last son, +Tawhiri (father of storms), was angry and waged war against his +brothers. He hid in the sheltered hollows of the great skies. There he +begot his vast brood of winds and storms with which he finally drove all +his brothers and their descendants into hiding places on land and sea. +The New Zealanders mention the names of the canoes in which their +ancestors fled from the old home Hawaiki. + +Tu (father of fierce men) and his descendants, however, conquered wind +and storm and have ever since held supremacy. + +The New Zealand legends also say that heaven and earth have never lost +their love for each other. "The warm sighs of earth ever ascend from the +wooded mountains and valleys, and men call them mists. The sky also lets +fall frequent tears which men term dew drops." + +The Manihiki islanders say that Maui desired to separate the sky from +the earth. His father, Ru, was the supporter of the heavens. Maui +persuaded him to assist in lifting the burden. Maui went to the north +and crept into a place, where, lying prostrate under the sky, he could +brace himself against it and push with great power. In the same way Ru +went to the south and braced himself against the southern skies. Then +they made the signal, and both pressed "with their backs against the +solid blue mass." It gave way before the great strength of the father +and son. Then they lifted again, bracing themselves with hands and knees +against the earth. They crowded it and bent it upward. They were able to +stand with the sky resting on their shoulders. They heaved against the +bending mass, and it receded rapidly. They quickly put the palms of +their hands under it; then the tips of their fingers, and it retreated +farther and farther. At last, "drawing themselves out to gigantic +proportions, they pushed the entire heavens up to the very lofty +position which they have ever since occupied." + +But Maui and Ru had not worked perfectly together; therefore the sky was +twisted and its surface was very irregular. They determined to smooth +the sky before they finished their task, so they took large stone adzes +and chipped off the rough protuberances and ridges, until by and by the +great arch was cut out and smoothed off. They then took finer tools and +chipped and polished until the sky became the beautifully finished blue +dome which now bends around the earth. + +The Hervey Island myth, as related by W. W. Gill, states that Ru, the +father of Maui, came from Avaiki (Hawa-iki), the underworld or abode of +the spirits of the dead. He found men crowded down by the sky, which was +a mass of solid blue stone. He was very sorry when he saw the condition +of the inhabitants of the earth, and planned to raise the sky a little. +So he planted stakes of different kinds of trees. These were strong +enough to hold the sky so far above the earth "that men could stand +erect and walk about without inconvenience." This was celebrated in one +of the Hervey Island songs: + + "Force up the heavens, + O, Ru! + And let the space be clear." + +For this helpful deed Ru received the name "The supporter of the +heavens." He was rather proud of his achievement and was gratified +because of the praise received. So he came sometimes and looked at the +stakes and the beautiful blue sky resting on them. Maui, the son, came +along and ridiculed his father for thinking so much of his work. Maui is +not represented, in the legends, as possessing a great deal of love and +reverence for his relatives provided his affection interfered with his +mischief; so it was not at all strange that he laughed at his father. Ru +became angry and said to Maui: "Who told youngsters to talk? Take care +of yourself, or I will hurl you out of existence." + +Maui dared him to try it. Ru quickly seized him and "threw him to a +great height." But Maui changed himself to a bird and sank back to earth +unharmed. + +Then he changed himself back into the form of a man, and, making himself +very large, ran and thrust his head between the old man's legs. He pried +and lifted until Ru and the sky around him began to give. Another lift +and he hurled them both to such a height that the sky could not come +back. + +Ru himself was entangled among the stars. His head and shoulders stuck +fast, and he could not free himself. How he struggled, until the skies +shook, while Maui went away. Maui was proud of his achievement in having +moved the sky so far away. In this self-rejoicing he quickly forgot his +father. + +Ru died after a time. "His body rotted away and his bones, of vast +proportions, came tumbling down from time to time, and were shivered on +the earth into countless fragments. These shattered bones of Ru are +scattered over every hill and valley of one of the islands, to the very +edge of the sea." + +Thus the natives of the Hervey Islands account for the many pieces of +porous lava and the small pieces of pumice stone found occasionally in +their islands. The "bones" were very light and greatly resembled +fragments of real bone. If the fragments were large enough they were +sometimes taken and worshiped as gods. One of these pieces, of +extraordinary size, was given to Mr. Gill when the natives were +bringing in a large collection of idols. "This one was known as 'The +Light Stone,' and was worshiped as the god of the wind and the waves. +Upon occasions of a hurricane, incantations and offerings of food would +be made to it." + +Thus, according to different Polynesian legends, Maui raised the sky and +made the earth inhabitable for his fellow-men. + + + + +IV. + +MAUI SNARING THE SUN. + + "Maui became restless and fought the sun + With a noose that he laid. + And winter won the sun, + And summer was won by Maui." + + --Queen Liliuokalani's family chant. + + +A very unique legend is found among the widely-scattered Polynesians. +The story of Maui's "Snaring the Sun" was told among the Maoris of New +Zealand, the Kanakas of the Hervey and Society Islands, and the ancient +natives of Hawaii. The Samoans tell the same story without mentioning +the name of Maui. They say that the snare was cast by a child of the sun +itself. + +The Polynesian stories of the origin of the sun are worthy of note +before the legend of the change from short to long days is given. + +The Tongan Islanders, according to W. W. Gill, tell the story of the +origin of the sun and moon. They say that Vatea (Wakea) and their +ancestor Tongaiti quarreled concerning a child--each claiming it as his +own. In the struggle the child was cut in two. Vatea squeezed and rolled +the part he secured into a ball and threw it away, far up into the +heavens, where it became the sun. It shone brightly as it rolled along +the heavens, and sank down to Avaiki (Hawaii), the nether world. But the +ball came back again and once more rolled across the sky. Tongaiti had +let his half of the child fall on the ground and lie there, until made +envious by the beautiful ball Vatea made. + +At last he took the flesh which lay on the ground and made it into a +ball. As the sun sank he threw his ball up into the darkness, and it +rolled along the heavens, but the blood had drained out of the flesh +while it lay upon the ground, therefore it could not become so red and +burning as the sun, and had not life to move so swiftly. It was as white +as a dead body, because its blood was all gone; and it could not make +the darkness flee away as the sun had done. Thus day and night and the +sun and moon always remain with the earth. + +The legends of the Society Islands say that a demon in the west became +angry with the sun and in his rage ate it up, causing night. In the same +way a demon from the east would devour the moon, but for some reason +these angry ones could not destroy their captives and were compelled to +open their mouths and let the bright balls come forth once more. In +some places a sacrifice of some one of distinction was needed to placate +the wrath of the devourers and free the balls of light in times of +eclipse. + +The moon, pale and dead in appearance, moved slowly; while the sun, full +of life and strength, moved quickly. Thus days were very short and +nights were very long. Mankind suffered from the fierceness of the heat +of the sun and also from its prolonged absence. Day and night were alike +a burden to men. The darkness was so great and lasted so long that +fruits would not ripen. + +After Maui had succeeded in throwing the heavens into their place, and +fastening them so that they could not fall, he learned that he had +opened a way for the sun-god to come up from the lower world and rapidly +run across the blue vault. This made two troubles for men--the heat of +the sun was very great and the journey too quickly over. Maui planned to +capture the sun and punish him for thinking so little about the welfare +of mankind. + +[Illustration: Iao Mountain From the Sea.] + +As Rev. A. O. Forbes, a missionary among the Hawaiians, relates, Maui's +mother was troubled very much by the heedless haste of the sun. She had +many kapa-cloths to make, for this was the only kind of clothing known +in Hawaii, except sometimes a woven mat or a long grass fringe worn as a +skirt. This native cloth was made by pounding the fine bark of +certain trees with wooden mallets until the fibres were beaten and +ground into a wood pulp. Then she pounded the pulp into thin sheets from +which the best sleeping mats and clothes could be fashioned. These kapa +cloths had to be thoroughly dried, but the days were so short that by +the time she had spread out the kapa the sun had heedlessly rushed +across the sky and gone down into the under-world, and all the cloth had +to be gathered up again and cared for until another day should come. +There were other troubles. "The food could not be prepared and cooked in +one day. Even an incantation to the gods could not be chanted through +ere they were overtaken by darkness." + +This was very discouraging and caused great suffering, as well as much +unnecessary trouble and labor. Many complaints were made against the +thoughtless sun. + +Maui pitied his mother and determined to make the sun go slower that the +days might be long enough to satisfy the needs of men. Therefore, he +went over to the northwest of the island on which he lived. This was Mt. +Iao, an extinct volcano, in which lies one of the most beautiful and +picturesque valleys of the Hawaiian Islands. He climbed the ridges until +he could see the course of the sun as it passed over the island. He saw +that the sun came up the eastern side of Mt. Haleakala. He crossed over +the plain between the two mountains and climbed to the top of Mt. +Haleakala. There he watched the burning sun as it came up from Koolau +and passed directly over the top of the mountain. The summit of +Haleakala is a great extinct crater twenty miles in circumference, and +nearly twenty-five hundred feet in depth. There are two tremendous gaps +or chasms in the side of the crater wall, through which in days gone by +the massive bowl poured forth its flowing lava. One of these was the +Koolau, or eastern gap, in which Maui probably planned to catch the sun. + +Mt. Hale-a-ka-la of the Hawaiian Islands means House-of-the-sun. "La," +or "Ra," is the name of the sun throughout parts of Polynesia. Ra was +the sun-god of ancient Egypt. Thus the antiquities of Polynesia and +Egypt touch each other, and today no man knows the full reason thereof. + +The Hawaiian legend says Maui was taunted by a man who ridiculed the +idea that he could snare the sun, saying, "You will never catch the sun. +You are only an idle nobody." + +Maui replied, "When I conquer my enemy and my desire is attained, I will +be your death." + +After studying the path of the sun, Maui returned to his mother and told +her that he would go and cut off the legs of the sun so that he could +not run so fast. + +His mother said: "Are you strong enough for this work?" He said, "Yes." +Then she gave him fifteen strands of well-twisted fiber and told him to +go to his grandmother, who lived in the great crater of Haleakala, for +the rest of the things in his conflict with the sun. She said: "You must +climb the mountain to the place where a large wiliwili tree is standing. +There you will find the place where the sun stops to eat cooked bananas +prepared by your grandmother. Stay there until a rooster crows three +times; then watch your grandmother go out to make a fire and put on +food. You had better take her bananas. She will look for them and find +you and ask who you are. Tell her you belong to Hina." + +When she had taught him all these things, he went up the mountain to +Kaupo to the place Hina had directed. There was a large wiliwili tree. +Here he waited for the rooster to crow. The name of that rooster was +Kalauhele-moa. When the rooster had crowed three times, the grandmother +came out with a bunch of bananas to cook for the sun. She took off the +upper part of the bunch and laid it down. Maui immediately snatched it +away. In a moment she turned to pick it up, but could not find it. She +was angry and cried out: "Where are the bananas of the sun?" Then she +took off another part of the bunch, and Maui stole that. Thus he did +until all the bunch had been taken away. She was almost blind and could +not detect him by sight, so she sniffed all around her until she +detected the smell of a man. She asked: "Who are you? To whom do you +belong?" Maui replied: "I belong to Hina." "Why have you come?" Maui +told her, "I have come to kill the sun. He goes so fast that he never +dries the tapa Hina has beaten out." + +The old woman gave a magic stone for a battle axe and one more rope. She +taught him how to catch the sun, saying: "Make a place to hide here by +this large wiliwili tree. When the first leg of the sun comes up, catch +it with your first rope, and so on until you have used all your ropes. +Fasten them to the tree, then take the stone axe to strike the body of +the sun." + +Maui dug a hole among the roots of the tree and concealed himself. Soon +the first ray of light--the first leg of the sun--came up along the +mountain side. Maui threw his rope and caught it. One by one the legs of +the sun came over the edge of the crater's rim and were caught. Only one +long leg was still hanging down the side of the mountain. It was hard +for the sun to move that leg. It shook and trembled and tried hard to +come up. At last it crept over the edge and was caught by Maui with the +rope given by his grandmother. + +When the sun saw that his sixteen long legs were held fast in the ropes, +he began to go back down the mountain side into the sea. Then Maui tied +the ropes fast to the tree and pulled until the body of the sun came up +again. Brave Maui caught his magic stone club or axe, and began to +strike and wound the sun, until he cried: "Give me my life." Maui said: +"If you live, you may be a traitor. Perhaps I had better kill you." But +the sun begged for life. After they had conversed a while, they agreed +that there should be a regular motion in the journey of the sun. There +should be longer days, and yet half the time he might go quickly as in +the winter time, but the other half he must move slowly as in summer. +Thus men dwelling on the earth should be blessed. + +Another legend says that he made a lasso and climbed to the summit of +Mt. Haleakala. He made ready his lasso, so that when the sun came up the +mountain side and rose above him he could cast the noose and catch the +sun, but he only snared one of the sun's larger rays and broke it off. +Again and again he threw the lasso until he had broken off all the +strong rays of the sun. + +Then he shouted exultantly, "Thou art my captive; I will kill thee for +going so swiftly." + +Then the sun said, "Let me live and thou shalt see me go more slowly +hereafter. Behold, hast thou not broken off all my strong legs and left +me only the weak ones?" + +So the agreement was made, and Maui permitted the sun to pursue his +course, and from that day he went more slowly. + +Maui returned from his conflict with the sun and sought for Moemoe, the +man who had ridiculed him. Maui chased this man around the island from +one side to the other until they had passed through Lahaina (one of the +first mission stations in 1828). There on the seashore near the large +black rock of the legend of Maui lifting the sky he found Moemoe. Then +they left the seashore and the contest raged up hill and down until Maui +slew the man and "changed the body into a long rock, which is there to +this day, by the side of the road going past Black Rock." + +Before the battle with the sun occurred Maui went down into the +underworld, according to the New Zealand tradition, and remained a long +time with his relatives. In some way he learned that there was an +enchanted jawbone in the possession of some one of his ancestors, so he +waited and waited, hoping that at last he might discover it. + +After a time he noticed that presents of food were being sent away to +some person whom he had not met. + +One day he asked the messengers, "Who is it you are taking that present +of food to?" + +The people answered, "It is for Muri, your ancestress." + +Then he asked for the food, saying, "I will carry it to her myself." + +But he took the food away and hid it. "And this he did for many days," +and the presents failed to reach the old woman. + +By and by she suspected mischief, for it did not seem as if her friends +would neglect her so long a time, so she thought she would catch the +tricky one and eat him. She depended upon her sense of smell to detect +the one who had troubled her. As Sir George Grey tells the story: "When +Maui came along the path carrying the present of food, the old chiefess +sniffed and sniffed until she was sure that she smelt some one coming. +She was very much exasperated, and her stomach began to distend itself +that she might be ready to devour this one when he came near. + +Then she turned toward the south and sniffed and not a scent of anything +reached her. Then she turned to the north, and to the east, but could +not detect the odor of a human being. She made one more trial and turned +toward the west. Ah! then came the scent of a man to her plainly and she +called out, 'I know, from the smell wafted to me by the breeze, that +somebody is close to me.'" + +Maui made known his presence and the old woman knew that he was a +descendant of hers, and her stomach began immediately to shrink and +contract itself again. + +Then she asked, "Art thou Maui?" + +He answered, "Even so," and told her that he wanted "the jaw-bone by +which great enchantments could be wrought." + +Then Muri, the old chiefess, gave him the magic bone and he returned to +his brothers, who were still living on the earth. + +Then Maui said: "Let us now catch the sun in a noose that we may compel +him to move more slowly in order that mankind may have long days to +labor in and procure subsistence for themselves." + +They replied, "No man can approach it on account of the fierceness of +the heat." + +According to the Society Island legend, his mother advised him to have +nothing to do with the sun, who was a divine living creature, "in form +like a man, possessed of fearful energy," shaking his golden locks both +morning and evening in the eyes of men. Many persons had tried to +regulate the movements of the sun, but had failed completely. + +But Maui encouraged his mother and his brothers by asking them to +remember his power to protect himself by the use of enchantments. + +The Hawaiian legend says that Maui himself gathered cocoanut fibre in +great quantity and manufactured it into strong ropes. But the legends of +other islands say that he had the aid of his brothers, and while working +learned many useful lessons. While winding and twisting they discovered +how to make square ropes and flat ropes as well as the ordinary round +rope. In the Society Islands, it is said, Maui and his brothers made six +strong ropes of great length. These he called aeiariki (royal nooses). + +The New Zealand legend says that when Maui and his brothers had finished +making all the ropes required they took provisions and other things +needed and journeyed toward the east to find the place where the sun +should rise. Maui carried with him the magic jaw-bone which he had +secured from Muri, his ancestress, in the under-world. + +They traveled all night and concealed themselves by day so that the sun +should not see them and become too suspicious and watchful. In this way +they journeyed, until "at length they had gone very far to the eastward +and had come to the very edge of the place out of which the sun rises. +There they set to work and built on each side a long, high wall of clay, +with huts of boughs of trees at each end to hide themselves in." + +Here they laid a large noose made from their ropes and Maui concealed +himself on one side of this place along which the sun must come, while +his brothers hid on the other side. + +Maui seized his magic enchanted jaw-bone as the weapon with which to +fight the sun, and ordered his brothers to pull hard on the noose and +not to be frightened or moved to set the sun free. + +"At last the sun came rising up out of his place like a fire spreading +far and wide over the mountains and forests. + +He rises up. + +His head passes through the noose. + +The ropes are pulled tight. + +Then the monster began to struggle and roll himself about, while the +snare jerked backwards and forwards as he struggled. Ah! was not he held +fast in the ropes of his enemies. + +Then forth rushed that bold hero Maui with his enchanted weapon. The sun +screamed aloud and roared. Maui struck him fiercely with many blows. +They held him for a long time. At last they let him go, and then weak +from wounds the sun crept very slowly and feebly along his course." + +In this way the days were made longer so that men could perform their +daily tasks and fruits and food plants could have time to grow. + +The legend of the Hervey group of islands says that Maui made six snares +and placed them at intervals along the path over which the sun must +pass. The sun in the form of a man climbed up from Avaiki (Hawaiki). +Maui pulled the first noose, but it slipped down the rising sun until it +caught and was pulled tight around his feet. + +[Illustration: Hale-a-ka-la Crater. Where the Sun Was Caught.] + +Maui ran quickly to pull the ropes of the second snare, but that also +slipped down, down, until it was tightened around the knees. Then Maui +hastened to the third snare, while the sun was trying to rush along +on his journey. The third snare caught around the hips. The fourth snare +fastened itself around the waist. The fifth slipped under the arms, and +yet the sun sped along as if but little inconvenienced by Maui's +efforts. + +Then Maui caught the last noose and threw it around the neck of the sun, +and fastened the rope to a spur of rock. The sun struggled until nearly +strangled to death and then gave up, promising Maui that he would go as +slowly as was desired. Maui left the snares fastened to the sun to keep +him in constant fear. + +"These ropes may still be seen hanging from the sun at dawn and +stretching into the skies when he descends into the ocean at night. By +the assistance of these ropes he is gently let down into Ava-iki in the +evening, and also raised up out of shadow-land in the morning." + +Another legend from the Society Islands is related by Mr. Gill: + +Maui tried many snares before he could catch the sun. The sun was the +Hercules, or the Samson, of the heavens. He broke the strong cords of +cocoanut fibre which Maui made and placed around the opening by which +the sun climbed out from the under-world. Maui made stronger ropes, but +still the sun broke them every one. + +Then Maui thought of his sister's hair, the sister Inaika, whom he +cruelly treated in later years. Her hair was long and beautiful. He cut +off some of it and made a strong rope. With this he lassoed or rather +snared the sun, and caught him around the throat. The sun quickly +promised to be more thoughtful of the needs of men and go at a more +reasonable pace across the sky. + +A story from the American Indians is told in Hawaii's Young People, +which is very similar to the Polynesian legends. + +An Indian boy became very angry with the sun for getting so warm and +making his clothes shrink with the heat. He told his sister to make a +snare. The girl took sinews from a large deer, but they shriveled under +the heat. She took her own long hair and made snares, but they were +burned in a moment. Then she tried the fibres of various plants and was +successful. Her brother took the fibre cord and drew it through his +lips. It stretched and became a strong red cord. He pulled and it became +very long. He went to the place of sunrise, fixed his snare, and caught +the sun. When the sun had been sufficiently punished, the animals of the +earth studied the problem of setting the sun free. At last a mouse as +large as a mountain ran and gnawed the red cord. It broke and the sun +moved on, but the poor mouse had been burned and shriveled into the +small mouse of the present day. + +A Samoan legend says that a woman living for a time with the sun bore a +child who had the name "Child of the Sun." She wanted gifts for the +child's marriage, so she took a long vine, climbed a tree, made the vine +into a noose, lassoed the sun, and made him give her a basket of +blessings. + +In Fiji, the natives tie the grasses growing on a hilltop over which +they are passing, when traveling from place to place. They do this to +make a snare to catch the sun if he should try to go down before they +reach the end of their day's journey. + +This legend is a misty memory of some time when the Polynesian people +were in contact with the short days of the extreme north or south. It is +a very remarkable exposition of a fact of nature perpetuated many +centuries in lands absolutely free from such natural phenomena. + + + + +V. + +MAUI FINDING FIRE. + + "Grant, oh grant me thy hidden fire, + O Banyan Tree. + Perform an incantation, + Utter a prayer + To the Banyan Tree. + Kindle a fire in the dust + Of the Banyan Tree." + + --Translation of ancient Polynesian chant. + + +Among students of mythology certain characters in the legends of the +various nations are known as "culture heroes." Mankind has from time to +time learned exceedingly useful lessons and has also usually ascribed +the new knowledge to some noted person in the national mythology. These +mythical benefactors who have brought these practical benefits to men +are placed among the "hero-gods." They have been teachers or "culture +heroes" to mankind. + +Probably the fire finders of the different nations are among the best +remembered of all these benefactors. This would naturally be the case, +for no greater good has touched man's physical life than the discovery +of methods of making fire. + +Prometheus, the classical fire finder, is most widely known in +literature. But of all the helpful gods of mythology, Maui, the +mischievous Polynesian, is beyond question the hero of the largest +numbers of nations scattered over the widest extent of territory. +Prometheus belonged to Rome, but Maui belonged to the length and breadth +of the Pacific Ocean. Theft or trickery, the use of deceit of some kind, +is almost inseparably connected with fire finding all over the world. +Prometheus stole fire from Jupiter and gave it to men together with the +genius to make use of it in the arts and sciences. He found the rolling +chariot of the sun, secretly filled his hollow staff with fire, carried +it to earth, put a part in the breast of man to create enthusiasm or +animation, and saved the remainder for the comfort of mankind to be used +with the artist skill of Minerva and Vulcan. In Brittany the golden or +fire-crested wren steals fire and is red-marked while so doing. The +animals of the North American Indians are represented as stealing fire +sometimes from the cuttle fish and sometimes from one another. Some +swiftly-flying bird or fleet-footed coyote would carry the stolen fire +to the home of the tribe. + +The possession of fire meant to the ancients all that wealth means to +the family of today. It meant the possession of comfort. The gods were +naturally determined to keep this wealth in their own hands. For any one +to make a sharp deal and cheat a god of fire out of a part of this +valuable property or to make a courageous raid upon the fire guardian +and steal the treasure, was easily sufficient to make that one a +"culture hero." As a matter of fact a prehistoric family without fire +would go to any length in order to get it. The fire finders would +naturally be the hero-gods and stealing fire would be an exploit rather +than a crime. + +It is worth noting that in many myths not only was fire stolen, but +birds marked by red or black spots among their feathers were associated +with the theft. + +It would naturally be supposed that the Hawaiians living in a volcanic +country with ever-flowing fountains of lava, would connect their fire +myths with some volcano when relating the story of the origin of fire. +But like the rest of the Polynesians, they found fire in trees rather +than in rivers of melted rock. They must have brought their fire legends +and fire customs with them when they came to the islands of active +volcanoes. + +Flint rocks as fire producers are not found in the Hawaiian myths, nor +in the stories from the island groups related to the Hawaiians. Indians +might see the fleeing buffalo strike fire from the stones under his hard +hoofs. The Tartars might have a god to teach them "the secret of the +stone's edge and the iron's hardness." The Peruvians could very easily +form a legend of their mythical father Guamansuri finding a way to make +fire after he had seen the sling stones, thrown at his enemies, bring +forth sparks of fire from the rocks against which they struck. The +thunder and the lightning of later years were the sparks and the crash +of stones hurled among the cloud mountains by the mighty gods. + +In Australia the story is told of an old man and his daughter who lived +in great darkness. After a time the father found the doorway of light +through which the sun passed on his journey. He opened the door and a +flood of sunshine covered the earth. His daughter looked around her home +and saw numbers of serpents. She seized a staff and began to kill them. +She wielded it so vigorously that it became hot in her hands. At last it +broke, but the pieces rubbed against each other and flashed into sparks +and flames. Thus it was learned that fire was buried in wood. + +Flints were known in Europe and Asia and America, but the Polynesian +looked to the banyan and kindred trees for the hidden sparks of fire. +The natives of De Peyster's Island say that their ancestors learned how +to make fire by seeing smoke rise from crossed branches rubbing together +while trees were shaken by fierce winds. + +In studying the Maui myths of the Pacific it is necessary to remember +that Polynesians use "t" and "k" without distinguishing them apart, and +also as in the Hawaiian Islands an apostrophe (') is often used in place +of "t" or "k". Therefore the Maui Ki-i-k-i'i of Hawaii becomes the +demi-god Tiki-tiki of the Gilbert Islands--or the Ti'i-ti'i of Samoa or +the Tiki of New Zealand--or other islands of the great ocean. We must +also remember that in the Hawaiian legends Kalana is Maui's father. This +in other groups becomes Talanga or Kalanga or Karanga. Kanaloa, the +great god of most of the different Polynesians, is also sometimes called +the Father of Maui. It is not strange that some of the exploits usually +ascribed to Maui should be in some places transferred to his father +under one name or the other. On one or two groups Mafuia, an ancestress +of Maui, is mentioned as finding the fire. The usual legend makes Maui +the one who takes fire away from Mafuia. The story of fire finding in +Polynesia sifts itself to Maui under one of his widely-accepted names, +or to his father or to his ancestress--with but very few exceptions. +This fact is important as showing in a very marked manner the race +relationship of a vast number of the islanders of the Pacific world. +From the Marshall Islands, in the west, to the Society Islands of the +east; from the Hawaiian Islands in the north to the New Zealand group in +the south, the footsteps of Maui the fire finder can be traced. + +The Hawaiian story of fire finding is one of the least marvelous of all +the legends. Hina, Maui's mother, wanted fish. One morning early Maui +saw that the great storm waves of the sea had died down and the fishing +grounds could be easily reached. He awakened his brothers and with them +hastened to the beach. This was at Kaupo on the island of Maui. Out into +the gray shadows of the dawn they paddled. When they were far from shore +they began to fish. But Maui, looking landward, saw a fire on the +mountain side. + +"Behold," he cried. "There is a fire burning. Whose can this fire be?" + +"Whose, indeed?" his brothers replied. + +"Let us hasten to the shore and cook our food," said one. + +They decided that they had better catch some fish to cook before they +returned. Thus, in the morning, before the hot sun drove the fish deep +down to the dark recesses of the sea, they fished until a bountiful +supply lay in the bottom of the canoe. + +When they came to land, Maui leaped out and ran up the mountain side to +get the fire. For a long, long time they had been without fire. The +great volcano Haleakala above them had become extinct--and they had +lost the coals they had tried to keep alive. They had eaten fruits and +uncooked roots and the shell fish broken from the reef--and sometimes +the great raw fish from the far-out ocean. But now they hoped to gain +living fire and cooked food. + +But when Maui rushed up toward the cloudy pillar of smoke he saw a +family of birds scratching the fire out. Their work was finished and +they flew away just as he reached the place. + +Maui and his brothers watched for fire day after day--but the birds, the +curly-tailed Alae (or the mud-hens) made no fire. Finally the brothers +went fishing once more--but when they looked toward the mountain, again +they saw flames and smoke. Thus it happened to them again and again. + +Maui proposed to his brothers that they go fishing leaving him to watch +the birds. But the Alae counted the fishermen and refused to build a +fire for the hidden one who was watching them. They said among +themselves, "Three are in the boat and we know not where the other one +is, we will make no fire today." + +So the experiment failed again and again. If one or two remained or if +all waited on the land there would be no fire--but the dawn which saw +the four brothers in the boat, saw also the fire on the land. + +Finally Maui rolled some kapa cloth together and stuck it up in one end +of the canoe so that it would look like a man. He then concealed +himself near the haunt of the mud-hens, while his brothers went out +fishing. The birds counted the figures in the boat and then started to +build a heap of wood for the fire. + +Maui was impatient--and just as the old Alae began to select sticks with +which to make the flames he leaped swiftly out and caught her and held +her prisoner. He forgot for a moment that he wanted the secret of fire +making. In his anger against the wise bird his first impulse was to +taunt her and then kill her for hiding the secret of fire. + +But the Alae cried out: "If you are the death of me--my secret will +perish also--and you cannot have fire." + +Maui then promised to spare her life if she would tell him what to do. + +Then came the contest of wits. The bird told the demi-god to rub the +stalks of water plants together. He guarded the bird and tried the +plants. Water instead of fire ran out of the twisted stems. Then she +told him to rub reeds together--but they bent and broke and could make +no fire. He twisted her neck until she was half dead--then she cried +out: "I have hidden the fire in a green stick." + +Maui worked hard, but not a spark of fire appeared. Again he caught his +prisoner by the head and wrung her neck, and she named a kind of dry +wood. Maui rubbed the sticks together, but they only became warm. The +neck twisting process was resumed--and repeated again and again, until +the mud-hen was almost dead--and Maui had tried tree after tree. At last +Maui found fire. Then as the flames rose he said: "There is one more +thing to rub." He took a fire stick and rubbed the top of the head of +his prisoner until the feathers fell off and the raw flesh appeared. +Thus the Hawaiian mud-hen and her descendants have ever since had bald +heads, and the Hawaiians have had the secret of fire making. + +Another Hawaiian legend places the scene of Maui's contest with the +mud-hens a little inland of the town of Hilo on the Island of Hawaii. +There are three small extinct craters very near each other known as The +Halae Hills. One, the southern or Puna side of the hills, is a place +called Pohaku-nui. Here dwelt two brother birds of the Alae family. They +were gods. One had the power of fire making. Here at Pohaku-nui they +were accustomed to kindle a fire and bake their dearly loved food--baked +bananas. Here Maui planned to learn the secret of fire. The birds had +kindled the fire and the bananas were almost done, when the elder Alae +called to the younger: "Be quick, here comes the swift son of Hina." + +The birds scratched out the fire, caught the bananas and fled. Maui told +his mother he would follow them until he learned the secret of fire. His +mother encouraged him because he was very strong and very swift. So he +followed the birds from place to place as they fled from him, finding +new spots on which to make their fires. At last they came to Waianae on +the island Oahu. There he saw a great fire and a multitude of birds +gathered around it, chattering loudly and trying to hasten the baking of +the bananas. Their incantation was this: "Let us cook quick." "Let us +cook quick." "The swift child of Hina will come." + +Maui's mother Hina had taught him how to know the fire-maker. "If you go +up to the fire, you will find many birds. Only one is the guardian. This +is the small, young Alae. His name is Alae-iki: Only this one knows how +to make fire." So whenever Maui came near to the fire-makers he always +sought for the little Alae. Sometimes he made mistakes and sometimes +almost captured the one he desired. At Waianae he leaped suddenly among +the birds. They scattered the fire, and the younger bird tried to snatch +his banana from the coals and flee, but Maui seized him and began to +twist his neck. The bird cried out, warning Maui not to kill him or he +would lose the secret of fire altogether. Maui was told that the fire +was made from a banana stump. He saw the bananas roasting and thought +this was reasonable. So, according to directions, he began to rub +together pieces of the banana. The bird hoped for an unguarded moment +when he might escape, but Maui was very watchful and was also very +angry when he found that rubbing only resulted in squeezing out juice. +Then he twisted the neck of the bird and was told to rub the stem of the +taro plant. This also was so green that it only produced water. Then he +was so angry that he nearly rubbed the head of the bird off--and the +bird, fearing for its life, told the truth and taught Maui how to find +the wood in which fire dwelt. + +They learned to draw out the sparks secreted in different kinds of +trees. The sweet sandalwood was one of these fire trees. Its Hawaiian +name is "Ili-ahi"--the "ili" (bark) and "ahi" (fire), the bark in which +fire is concealed. + +A legend of the Society Islands is somewhat similar. Ina (Hina) promised +to aid Maui in finding fire for the islanders. She sent him into the +under-world to find Tangaroa (Kanaloa). This god Tangaroa held fire in +his possession--Maui was to know him by his tattooed face. Down the dark +path through the long caves Maui trod swiftly until he found the god. +Maui asked him for fire to take up to men. The god gave him a lighted +stick and sent him away. But Maui put the fire out and went back again +after fire. This he did several times, until the wearied giver decided +to teach the intruder the art of fire making. He called a white duck to +aid him. Then, taking two sticks of dry wood, he gave the under one to +the bird and rapidly moved the upper stick across the under until fire +came. Maui seized the upper stick, after it had been charred in the +flame, and burned the head of the bird back of each eye. Thus were made +the black spots which mark the head of the white duck. Then arose a +quarrel between Tangaroa and Maui--but Maui struck down the god, and, +thinking he had killed him, carried away the art of making fire. His +father and mother made inquiries about their relative--Maui hastened +back to the fire fountain and made the spirit return to the body--then, +coming back to Ina, he bade her good bye and carried the fire sticks to +the upper-world. The Hawaiians, and probably others among the +Polynesians, felt that any state of unconsciousness was a form of death +in which the spirit left the body, but was called back by prayers and +incantations. Therefore, when Maui restored the god to consciousness, he +was supposed to have made the spirit released by death return into the +body and bring it back to life. + +In the Samoan legends as related by G. Turner, the name Ti'iti'i is +used. This is the same as the second name found in Maui Ki'i-ki'i. The +Samoan legend of Ti'iti'i is almost identical with the New Zealand fire +myth of Maui, and is very similar to the story coming from the Hervey +Islands from Savage Island and also from the Tokelau and other island +groups. The Samoan story says that the home of Mafuie the earthquake +god was in the land of perpetual fire. Maui's or Ti'iti'i's father +Talanga (Kalana) was also a resident of the under-world and a great +friend of the earthquake god. + +Ti'iti'i watched his father as he left his home in the upper-world. +Talanga approached a perpendicular wall of rock, said some prayer or +incantation--and passed through a door which immediately closed after +him. (This is a very near approach to the "open sesame" of the Arabian +Nights stories.) + +Ti'iti'i went to the rock, but could not find the way through. He +determined to conceal himself the next time so near that he could hear +his father's words. + +After some days he was able to catch all the words uttered by his father +as he knocked on the stone door-- + + "O rock! divide. + I am Talanga, + I come to work + On my land + Given by Mafuie." + +Ti'iti'i went to the perpendicular wall and imitating his father's voice +called for a rock to open. Down through a cave he passed until he found +his father working in the under-world. + +The astonished father, learning how his son came, bade him keep very +quiet and work lest he arouse the anger of Mafuie. So for a time the +boy labored obediently by his father's side. + +In a little while the boy saw smoke and asked what it was. The father +told him that it was the smoke from the fire of Mafuie, and explained +what fire would do. + +The boy determined to get some fire--he went to the place from which the +smoke arose and there found the god, and asked him for fire. Mafuie gave +him fire to carry to his father. The boy quickly had an oven prepared +and the fire placed in it to cook some of the taro they had been +cultivating. Just as everything was ready an earthquake god came up and +blew the fire out and scattered the stones of the oven. + +Then Ti'iti'i was angry and began to talk to Mafuie. The god attacked +the boy, intending to punish him severely for daring to rebel against +the destruction of the fire. + +What a battle there was for a time in the under-world! At last Ti'iti'i +seized one of the arms of Mafuie and broke it off. He caught the other +arm and began to twist and bend it. + +Mafuie begged the boy to spare him. His right arm was gone. How could he +govern the earthquakes if his left arm were torn off also? It was his +duty to hold Samoa level and not permit too many earthquakes. It would +be hard to do that even with one arm--but it would be impossible if +both arms were gone. + +Ti'iti'i listened to the plea and demanded a reward if he should spare +the left arm. Mafuie offered Ti'iti'i one hundred wives. The boy did not +want them. + +Then the god offered to teach him the secret of fire finding to take to +the upper-world. + +The boy agreed to accept the fire secret, and thus learned that the gods +in making the earth had concealed fire in various trees for men to +discover in their own good time, and that this fire could be brought out +by rubbing pieces of wood together. + +The people of Samoa have not had much faith in Mafuie's plea that he +needed his left arm in order to keep Samoa level. They say that Mafuie +has a long stick or handle to the world under the islands--and when he +is angry or wishes to frighten them he moves this handle and easily +shakes the islands. When an earthquake comes, they give thanks to +Ti'iti'i for breaking off one arm--because if the god had two arms they +believe he would shake them unmercifully. + +One legend of the Hervey Islands says that Maui and his brothers had +been living on uncooked food--but learned that their mother sometimes +had delicious food which had been cooked. They learned also that fire +was needed in order to cook their food. Then Maui wanted fire and +watched his mother. + +Maui's mother was the guardian of the way to the invisible world. When +she desired to pass from her home to the other world, she would open a +black rock and pass inside. Thus she went to Hawaiki, the under-world. +Maui planned to follow her, but first studied the forms of birds that he +might assume the body of the strongest and most enduring. After a time +he took the shape of a pigeon and, flying to the black rock, passed +through the door and flew down the long dark passage-way. + +After a time he found the god of fire living in a bunch of banyan +sticks. He changed himself into the form of a man and demanded the +secret of fire. + +The fire god agreed to give Maui fire if he would permit himself to be +tossed into the sky by the god's strong arms. + +Maui agreed on condition that he should have the right to toss the fire +god afterwards. + +The fire-god felt certain that there would be only one exercise of +strength--he felt that he had everything in his own hands--so readily +agreed to the tossing contest. It was his intention to throw his +opponent so high that when he fell, if he ever did fall, there would be +no antagonist uncrushed. + +He seized Maui in his strong arms and, swinging him back and forth, +flung him upward--but the moment Maui left his hands he changed himself +into a feather and floated softly to the ground. + +Then the boy ran swiftly to the god and seized him by the legs and +lifted him up. Then he began to increase in size and strength until he +had lifted the fire god very high. Suddenly he tossed the god upward and +caught him as he fell--again and again--until the bruised and dizzy god +cried enough, and agreed to give the victor whatever he demanded. + +Maui asked for the secret of fire producing. The god taught him how to +rub the dry sticks of certain kinds of trees together, and, by friction, +produce fire, and especially how fire could be produced by rubbing fire +sticks in the fine dust of the banyan tree. + +A Society Island legend says Maui borrowed a sacred red pigeon, +belonging to one of the gods, and, changing himself into a dragon fly, +rode this pigeon through a black rock into Avaiki (Hawaiki), the +fire-land of the under-world. He found the god of fire, Mau-ika, living +in a house built from a banyan tree. Mau-ika taught Maui the kinds of +wood into which when fire went out on the earth a fire goddess had +thrown sparks in order to preserve fire. Among these were the "au" +(Hawaiian hau), or "the lemon hibiscus"--the "argenta," the "fig" and +the "banyan." She taught him also how to make fire by swift motion when +rubbing the sticks of these trees. She also gave him coals for his +present need. + +But Maui was viciously mischievous and set the banyan house on fire, +then mounted his pigeon and fled toward the upper-world. But the flames +hastened after him and burst out through the rock doors into the sunlit +land above--as if it were a volcanic eruption. + +The Tokelau Islanders say that Talanga (Kalana) known in other groups of +islands as the father of Maui, desired fire in order to secure warmth +and cooked food. He went down, down, very far down in the caves of the +earth. In the lower world he found Mafuika--an old blind woman, who was +the guardian of fire. He told her he wanted fire to take back to men. +She refused either to give fire or to teach how to make it. Talanga +threatened to kill her, and finally persuaded her to teach how to make +fire in any place he might dwell--and the proper trees to use, the +fire-yielding trees. She also taught him how to cook food--and also the +kind of fish he should cook, and the kinds which should be eaten raw. +Thus mankind learned about food as well as fire. + +The Savage Island legend adds the element of danger to Maui's +mischievous theft of fire. The lad followed his father one day and saw +him pull up a bunch of reeds and go down into the fire-land beneath. +Maui hastened down to see what his father was doing. Soon he saw his +opportunity to steal the secret of fire. Then he caught some fire and +started for the upper-world. + +His father caught a glimpse of the young thief and tried to stop him. + +Maui ran up the passage through the black cave--bushes and trees +bordered his road. + +The father hastened after his son and was almost ready to lay hands upon +him, when Maui set fire to the bushes. The flames spread rapidly, +catching the underbrush and the trees on all sides and burst out in the +face of the pursuer. Destruction threatened the under-world, but Maui +sped along his way. Then he saw that the fire was chasing him. Bush +after bush leaped into flame and hurled sparks and smoke and burning air +after him. Choked and smoke-surrounded, he broke through the door of the +cavern and found the fresh air of the world. But the flames followed him +and swept out in great power upon the upper-world a mighty volcanic +eruption. + +The New Zealand legends picture Maui as putting out, in one night, all +the fires of his people. This was serious mischief, and Maui's mother +decided that he should go to the under-world and see his ancestress, +Mahuika, the guardian of fire, and get new fire to repair the injury he +had wrought. She warned him against attempting to play tricks upon the +inhabitants of the lower regions. + +[Illustration: Hawaiian Vines and Bushes.] + +Maui gladly hastened down the cave-path to the house of Mahuika, and +asked for fire for the upper-world. In some way he pleased her so that +she pulled off a finger nail in which fire was burning and gave it to +him. As soon as he had gone back to a place where there was water, he +put the fire out and returned to Mahuika, asking another gift, which he +destroyed. This he did for both hands and feet until only one nail +remained. Maui wanted this. Then Mahuika became angry and threw the last +finger nail on the ground. Fire poured out and laid hold of everything. +Maui ran up the path to the upper-world, but the fire was +swifter-footed. Then Maui changed himself into an eagle and flew high up +into the air, but the fire and smoke still followed him. Then he saw +water and dashed into it, but it was too hot. Around him the forests +were blazing, the earth burning and the sea boiling. Maui, about to +perish, called on the gods for rain. Then floods of water fell and the +fire was checked. The great rain fell on Mahuika and she fled, almost +drowned. Her stores of fire were destroyed, quenched by the storm. But +in order to save fire for the use of men, as she fled she threw sparks +into different kinds of trees where the rain could not reach them, so +that when fire was needed it might be brought into the world again by +rubbing together the fire sticks. + +The Chatham Islanders give the following incantation, which they said +was used by Maui against the fierce flood of fire which was pursuing +him: + + "To the roaring thunder; + To the great rain--the long rain; + To the drizzling rain--the small rain; + To the rain pattering on the leaves. + These are the storms--the storms + Cause them to fall; + To pour in torrents." + +The legend of Savage Island places Maui in the role of fire-maker. He +has stolen fire in the under-world. His father tries to catch him, but +Maui sets fire to the bushes by the path until a great conflagration is +raging which pursues him to the upper-world. + +Some legends make Maui the fire-teacher as well as the fire-finder. He +teaches men how to use hardwood sticks in the fine dry dust on the bark +of certain trees, or how to use the fine fibre of the palm tree to catch +sparks. + +In Tahiti the fire god lived in the "Hale-a-o-a," or House of the +Banyan. Sometimes human sacrifices were placed upon the sacred branches +of this tree of the fire god. + +In the Bowditch or Fakaofa Islands the goddess of fire when conquered +taught not only the method of making fire by friction but also what fish +were to be cooked and what were to be eaten raw. + +Thus some of the myths of Maui, the mischievous, finding fire are told +by the side of the inrolling surf, while natives of many islands, +around their poi bowls, rest in the shade of the far-reaching boughs and +thick foliage of the banyan and other fire-producing trees. + + + + +VI. + +MAUI THE SKILLFUL. + + +According to the New Zealand legends there were six Mauis--the Hawaiians +counted four. They were a band of brothers. The older five were known as +"the forgetful Mauis." The tricky and quick-witted youngest member of +the family was called Maui te atamai--"Maui the skillful." + +He was curiously accounted for in the New Zealand under-world. When he +went down through the long cave to his ancestor's home to find fire, he +was soon talked about. "Perhaps this is the man about whom so much is +said in the upper-world." His ancestress from whom he obtained fire +recognized him as the man called "the deceitful Maui." Even his parents +told him once, "We know you are a tricky fellow--more so than any other +man." One of the New Zealand fire legends while recording his flight to +the under-world and his appearance as a bird, says: "The men tried to +spear him, and to catch him in nets. At last they cried out, 'Maybe you +are the man whose fame is great in the upper-world.' At once he leaped +to the ground and appeared in the form of a man." + +He was not famous for inventions, but he was always ready to improve +upon anything which was already in existence. He could take the sun in +hand and make it do better work. He could tie the moon so that it had to +swim back around the island to the place in the ocean from which it +might rise again, and go slowly through the night. + +His brothers invented a slender, straight and smooth spear with which to +kill birds. He saw the fluttering, struggling birds twist themselves off +the smooth point and escape. He made a good light bird spear and put +notches in it and kept most of the birds stuck. His brothers finally +examined his spear and learned the reason for its superiority. In the +same way they learned how to spear fish. They could strike and wound and +sometimes kill--but they could not with their smooth spears draw the +fish from the waters of the coral caves. But Maui the youngest made +barbs, so that the fish could not easily shake themselves loose. The +others soon made their spears like his. + +The brothers were said to have invented baskets in which to trap eels, +but many eels escaped. Maui improved the basket by secretly making an +inside partition as well as a cover, and the eels were securely trapped. +It took the brothers a long time to learn the real difference between +their baskets and his. One of the family made a basket like his and +caught many eels. Then Maui became angry and chanted a curse over him +and bewildered him, then changed him into a dog. + +The Manahiki Islanders have the legend that Maui made the moon, but +could not get good light from it. He tried experiments and found that +the sun was quite an improvement. The sun's example stimulated the moon +to shine brighter. + +Once Maui became interested in tattooing and tried to make a dog look +better by placing dark lines around the mouth. The legends say that one +of the sacred birds saw the pattern and then marked the sky with the red +lines sometimes seen at sunrise and sunset. An Hawaiian legend says that +Maui tattooed his arm with a sacred name and thus that arm was strong +enough to hold the sun when he lassoed it. There is a New Zealand legend +in which Maui is made one of three gods who first created man and then +woman from one of the man's ribs. + +The Hawaiians dwelling in Hilo have many stories of Maui. They say that +his home was on the northern bank of the Wailuku River. He had a strong +staff made from an ohia tree (the native apple tree). With this he +punched holes through the lava, making natural bridges and boiling +pools, and new channels for its sometimes obstructed waters, so that the +people could go up or down the river more easily. Near one of the +natural bridges is a figure of the moon carved in the rocks, referred by +some of the natives to Maui. + +Maui is said to have taught his brothers the different kinds of fish +nets and the use of the strong fibre of the olona, which was much better +than cocoanut threads. + +The New Zealand stories relate the spear-throwing contests of Maui and +his brothers. As children, however, they were not allowed the use of +wooden spears. They took the stems of long, heavy reeds and threw them +at each other, but Maui's reeds were charmed into stronger and harder +fibre so that he broke his mother's house and made her recognize him as +one of her children. He had been taken away as soon as he was born by +the gods to whom he was related. When he found his way back home his +mother paid no attention to him. Thus by a spear thrust he won a home. + +The brothers all made fish hooks, but Maui the youngest made two kinds +of hooks--one like his brothers' and one with a sharp barb. His +brothers' hooks were smooth so that it was difficult to keep the fish +from floundering and shaking themselves off, but they noticed that the +fish were held by Maui's hook better than by theirs. Maui was not +inclined to devote himself to hard work, and lived on his brothers as +much as possible--but when driven out by his wife or his mother he +would catch more fish than the other fishermen. They tried to examine +his hooks, but he always changed his hooks so that they could not see +any difference between his and theirs. At such times they called him the +mischievous one and tried to leave him behind while they went fishing. +They were, however, always ready to give him credit for his +improvements. They dealt generously with him when they learned what he +had really accomplished. When they caught him with his barbed hook they +forgot the past and called him "ke atamai"--the skillful. + +The idea that fish hooks made from the jawbones of human beings were +better than others, seemed to have arisen at first from the angle formed +in the lower jawbone. Later these human fish hooks were considered +sacred and therefore possessed of magic powers. The greater sanctity and +power belonged to the bones which bore more especial relation to the +owner. Therefore Maui's "magic hook," with which he fished up islands, +was made from the jawbone of his ancestress Mahuika. It is also said +that in order to have powerful hooks for every-day fishing he killed two +of his children. Their right eyes he threw up into the sky to become +stars. One became the morning and the other the evening star. + +The idea that the death of any members of the family must not stand in +the way of obtaining magical power, has prevailed throughout Polynesia. + +From this angle in the jawbone Maui must have conceived the idea of +making a hook with a piece of bone or shell which should be fastened to +the large bone at a very sharp angle, thus making a kind of barb. Hooks +like this have been made for ages among the Polynesians. + +Maui and his brothers went fishing for eels with bait strung on the +flexible rib of a cocoanut leaf. The stupid brothers did not fasten the +ends of the string. Therefore the eels easily slipped the bait off and +escaped. But Maui made the ends of his string fast, and captured many +eels. + +The little things which others did not think about were the foundation +of Maui's fame. Upon these little things he built his courage to snare +the sun and seek fire for mankind. + +In a New Zealand legend, quoted by Edward Tregear, Maui is called +Maui-maka-walu, or "Maui with eyes eight." This eight-eyed Maui would be +allied to the Hindoo deities who with their eight eyes face the four +quarters of the world--thus possessing both insight into the affairs of +men and foresight into the future. + +Fornander, the Hawaiian ethnologist, says: "In Hawaiian mythology, +Kamapuaa, the demigod opponent of the goddess Pele, is described as +having eight eyes and eight feet; and in the legends Maka-walu, +'eight-eyed,' is a frequent epithet of gods and chiefs." He notes this +coincidence with the appearance of some of the principal Hindoo deities +as having some bearing upon the origin of the Polynesians. It may be +that a comparative study of the legends of other islands of the Pacific +by some student will open up other new and important facts. + +In Tahiti, on the island Raiatea, a high priest or prophet lived in the +long, long ago. He was known as Maui the prophet of Tahiti. He was +probably not Maui the demigod. Nevertheless he was represented as +possessing very strange prophetical powers. + +According to the historian Ellis, who previous to 1830 spent eight years +in the Society and Hawaiian Islands, this prophet Maui clearly +prophesied the coming of an outriggerless canoe from some foreign land. +An outrigger is a log which so balances a canoe that it can ride safely +through the treacherous surf. + +The chiefs and prophets charged him with stating the impossible. + +He took his wooden calabash and placed it in a pool of water as an +illustration of the way such a boat should float. + +Then with the floating bowl before him he uttered the second prophecy, +that boats without line to tie the sails to the masts, or the masts to +the ships, should also come to Tahiti. + +[Illustration: Hawaiian Bathing Pool.] + +When English ships under Captain Wallis and Captain Cook, in the latter +part of the eighteenth century, visited these islands, the natives cried +out, "O the canoes of Maui--the outriggerless canoes." + +Passenger steamships, and the men-of-war from the great nations, have +taught the Tahitians that boats without sails and masts can cross the +great ocean, and again they have recurred to the words of the prophet +Maui, and have exclaimed, "O the boats without sails and masts." This +rather remarkable prophecy could easily have occurred to Maui as he saw +a wooden calabash floating over rough waters. + +Maui's improvement upon nature's plan in regard to certain birds is also +given in the legends as a proof of his supernatural powers. + +White relates the story as follows: "Maui requested some birds to go and +fetch water for him. The first one would not obey, so he threw it into +the water. He requested another bird to go--and it refused, so he threw +it into the fire, and its feathers were burnt. But the next bird obeyed, +but could not carry the water, and he rewarded it by making the feathers +of the fore part of its head white. Then he asked another bird to go, +and it filled its ears with water and brought it to Maui, who drank, and +then pulled the bird's legs and made them long in payment for its act of +kindness." + +Diffenbach says: "Maui, the Adam of New Zealand, left the cat's cradle +to the New Zealanders as an inheritance." The name "Whai" was given to +the game. It exhibited the various steps of creation according to Maori +mythology. Every change in the cradle shows some act in creation. Its +various stages were called "houses." Diffenbach says again: "In this +game of Maui they are great proficients. It is a game like that called +cat's cradle in Europe. It is intimately connected with their ancient +traditions and in the different figures which the cord is made to assume +whilst held on both hands, the outline of their different varieties of +houses, canoes or figures of men and women are imagined to be +represented." One writer connects this game with witchcraft, and says it +was brought from the under-world. Some parts of the puzzle show the +adventures of Maui, especially his attempt to win immortality for men. + +In New Zealand it was said Maui found a large, fine-grained stone block, +broke it in pieces, and from the fragments learned how to fashion stone +implements. + +White also tells the New Zealand legend of Maui and the winds. + +"Maui caught and held all the winds save the west wind. He put each wind +into a cave, so that it might not blow. He sought in vain for the west +wind, but could not find from whence it came. If he had found the cave +in which it stayed he would have closed the entrance to that cave with +rocks. When the west wind blows lightly it is because Maui has got near +to it, and has nearly caught it, and it has gone into its home, the +cave, to escape him. When the winds of the south, east, and north blow +furiously it is because the rocks have been removed by the stupid people +who could not learn the lessons taught by Maui. At other times Maui +allows these winds to blow in hurricanes to punish that people, and also +that he may ride on these furious winds in search of the west wind." + +In the Hawaiian legends Maui is represented as greatly interested in +making and flying kites. His favorite place for the sport was by the +boiling pools of the Wailuku river near Hilo. He had the winds under his +control and would call for them to push his kites in the direction he +wished. His incantation calling up the winds is given in this Maui +proverb-- + + "Strong wind come, + Soft wind come." + +White in his "Ancient History of the Maoris," relates some of Maui's +experiences with the people whom he found on the islands brought up from +the under-world. On one island he found a sand house with eight hundred +gods living in it. Apparently Maui discovered islands with inhabitants, +and was reported to have fished them up out of the depths of the ocean. +Fishing was sailing over the ocean until distant lands were drawn near +or "fished up." + +Maui walked over the islands and found men living on them and fires +burning near their homes. He evidently did not know much about fire, for +he took it in his hands. He was badly burned and rushed into the sea. +Down he dived under the cooling waters and came up with one of the New +Zealand islands on his shoulders. But his hands were still burning, so +wherever he held the island it was set on fire. + +These fires are still burning in the secret recesses of the volcanoes, +and sometimes burst out in flowing lava. Then Maui paid attention to the +people whom he had fished up. He tried to teach them, but they did not +learn as he thought they should. He quickly became angry and said, "It +is a waste of light for the sun to shine on such stupid people." So he +tried to hold his hands between them and the sun, but the rays of the +sun were too many and too strong; therefore, he could not shut them out. +Then he tried the moon and managed to make it dark a part of the time +each month. In this way he made a little trouble for the stupid people. + +There are other hints in the legends concerning Maui's desire to be +revenged upon any one who incurred his displeasure. It was said that +Maui for a time lived in the heavens above the earth. Here he had a +foster brother Maru. The two were cultivating the fields. Maru sent a +snowstorm over Maui's field. (It would seem as if this might be a +Polynesian memory of a cold land where their ancestors knew the cold +winter, or a lesson learned from the snow-caps of high mountains.) At +any rate, the snow blighted Maui's crops. Maui retaliated by praying for +rain to destroy Maru's fields. But Maru managed to save a part of his +crops. Other legends make Maui the aggressor. At the last, however, Maui +became very angry. The foster parents tried to soothe the two men by +saying, "Live in peace with each other and do not destroy each other's +food." But Maui was implacable and lay in wait for his foster brother, +who was in the habit of carrying fruit and grass as an offering to the +gods of a temple situated on the summit of a hill. Here Maui killed Maru +and then went away to the earth. + +This legend is told by three or four different tribes of New Zealand and +is very similar to the Hebrew story of Cain and Abel. At this late day +it is difficult to say definitely whether or not it owes its origin to +the early touch of Christianity upon New Zealand when white men first +began to live with the natives. It is somewhat similar to stories found +in the Tonga Islands and also in the Hawaiian group, where a son of the +first gods, or rather of the first men, kills a brother. In each case +there is the shadow of the Biblical idea. It seems safe to infer that +such legends are not entirely drawn from contact with Christian +civilization. The natives claim that these stories are very ancient, and +that their fathers knew them before the white men sailed on the +Pacific. + + + + +VII. + +MAUI AND TUNA. + + +When Maui returned from the voyages in which he discovered or "fished +up" from the ocean depths new islands, he gave deep thought to the +things he had found. As the islands appeared to come out of the water he +saw they were inhabited. There were houses and stages for drying and +preserving food. He was greeted by barking dogs. Fires were burning, +food cooking and people working. He evidently had gone so far away from +home that a strange people was found. The legend which speaks of the +death of his brothers, "eaten" by the great fish drawn up from the floor +of the sea, may very easily mean that the new people killed and ate the +brothers. + +Maui apparently learned some new lessons, for on his return he quickly +established a home of his own, and determined to live after the fashion +of the families in the new islands. + +Maui sought Hina-a-te-lepo, "daughter of the swamp," and secured her as +his wife. The New Zealand tribes tell legends which vary in different +localities about this woman Hina. She sometimes bore the name +Rau-kura--"The red plume." + +She cared for his thatched house as any other Polynesian woman was in +the habit of doing. She attempted the hurried task of cooking his food +before he snared the sun and gave her sufficient daylight for her +labors. + +They lived near the bank of a river from which Hina was in the habit of +bringing water for the household needs. + +One day she went down to the stream with her calabash. She was entwined +with wreaths of leaves and flowers, as was the custom among Polynesian +women. While she was standing on the bank, Tuna-roa, "the long eel," saw +her. He swam up to the bank and suddenly struck her and knocked her into +the water and covered her with slime from the blow given by his tail. + +Hina escaped and returned to her home, saying nothing to Maui about the +trouble. But the next day, while getting water, she was again overthrown +and befouled by the slime of Tuna-roa. + +Then Hina became angry and reported the trouble to Maui. + +Maui decided to punish the long eel and started out to find his hiding +place. Some of the New Zealand legends as collected by White, state +that Tuna-roa was a very smooth skinned chief, who lived on the opposite +bank of the stream, and, seeing Hina, had insulted her. + +When Maui saw this chief, he caught two pieces of wood over which he was +accustomed to slide his canoe into the sea. These he carried to the +stream and laid them from bank to bank as a bridge over which he might +entice Tuna-roa to cross. + +Maui took his stone axe, Ma-Tori-Tori, "the severer," and concealed +himself near the bank of the river. + +When "the long eel" had crossed the stream, Maui rushed out and killed +him with a mighty blow of the stone axe, cutting the head from the body. + +Other legends say that Maui found Tuna-roa living as an eel in a deep +water hole, in a swamp on the sea-coast of Tata-a, part of the island +Ao-tea-roa. Other stories located Tuna-roa in the river near Maui's +home. + +Maui saw that he could not get at his enemy without letting off the +water which protected him. + +Therefore into the forest went Maui, and with sacred ceremonies, +selected trees from the wood of which he prepared tools and weapons. + +Meanwhile, in addition to the insult given to Hina, Tuna-roa had caught +and devoured two of Maui's children, which made Maui more determined to +kill him. + +Maui made the narrow spade (named by the Maoris of New Zealand the "ko," +and by the Hawaiians "o-o") and the sharp spears, with which to pierce +either the earth or his enemy. These spears and spades were consecrated +to the work of preparing a ditch by which to draw off the water +protecting "the long eel." + +The work of trench-making was accomplished with many incantations and +prayers. The ditch was named "The sacred digging," and was tabooed to +all other purposes except that of catching Tuna-roa. + +Across this ditch Maui stretched a strong net, and then began a new +series of chants and ceremonies to bring down an abundance of rain. Soon +the flood came and the overflowing waters rushed down the sacred ditch. +The walls of the deep pool gave way and "the long eel" was carried down +the trench into the waiting net. Then there was commotion. Tuna-roa was +struggling for freedom. + +Maui saw him and hastened to grasp his stone axe, "the severer." +Hurrying to the net, he struck Tuna-roa a terrible blow, and cut off the +head. With a few more blows, he cut the body in pieces. The head and +tail were carried out into the sea. The head became fish and the tail +became the great conger-eel. Other parts of the body became sea +monsters. But some parts which fell in fresh water became the common +eels. From the hairs of the head came certain vines and creepers among +the plants. + +After the death of Tuna-roa the offspring of Maui were in no danger of +being killed and soon multiplied into a large family. + +Another New Zealand legend related by White says that Maui built a +sliding place of logs, over which Tuna-roa must pass when coming from +the river. + +Maui also made a screen behind which he could secrete himself while +watching for Tuna-roa. + +He commanded Hina to come down to the river and wait on the bank to +attract Tuna-roa. Soon the long eel was seen in the water swimming near +to Hina. Hina went to a place back of the logs which Maui had laid down. + +Tuna-roa came towards her, and began to slide down the skids. + +Maui sprang out from his hiding place and killed Tuna-roa with his axe, +and cut him in pieces. + +The tail became the conger-eel. Parts of his body became fresh-water +eels. Some of the blood fell upon birds and always after marked them +with red spots. Some of the blood was thrown into certain trees, making +this wood always red. The muscles became vines and creepers. + +From this time the children of Maui caught and ate the eels of both salt +and fresh water. Eel traps were made, and Maui taught the people the +proper chants or incantations to use when catching eels. + +This legend of Maui and the long eel was found by White in a number of +forms among the different tribes of New Zealand, but does not seem to +have had currency in many other island groups. + +In Turner's "Samoa" a legend is related which was probably derived from +the Maui stories and yet differs in its romantic results. The Samoans +say that among their ancient ones dwelt a woman named Sina. Sina among +the Polynesians is the same as Hina--the "h" is softened into "s". She +captured a small eel and kept it as a pet. It grew large and strong and +finally attacked and bit her. She fled, but the eel followed her +everywhere. Her father came to her assistance and raised high mountains +between the eel and herself. But the eel passed over the barrier and +pursued her. Her mother raised a new series of mountains. But again the +eel surmounted the difficulties and attempted to seize Sina. She broke +away from him and ran on and on. Finally she wearily passed through a +village. The people asked her to stay and eat with them, but she said +they could only help her by delivering her from the pursuing eel. The +inhabitants of that village were afraid of the eel and refused to fight +for her. So she ran on to another place. Here the chief offered her a +drink of water and promised to kill the eel for her. He prepared awa, a +stupefying drink, and put poison in it. When the eel came along the +chief asked him to drink. He took the awa and prepared to follow Sina. +When he came to the place where she was the pains of death had already +seized him. While dying he begged her to bury his head by her home. This +she did, and in time a plant new to the islands sprang up. It became a +tree, and finally produced a cocoanut, whose two eyes could continually +look into the face of Sina. + +Tuna, in the legends of Fiji, was a demon of the sea. He lived in a deep +sea cave, into which he sometimes shut himself behind closed doors of +coral. When he was hungry, he swam through the ocean shadows, always +watching the restless surface. When a canoe passed above him, he would +throw himself swiftly through the waters, upset the canoe, and seize +some of the boatmen and devour them. He was greatly feared by all the +fishermen of the Fijian coasts. + +[Illustration: A Coconut Grove in Kona.] + +Roko--a mo-o or dragon god--in his journey among the islands, stopped at +a village by the sea and asked for a canoe and boatmen. The people said: +"We have nothing but a very old canoe out there by the water." He went +to it and found it in a very bad condition. He put it in the water, and +decided that he could use it. Then he asked two men to go with him and +paddle, but they refused because of fear, and explained this fear by +telling the story of the water demon, who continually sought the +destruction of this canoe, and also their own death. Roko encouraged +them to take him to wage battle with Tuna, telling them he would destroy +the monster. They paddled until they were directly over Tuna's cave. +Roko told them to go off to one side and wait and watch, saying: "I am +going down to see this Tuna. If you see red blood boil up through the +water, you may be sure that Tuna has been killed. If the blood is black, +then you will know that he has the victory and I am dead." + +Roko leaped into the water and went down--down to the door of the cave. +The coral doors were closed. He grasped them in his strong hands and +tore them open, breaking them in pieces. Inside he found cave after cave +of coral, and broke his way through until at last he awoke Tuna. The +angry demon cried: "Who is that?" Roko answered: "It is I, Roko, alone. +Who are you?" + +Tuna aroused himself and demanded Roko's business and who guided him to +that place. Roko replied: "No one has guided me. I go from place to +place, thinking that there is no one else in the world." + +Tuna shook himself angrily. "Do you think I am nothing? This day is your +last." + +Roko replied: "Perhaps so. If the sky falls, I shall die." + +Tuna leaped upon Roko and bit him. Then came the mighty battle of the +coral caves. Roko broke Tuna into several pieces--and the red blood +poured in boiling bubbles upward through the clear ocean waters, and +the boatmen cried: "The blood is red--the blood is red--Tuna is dead by +the hand of Roko." + +Roko lived for a time in Fiji, where his descendants still find their +home. The people use this chant to aid them in difficulties: + + "My load is a red one. + It points in front to Kawa (Roko's home). + Behind, it points to Dolomo--(a village on another island)." + +In the Hawaiian legends, Hina was Maui's mother rather than his wife, +and Kuna (Tuna) was a mo-o, a dragon or gigantic lizard possessing +miraculous powers. + +Hina's home was in the large cave under the beautiful Rainbow Falls near +the city of Hilo. Above the falls the bed of the river is along the +channel of an ancient lava flow. Sometimes the water pours in a torrent +over the rugged lava, sometimes it passes through underground passages +as well as along the black river bed, and sometimes it thrusts itself +into boiling pools. + +Maui lived on the northern side of the river, but a chief named +Kuna-moo--a dragon--lived in the boiling pools. He attacked Hina and +threw a dam across the river below Rainbow Falls, intending to drown +Hina in her cave. The great ledge of rock filled the river bed high up +the bank on the Hilo side of the river. Hina called on Maui for aid. +Maui came quickly and with mighty blows cut out a new channel for the +river--the path it follows to this day. The waters sank and Hina +remained unharmed in her cave. + +The place where Kuna dwelt was called Wai-kuna--the Kuna water. The +river in which Hina and Kuna dwelt bears the name Wailuku--"the +destructive water." Maui went above Kuna's home and poured hot water +into the river. This part of the myth could easily have arisen from a +lava outburst on the side of the volcano above the river. The hot water +swept in a flood over Kuna's home. Kuna jumped from the boiling pools +over a series of small falls near his home into the river below. Here +the hot water again scalded him and in pain he leaped from the river to +the bank, where Maui killed him by beating him with a club. His body was +washed down the river over the falls under which Hina dwelt, into the +ocean. + +The story of Kuna or Tuna is a legend with a foundation in the enmity +between two chiefs of the long ago, and also in a desire to explain the +origin of the family of eels and the invention of nets and traps. + +[Illustration: Wailuku River--the Boiling Pots.] + + + + +VIII. + +MAUI AND HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW. + + +The "Stories of Maui's Brother-in-Law," and of "Maui seeking +Immortality," are not found in Hawaiian mythology. We depend upon Sir +George Grey and John White for the New Zealand myths in which both of +these legends occur. + +Maui's sister Hina-uri married Ira-waru, who was willing to work with +his skillful brother-in-law. They hunted in the forests and speared +birds. They fished and farmed together. They passed through many +experiences similar to those Maui's own brothers had suffered before the +brother-in-law took their place as Maui's companion. They made spears +together--but Maui made notched barbs for his spear ends--and slipped +them off when Ira-waru came near. So for a long time the proceeds of +bird hunting fell to Maui. But after a time the brother-in-law learned +the secret as the brothers had before, and Maui was looked up to by his +fellow hunter as the skillful one. Sometimes Ira-waru was able to see +at once Maui's plan and adopt it. He discovered Maui's method of making +the punga or eel baskets for catching eels. + +The two hunters went to the forest to find a certain creeping vine with +which to weave their eel snares. Ira-waru made a basket with a hole, by +which the eels could enter, but they could turn around and go out the +same way. So he very seldom caught an eel. But Maui made his basket with +a long funnel-shaped door, by which the eels could easily slide into the +snare but could scarcely escape. He made a door in the side which he +fastened tight until he wished to pour the eels out. + +Ira-waru immediately made a basket like Maui. Then Maui became angry and +uttered incantations over Ira-waru. The man dropped on the ground and +became a dog. Maui returned home and met his sister, who charged him +with sorcery concerning her husband. + +Maui did not deny the exercise of his power, but taught his sister a +chant and sent her out to the level country. There she uttered her chant +and a strange dog with long hair came to her, barking and leaping around +her. Then she knew what Maui had done. "Thus Ira-waru became the first +of the long-haired dogs whose flesh has been tabooed to women." + +The Tahu and Hau tribes of New Zealand tell a different story. They say +that Maui went to visit Ira-waru. Together they set out on a journey. +After a time they rested by the wayside and became sleepy. Maui asked +Ira-waru to cleanse his head. This gave him the restful, soothing touch +which aided sleep. Then Maui proposed that Ira-waru sleep. Taking the +head in his hands, Maui put his brother-in-law to sleep. Then by +incantations he made the sleep very deep and prolonged. Meanwhile he +pulled the ears and arms and limbs until they were properly lengthened. +He drew out the under jaw until it had the form of a dog's mouth. He +stretched the end of the backbone into a tail, and then wakened Ira-waru +and drove him back when he tried to follow the path to the settlement. + +Hina-uri went out and called her husband. He came to her, leaping and +barking. She decided that this was her husband, and in her agony +reproached Maui and wandered away. + +The Rua-nui story-tellers of New Zealand say that Maui's anger was +aroused against Ira-waru because he ate all the bait when they went +fishing, and they could catch no fish after paddling out to the fishing +grounds. When they came to land, Maui told Ira-waru to lie down in the +sand as a roller over which to drag the canoe up the beach. When he was +lying helpless under the canoe, Maui changed him into a dog. + +The Arawa legends make the cause of Maui's anger the success of +Ira-waru while fishing. Ira-waru had many fish while Maui had captured +but few. The story is told thus: "Ira-waru hooked a fish and in pulling +it in his line became entangled with that of Maui. Maui felt the jerking +and began to pull in his line. Soon they pulled their lines close up to +the canoe, one to the bow, the other to the stern, where each was +sitting. Maui said: 'Let me pull the lines to me, as the fish is on my +hook.' His brother-in-law said: 'Not so; the fish is on mine.' But Maui +said: 'Let me pull my line in.' Ira-waru did so and saw that the fish +was on his hook. Then he said: 'Untwist your lines and let mine go, that +I may pull the fish in.' Maui said: 'I will do so, but let me have +time.' He took the fish off Ira-waru's hook and saw that there was a +barb on the hook. He said to Ira-waru: 'Perhaps we ought to return to +land.' When they were dragging the canoe on shore, Maui said to +Ira-waru: 'Get between the canoe and outrigger and drag.' Ira-waru did +so and Maui leaped on the outrigger and weighed it heavily down and +crushed Ira-waru prostrate on the beach. Maui trod on him and pulled his +backbone long like a tail and changed him into a dog." + +Maui is said to have tattooed the muzzle of the dog with a beautiful +pattern which the birds (kahui-zara, a flock of tern) used in marking +the sky. From this also came the red glow which sometimes flushes the +face of man. + +Another Arawa version of the legend was that Maui and Ira-waru were +journeying together. Ira-waru was gluttonous and ate the best food. At +last Maui determined to punish his companion. By incantation he +lengthened the way until Ira-waru became faint and weary. Maui had +provided himself with a little food and therefore was enabled to endure +the long way. While Ira-waru slept Maui trod on his backbone and +lengthened it and changed the arms and limbs into the legs of a dog. +When Hina-uri saw the state of her husband she went into the thatched +house by which Ira-waru had so often stood watching the hollow log in +which she dried the fish and preserved the birds speared in the +mountains. She bound her girdle and hala-leaf apron around her and went +down to the sea to drown herself, that her body might be eaten by the +monsters of the sea. When she came to the shell-covered beach, she sat +down and sang her death song-- + + "I weep, I call to the steep billows of the sea + And to him, the great, the ocean god; + To monsters, all now hidden, + To come and bury me, + Who now am wrapped in mourning. + Let the waves wear their mourning, too, + And sleep as sleeps the dead." + + --Ancient Maui Chant of New Zealand. + +Then Hina-uri threw herself into the sea and was borne on the waves many +moons, at last drifting to shore, to be found by two fishermen. They +carried the body off to the fire and warmed it back to life. They +brushed off the sea moss and sea weeds and rubbed her until she awoke. + +Soon they told their chief, Tini-rau, what a beautiful woman they had +found in the sea. He came and took her away to make her one of his +wives. But the other wives were jealous and drove Hina-uri away from the +chief's houses. + +Another New Zealand legend says that Hina came to the sea and called for +a little fish to aid her in going away from the island. It tried to +carry her, but was too weak. Hina struck it with her open hand. It had +striped sides forever after. She tried a larger fish, but fell off +before they had gone far from shore. Her blow gave this fish its +beautiful blue spots. Another received black spots. Another she stamped +her foot upon, making it flat. At last a shark carried her far away. She +was very thirsty, and broke a cocoanut on the shark's head, making a +bump, which has been handed down for generations. The shark carried her +to the home of the two who rescued her and gave her new strength. + +Meanwhile Rupe or Maui-mua, a brother of Hina-uri and Maui, grieved for +his sister. He sought for her throughout the land and then launched his +canoe upon the blue waters surrounding Ao-tea-roa (The Great White Land; +the ancient native New Zealand) and searched the coasts. He only +learned that his sister had, as the natives said, "leaped into the +waters and been carried away into the heavens." + +[Illustration: "Outside Were Other Worlds."] + +Rupe's heart filled with the desire to find and protect the frenzied +sister who had probably taken a canoe and floated away, out of the +horizon, seen from New Zealand coasts, into new horizons. During the +Viking age of the Pacific, when many chiefs sailed long distances, +visiting the most remote islands of Polynesia, they frequently spoke of +breaking through from the home land into new heavens--or of climbing up +the path of the sun on the waters into a new heaven. This was their +poetical way of passing from horizon to horizon. The horizon around +their particular island surrounded their complete world. Outside, +somewhere, were other worlds and other heavens. Rupe's voyage was an +idyll of the Pacific. It was one more story to be added to the prose +poems of consecrated travel. It was a brother feeling through the +mysteries of unknown lands for a sister, as dear to him as an Evangeline +has been to other men. + +From the mist-land of the Polynesian race comes this story of the +trickery of Maui the learned, and the faithfulness of his older brother +Maui-mua or Rupe--one of the "five forgetful Mauis." Rupe hoisted +mat-sails over his canoe and thus made the winds serve him. He paddled +the canoe onward through the hours when calms rested on glassy waves. + +Thus he passed out of sight of Ao-tea-roa, away from his brothers, and +out of the reach of all tricks and incantations of Maui, the +mischievous. He sailed until a new island rose out of the sea to greet +him. Here in a "new heaven" he found friends to care for him and prepare +him for his longer journey. His restless anxiety for his sister urged +him onward until days lengthened into months and months into years. He +passed from the horizons of newly-discovered islands, into the horizons +of circling skies around islands of which he had never heard before. +Sometimes he found relatives, but more frequently his welcome came from +those who could trace no historical touch in their genealogies. + +Here and there, apparently, he found traces of a woman whose description +answered that of his sister Hina-uri. At last he looked through the +heavens upon a new world, and saw his sister in great trouble. + +According to some legends the jealous wives of the great chief, +Tini-rau, attack Hina, who was known among them as Hina-te-ngaru-moana, +"Hina, the daughter of the ocean." Tini-rau and Hina lived away from the +village of the chief until their little boy was born. When they needed +food, the chief said, "Let us go to my settlement and we shall have food +provided." + +But Hina chanted: + + "Let it down, let it down, + Descend, oh! descend--" + +and sufficient food fell before them. After a time their frail clothing +wore out, and the cold chilled them, then Hina again uttered the +incantation and clothing was provided for their need. + +But the jealous wives, two in number, finally heard where Hina and the +chief were living, and started to see them. + +Tini-rau said to Hina, "Here come my other wives--be careful how you act +before them." + +She replied, "If they come in anger it will be evil." + +She armed herself with an obsidian or volcanic-glass knife, and waited +their coming. + +They tried to throw enchantments around her to kill her. Then one of +them made a blow at her with a weapon, but she turned it aside and +killed her enemy with the obsidian knife. + +Then the other wife made an attack, and again the obsidian knife brought +death. She ripped open the stomachs of the jealous ones and showed the +chief fish lines and sinkers and other property which they had eaten in +the past and which Tini-rau had never been able to trace. + +Another legend says that the two women came to kill Hina when they heard +of the birth of her boy. For a time she was greatly terrified. Then she +saw that they were coming from different directions. She attacked the +nearest one with a stone and killed her. The body burst open, and was +seen to be full of green stone. Then she killed the second wife in the +same way, and found more green stones. "Thus, according to the legends, +originated the greenstone" from which the choicest and most valuable +stone tools have since been made. For a time the chief and Hina lived +happily together. Then he began to neglect her and abuse her, until she +cried aloud for her brother-- + + "O Rupe! come down. + Take me and my child." + +Rupe assumed the form of a bird and flew down to this world in which he +had found his sister. He chanted as he came down-- + + "It is Rupe, yes Rupe, + The elder brother; + And I am here." + +He folded the mother and her boy under his wings and flew away with +them. Sir George Gray relates a legend in which Maui-mua or Rupe is +recorded as having carried his sister and her child to one of the new +lands, found in his long voyage, where dwelt an aged relative, of chief +rank, with his retainers. + +Some legends say that Tini-rau tried to catch Rupe, who was compelled +to drop the child in order to escape with the mother. Tini-rau caught +the child and carefully cared for him until he grew to be a strong young +lad. + +Then he wanted to find his mother and bring her back to his father. How +this was done, how Rupe took his sister back to the old chief, and how +civil wars arose are not all these told in the legends of the Maoris. +Thus the tricks of Maui the mischievous brought trouble for a time, but +were finally overshadowed by happy homes in neighboring lands for his +suffering sister and her descendants. + + + + +IX. + +MAUI'S KITE FLYING. + + +Maui the demi-god was sometimes the Hercules of Polynesia. His exploits +were fully as marvelous as those of the hero of classic mythology. He +snared the sun. He pulled up islands from the ocean depths. He lifted +the sky into its present position and smoothed its arched surface with +his stone adze. These stories belong to all Polynesia. + +There are numerous less important local myths, some of them peculiar to +New Zealand, some to the Society Islands and some to the Hawaiian group. + +One of the old native Hawaiians says that in the long, long ago the +birds were flying around the homes of the ancient people. The flutter of +their wings could be heard and the leaves and branches moved when the +motion of the wings ceased and the wanderers through the air found +resting places. Then came sweet music from the trees and the people +marvelled. Only one of all mankind could see the winged warblers. Maui, +the demi-god, had clear vision. The swift-flying wings covered with red +or gold he saw. The throats tinted many colors and reflecting the +sunlight with diamond sparks of varied hues he watched while they +trembled with the melody of sweet bird songs. All others heard but did +not see. They were blind and yet had open vision. + +Sometimes the iiwi (a small red bird) fluttered in the air and uttered +its shrill, happy song, and Maui saw and heard. But the bird at that +time was without color in the eyes of the ancient people and only the +clear voice was heard, while no speck of bird life flecked the clear sky +overhead. + +At one time a god from one of the other islands came to visit Maui. Each +boasted of and described the beauties and merits of his island. While +they were conversing, Maui called for his friends the birds. They +gathered around the house and fluttered among the leaves of the +surrounding trees. Soon their sweet voices filled the air on all sides. +All the people wondered and worshiped, thinking they heard the fairy or +menehune people. It was said that Maui had painted the bodies of his +invisible songsters and for a long time had kept the delight of their +flashing colors to himself. But when the visitor had rejoiced in the +mysterious harmonies, Maui decided to take away whatever veil shut out +the sight of these things beautiful, that his bird friends might be +known and honored ever after. So he made the birds reveal themselves +perched in the trees or flying in the air. The clear eyes of the god +first recognized the new revelation, then all the people became dumb +before the sweet singers adorned in all their brilliant tropical +plumage. + +The beautiful red birds, iiwi and akakani, and the birds of glorious +yellow feathers, the oo and the mamo, were a joy to both eye and ear and +found high places in Hawaiian legend and story, and all gave their most +beautiful feathers for the cloaks and helmets of the chiefs. + +The Maoris of New Zealand say that Maui could at will change himself +into a bird and with his feathered friends find a home in leafy +shelters. In bird form he visited the gods of the under-world. His +capricious soul was sensitive to the touch of all that mysterious life +of nature. + +With the birds as companions and the winds as his servants Maui must +soon have turned his inventive mind to kite making. + +The Hawaiian myths are perhaps the only ones of the Pacific Ocean which +give to any of the gods the pleasure and excitement of kite flying. +Maui, after repeated experiments, made a large kite for himself. It was +much larger than any house of his time or generation. He twisted a long +line from the strong fibers of the native plant known as the olona. He +endowed both kite and string with marvelous powers and launched the +kite up toward the clouds. It rose very slowly. The winds were not +lifting it into the sky. + +[Illustration: The Home of the Winds, Hilo Coast.] + +Maui remembered that an old priest lived in Waipio valley, the largest +and finest valley of the large island, Hawaii, on which he made his +home. + +This priest had a covered calabash in which he compelled the winds to +hide when he did not wish them to play on land and sea. The priest's +name was Kaleiioku, and his calabash was known as ipu-makani-a ka +maumau, "the calabash of the perpetual winds." Maui called for the +priest who had charge of the winds to open his calabash and let them +come up to Hilo and blow along the Wailuku river. The natives say that +the place where Maui stood was marked by the pressure of his feet in the +lava rocks of the river bank as he braced himself to hold the kite +against the increasing force of the winds which pushed it towards the +sky. Then the enthusiasm of kite flying filled his youthful soul and he +cried aloud, screaming his challenge along the coast of the sea toward +Waipio-- + + "O winds, winds of Waipio, + In the calabash of Kaleiioku. + Come from the ipu-makani, + O wind, the wind of Hilo, + Come quickly, come with power." + +Then the priest lifted the cover of the calabash of the winds and let +the strong winds of Hilo escape. Along the sea coast they rushed until +as they entered Hilo Bay they heard the voice of Maui calling-- + + "O winds, winds of Hilo, + Hasten and come to me." + +With a tumultuous rush the strong winds turned toward the mountains. +They forced their way along the gorges and palisades of the Wailuku +river. They leaped into the heavens, making a fierce attack upon the +monster which Maui had sent into the sky. The kite struggled as it was +pushed upward by the hands of the fierce winds, but Maui rejoiced. His +heart was uplifted by the joy of the conflict in which his strength to +hold was pitted against the power of the winds to tear away. And again +he shouted toward the sea-- + + "O winds, the winds of Hilo, + Come to the mountains, come." + +The winds which had been stirring up storms on the face of the waters +came inland. They dashed against Maui. They climbed the heights of the +skies until they fell with full violence against their mighty foe +hanging in the heavens. + +The kite had been made of the strongest kapa (paper cloth) which Maui's +mother could prepare. It was not torn, although it was bent backward to +its utmost limit. Then the strain came on the strong cord of olona +fibre. The line was stretched and strained as the kite was pushed back. +Then Maui called again and again for stronger winds to come. The cord +was drawn out until the kite was far above the mountains. At last it +broke and the kite was tossed over the craters of the volcanoes to the +land of the district of Ka-u on the other side of the island. + +Then Maui was angry and hastily leaped over the mountains, which are +nearly fourteen thousand feet in altitude. In a half dozen strides he +had crossed the fifty or sixty miles from his home to the place where +the kite lay. He could pass over many miles with a single step. His name +was Maui-Mama, "Maui the Swift." When Maui returned with his kite he was +more careful in calling the winds to aid him in his sport. + +The people watched their wise neighbor and soon learned that the kite +could be a great blessing to them. When it was soaring in the sky there +was always dry and pleasant weather. It was a day for great rejoicing. +They could spread out their kapa cloth to dry as long as the kite was in +the sky. They could carry out their necessary work without fear of the +rain. Therefore when any one saw the kite beginning to float along the +mountain side he would call out joyfully, "E! Maui's kite is in the +heavens." Maui would send his kite into the blue sky and then tie the +line to the great black stones in the bed of the Wailuku river. + +Maui soon learned the power of his kite when blown upon by a fierce +wind. With his accustomed skill he planned to make use of his strong +servant, and therefore took the kite with him on his journeys to the +other islands, using it to aid in making swift voyages. With the wind in +the right direction, the kite could pull his double canoe very easily +and quickly to its destination. + +Time passed, and even the demi-god died. The fish hook with which he +drew the Hawaiian Islands up from the depths of the sea was allowed to +lie on the lava by the Wailuku river until it became a part of the +stone. The double canoe was carried far inland and then permitted to +petrify by the river side. The two stones which represent the double +canoe now bear the name "Waa-Kauhi," and the kite has fallen from the +sky far up on the mountain side, where it still rests, a flat plot of +rich land between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. + + + + +X. + +THE OAHU LEGENDS OF MAUI. + + +Several Maui legends have been located on the island of Oahu. They were +given by Mr. Kaaia to Mr. T. G. Thrum, the publisher of what is well +known in the Hawaiian Islands as "Thrum's Annual." He has kindly +furnished them for added interest to the present volume. The legends +have a distinctly local flavor confined entirely to Oahu. It has seemed +best to reserve them for a chapter by themselves although they are +chiefly variations of stories already told. + + +MAUI AND THE TWO GODS. + +This history of Maui and his grandmother Hina begins with their arrival +from foreign lands. They dwelt in Kane-ana (Kane's cave), Waianae, Oahu. +This is an "ana," or cave, at Puu-o-hulu. Hina had wonderful skill in +making all kinds of tapa according to the custom of the women of ancient +Hawaii. + +Maui went to the Koolau side and rested at Kaha-luu, a diving place in +Koolaupoko. In that place there is a noted hill called Ma-eli-eli. This +is the story of that hill. Maui threw up a pile of dirt and concealed +rubbish under it. The two gods, Kane and Kanaloa, came along and asked +Maui what he was doing. He said, "What you see. You two dig on that side +to the foot of the pali, (precipice) and I will go down at Kaha-luu. If +you two dig through first, you may kill me. If I get through first I +will kill you." They agreed, and began to dig and throw up the dirt. +Then Maui dug three times and tossed up some of the hills of that place. +Kane and Kanaloa saw that Maui was digging very fast, so they put forth +very great strength and threw the dirt into a hill. Meanwhile Maui ran +away to the other side of the island. Thus by the aid of the gods the +hill Ma-eli-eli was thrown up and received its name "eli," meaning +"dig." "Ma-eli-eli" meant "the place of digging." + + +HOW THEY FOUND FIRE. + +It was said that Maui and Hina had no fire. They were often cold and had +no cooked food. Maui saw flames rising in a distant place and ran to see +how they were made. When he came to that place the fire was out and some +birds flew away. One of them was Ka-Alae-huapi, "the stingy Alae"--a +small duck, the Hawaiian mud hen. Maui watched again and saw fire. +When he went up the birds saw him coming and scattered the fire, +carrying the ashes into the water; but he leaped and caught the little +Alae. "Ah!" he said, "I will kill you, because you do not let me have +fire." The bird replied, "If you kill me you cannot find fire." Maui +said, "Where is fire?" The Alae said, "Go up on the high land where +beautiful plants with large leaves are standing; rub their branches." +Maui set the bird free and went inland from Halawa and found dry land +taro. He began to rub the stalks, but only juice came out like water. He +had no red fire. He was very angry and said, "If that lying Alae is +caught again by me I will be its death." + +[Illustration: Bay of Waipio Valley.] + +After a while he saw the fire burning and ran swiftly. The birds saw him +and cried, "The cooking is over. Here comes the swift grandchild of +Hina." They scattered the fire, threw the ashes away and flew into the +water. But again Maui caught the Alae and began to kill it, saying: "You +gave me a plant full of water from which to get fire." The bird said, +"If I die you can never find fire. I will give you the secret of fire. +Take a branch of that dry tree and rub." Maui held the bird fast in one +hand while he rubbed with the other until smoke and fire came out. Then +he took the fire stick and rubbed the head of the bird, making a place +where red and white feathers have grown ever since. + +He returned to Hina and taught her how to make fire, using the two fire +sticks and how to twist coconut fibre to catch the fire when it had been +kindled in wood. But the Alae was not forgotten. It was called huapi, +"stingy," because it selfishly kept the knowledge of fire making to +itself. + + +MAUI CATCHING THE SUN. + +Maui watched Hina making tapa. The wet tapa was spread on a long tapa +board, and Hina began at one end to pound it into shape; pounding from +one end to another. He noticed that sunset came by the time she had +pounded to the middle of the board. The sun hurried so fast that she +could only begin her work before the day was past. + +He went to the hill Hele-a-ka-la, which means "journey of the sun." He +thought he would catch the sun and make it move slowly. He went up the +hill and waited. When the sun began to rise, Maui made himself long, +stretching up toward the sky. Soon the shining legs of the sun came up +the hillside. He saw Maui and began to run swiftly, but Maui reached out +and caught one of the legs, saying: "O sun, I will kill you. You are a +mischief maker. You make trouble for Hina by going so fast." Then he +broke the shining leg of the sun. The sufferer said, "I will change my +way and go slowly--six months slow and six months faster." Thus arose +the saying, "Long shall be the daily journey of the sun and he shall +give light for all the people's toil." Hina learned that she could pound +until she was tired while the farmers could plant and take care of their +fields. Thus also this hill received its name Hele-a-ka-la. This is one +of the hills of Waianae near the precipice of the hill Puu-o-hulu. + + +UNITING THE ISLANDS. + +Maui suggested to Hina that he had better try to draw the islands +together, uniting them in one land. Hina told Maui to go and see +Alae-nui-a-Hina, who would tell him what to do. The Alae told him they +must go to Ponaha-ke-one (a fishing place outside of Pearl Harbor) and +find Ka-uniho-kahi, "the one toothed," who held the land under the sea. + +Maui went back to Hina. She told him to ask his brothers to go fishing +with him. They consented and pushed out into the sea. Soon Maui saw a +bailing dish floating by the canoe and picked it up. It was named +Hina-a-ke-ka, "Hina who fell off." They paddled to Ponaha-ke-one. When +they stopped they saw a beautiful young woman in the boat. Then they +anchored and again looked in the boat, but the young woman was gone. +They saw the bailing dish and threw it into the sea. + +Maui-mua threw his hook and caught a large fish, which was seen to be a +shark as they drew it to the surface. At once they cut the line. So also +Maui-hope and Maui-waena. At last Maui threw his hook Manai-i-ka-lani +into the sea. It went down, down into the depths. Maui cried, +"Hina-a-ke-ka has my hook in her hand. By her it will be made fast." +Hina went down with the hook until she met Ka-uniho-kahi. She asked him +to open his mouth, then threw the hook far inside and made it fast. Then +she pulled the line so that Maui should know that the fish was caught. +Maui fastened the line to the outrigger of the canoe and asked his +brothers to paddle with all diligence, and not look back. Long, long, +they paddled and were very tired. Then Maui took a paddle and dipped +deep in the sea. The boat moved more swiftly through the sea. The +brothers looked back and cried, "There is plenty of land behind us." The +charm was broken. The hook came out of "the one toothed," and the raised +islands sank back into their place. The native say, "The islands are now +united to America. Perhaps Maui has been at work." + + +MAUI AND PEA-PEA THE EIGHT-EYED. + +Maui had been fishing and had caught a great fish upon which he was +feasting. He looked inland and saw his wife, Kumu-lama, seized and +carried away by Pea-pea-maka-walu, "Pea-pea the eight-eyed." This +is a legend derived from the myths of many islands in which Lupe or Rupe +(pigeon) changed himself into a bird and flew after his sister Hina who +had been carried on the back of a shark to distant islands. Sometimes as +a man and sometimes as a bird he prosecuted his search until Hina was +found. + +[Illustration: The Ie-ie Vine.] + +Maui pursued Pea-pea, but could not catch him. He carried Maui's wife +over the sea to a far away island. Maui was greatly troubled but his +grandmother sent him inland to find an old man who would tell him what +to do. Maui went inland and looking down toward Waipahu saw this man +Ku-olo-kele. He was hump-backed. Maui threw a large stone and hit the +"hill on the back" knocked it off and made the back straight. The old +man lifted up the stone and threw it to Waipahu, where it lies to this +day. Then he and Maui talked together. He told Maui to go and catch +birds and gather ti leaves and fibers of the ie-ie vine, and fill his +house. These things Maui secured and brought to him. He told Maui to go +home and return after three days. + +Ku-olo-kele took the ti leaves and the ie-ie threads and made the body +of a great bird which he covered with bird feathers. He fastened all +together with the ie-ie. This was done in the first day. The second day +he placed food inside and tried his bird and it flew all right. +"Thus," as the Hawaiians say, "the first flying ship was made in the +time of Maui." This is a modern version of Rupe changing himself into a +bird. + +On the third day Maui came and saw the wonderful bird body thoroughly +prepared for his journey. Maui went inside. Ku-olo-kele said, "When you +reach that land, look for a village. If the people are not there look to +the beach. If there are many people, your wife and Pea-pea the +eight-eyed will be there. Do not go near, but fly out over the sea. The +people will say, 'O, the strange bird;' but Pea-pea will say, 'This is +my bird. It is tabu.' You can then come to the people." + +Maui pulled the ie-ie ropes fastened to the wings and made them move. +Thus he flew away into the sky. Two days was his journey before he came +to that strange island, Moana-liha-i-ka-wao-kele. It was a beautiful +land. He flew inland to a village, but there were no people; according +to the ancient chant: + + "The houses of Lima-loa stand, + But there are no people; + They are at Mana." + +The people were by the sea. Maui flew over them. He saw his wife, but he +passed on flying out over the sea, skimming like a sea bird down to the +water and rising gracefully up to the sky. Pea-pea called out, "This +is my bird. It is tabu." Maui heard and came to the beach. He was caught +and placed in a tabu box. The servants carried him up to the village and +put him in the chief's sleeping house, when Pea-pea and his people +returned to their homes. + +In the night Pea-pea and Maui's wife lay down to sleep. Maui watched +Pea-pea, hoping that he would soon sleep. Then he would kill him. Maui +waited. One eye was closed, seven eyes were opened. Then four eyes +closed, leaving three. The night was almost past and dawn was near. Then +Maui called to Hina with his spirit voice, "O Hina, keep it dark." Hina +made the gray dawn dark in the three eyes and two closed in sleep. The +last eye was weary, and it also slept. Then Maui went out of the bird +body and cut off the head of Pea-pea and put it inside the bird. He +broke the roof of the house until a large opening was made. He took his +wife, Kumu-lama, and flew away to the island of Oahu. The winds blew +hard against the flying bird. Rain fell in torrents around it, but those +inside had no trouble. + +"Thus Maui returned with his wife to his home in Oahu. The story is pau +(finished)." + + + + +XI. + +MAUI SEEKING IMMORTALITY. + + Climb up, climb up, + To the highest surface of heaven, + To all the sides of heaven. + + Climb then to thy ancestor, + The sacred bird in the sky, + To thy ancestor Rehua + In the heavens. + + --New Zealand kite incantation. + + +The story of Maui seeking immortality for the human race is one of the +finest myths in the world. For pure imagination and pathos it is +difficult to find any tale from Grecian or Latin literature to compare +with it. In Greek and Roman fables gods suffered for other gods, and yet +none were surrounded with such absolutely mythical experiences as those +through which the demi-god Maui of the Pacific Ocean passed when he +entered the gates of death with the hope of winning immortality for +mankind. The really remarkable group of legends which cluster around +Maui is well concluded by the story of his unselfish and heroic battle +with death. + +The different islands of the Pacific have their Hades, or abode of dead. +It is, with very few exceptions, down in the interior of the earth. +Sometimes the tunnels left by currents of melted lava are the passages +into the home of departed spirits. In Samoa there are two circular holes +among the rocks at the west end of the island Savaii. These are the +entrances to the under-world for chiefs and people. The spirits of those +who die on the other islands leap into the sea and swim around the land +from island to island until they reach Savaii. Then they plunge down +into their heaven or their hades. + +The Tongans had a spirit island for the home of the dead. They said that +some natives once sailed far away in a canoe and found this island. It +was covered with all manner of beautiful fruits, among which rare birds +sported. They landed, but the trees were shadows. They grasped but could +not hold them. The fruits and the birds were shadows. The men ate, but +swallowed nothing substantial. It was shadow-land. They walked through +all the delights their eyes looked upon, but found no substance. They +returned home, but ever seemed to listen to spirits calling them back to +the island. In a short time all the voyagers were dead. + +There is no escape from death. The natives of New Zealand say: "Man +may have descendants, but the daughters of the night strangle his +offspring"; and again: "Men make heroes, but death carries them away." + +There are very few legends among the Polynesians concerning the death of +Maui. And these are usually fragmentary, except among the Maoris of New +Zealand. + +The Hawaiian legend of the death of Maui is to the effect that he +offended some of the greater gods living in Waipio valley on the Island +of Hawaii. Kanaloa, one of the four greatest gods of Hawaii, seized him +and dashed him against the rocks. His blood burst from the body and +colored the earth red in the upper part of the valley. The Hawaiians in +another legend say that Maui was chasing a boy and girl in Honolii +gulch, Hawaii. The girl climbed a breadfruit tree. Maui changed himself +into an eel and stretched himself along the side of the trunk of the +tree. The tree stretched itself upward and Maui failed to reach the +girl. A priest came along and struck the eel and killed it, and so Maui +died. This is evidently a changed form of the legend of Maui and the +long eel. Another Hawaiian fragment approaches very near to the +beautiful New Zealand myth. The Hawaiians said that Maui attempted to +tear a mountain apart. He wrenched a great hole in the side. Then the +elepaio bird sang and the charm was broken. The cleft in the mountain +could not be enlarged. If the story could be completed it would not be +strange if the death of Maui came with this failure to open the path +through the mountain. + +The Hervey Islands say that after Maui fished up the islands his hook +was thrown into the heavens and became the curved tail of the +constellation of stars which we know as "The Scorpion." Then the people +became angry with Maui and threw him up into the sky and his body is +still thought to be hanging among the stars of the scorpion. + +The Samoans, according to Turner, say that Maui went fishing and tried +to catch the land under the seas and pull it to the surface. Finally an +island appeared, but the people living on it were angry with Maui and +drove him away into the heavens. + +As he leaped from the island it separated into two parts. Thus the +Samoans account for the origin of two of their islands and also for the +passing away of Maui from the earth. + +The natives of New Zealand have many myths concerning the death of Maui. +Each tribe tells the story with such variations as would be expected +when the fact is noted that these tribes have preserved their +individuality through many generations. The substance of the myth, +however, is the same. + +In Maui's last days he longed for the victory over death. His innate +love of life led him to face the possibility of escaping and +overcoming the relentless enemy of mankind and thus bestow the boon of +deathlessness upon his fellow-men. He had been successful over and over +again in his contests with both gods and men. When man was created, he +stood erect, but, according to an Hawaiian myth, had jointless arms and +limbs. A web of skin connected and fastened tightly the arms to the body +and the legs to each other. "Maui was angry at this motionless statue +and took him and broke his legs at ankle, knee and hip and then, tearing +them and the arms from the body, destroyed the web. Then he broke the +arms at the elbow and shoulder. Then man could move from place to place, +but he had neither fingers or toes." Here comes the most ancient +Polynesian statement of the theory of evolution: "Hunger impelled man to +seek his food in the mountains, where his toes were cut out by the +brambles in climbing, and his fingers were also formed by the sharp +splinters of the bamboo while searching with his arms for food in the +ground." + +It was not strange that Maui should feel self-confident when considering +the struggle for immortality as a gift to be bestowed upon mankind. And +yet his father warned him that his time of failure would surely come. + +White, who has collected many of the myths and legends of New Zealand, +states that after Maui had ill-treated Mahu-ika, his grandmother, the +goddess and guardian of fire in the under-world, his father and mother +tried to teach him to do differently. But he refused to listen. Then the +father said: + +"You heard our instructions, but please yourself and persist for life or +death." + +Maui replied: "What do I care? Do you think I shall cease? Rather I will +persist forever and ever." + +Then his father said: "There is one so powerful that no tricks can be of +any avail." + +Maui asked: "By what shall I be overcome?" The answer was that one of +his ancestors, Hine-nui-te-po (Great Hine of the night), the guardian of +life, would overcome him. + +When Maui fished islands out of the deep seas, it was said that Hine +made her home on the outer edge of one of the outermost islands. There +the glow of the setting sun lighted the thatch of her house and covered +it with glorious colors. There Great Hine herself stood flashing and +sparkling on the edge of the horizon. + +Maui, in these last days of his life, looked toward the west and said: +"Let us investigate this matter and learn whether life or death shall +follow." + +The father replied: "There is evil hanging over you. When I chanted the +invocation of your childhood, when you were made sacred and guarded by +charms, I forgot a part of the ceremony. And for this you are to die." + +Then Maui said, "Will this be by Hine-nui-te-po? What is she like?" + +The father said that the flashing eyes they could see in the distance +were dark as greenstone, the teeth were as sharp as volcanic glass, her +mouth was large like a fish, and her hair was floating in the air like +sea-weed. + +One of the legends of New Zealand says that Maui and his brothers went +toward the west, to the edge of the horizon, where they saw the goddess +of the night. Light was flashing from her body. Here they found a great +pit--the home of night. Maui entered the pit--telling his brothers not +to laugh. He passed through and turning about started to return. The +brothers laughed and the walls of night closed in around him and held +him till he died. + +The longer legend tells how Maui after his conversation with his father, +remembered his conflict with the moon. He had tied her so that she could +not escape, but was compelled to bathe in the waters of life and return +night after night lest men should be in darkness when evening came. + +Maui said to the goddess of the moon: "Let death be short. As the moon +dies and returns with new strength, so let men die and revive again." + +But she replied: "Let death be very long, that man may sigh and sorrow. +When man dies, let him go into darkness, become like earth, that those +he leaves behind may weep and wail and mourn." + +Maui did not lay aside his purpose, but, according to the New Zealand +story, "did not wish men to die, but to live forever. Death appeared +degrading and an insult to the dignity of man. Man ought to die like the +moon, which dips in the life-giving waters of Kane and is renewed again, +or like the sun, which daily sinks into the pit of night and with +renewed strength rises in the morning." + +Maui sought the home of Hine-nui-te-po--the guardian of life. He heard +her order her attendants to watch for any one approaching and capture +all who came walking upright as a man. He crept past the attendants on +hands and feet, found the place of life, stole some of the food of the +goddess and returned home. He showed the food to his brothers and +persuaded them to go with him into the darkness of the night of death. +On the way he changed them into the form of birds. In the evening they +came to the house of the goddess on the island long before fished up +from the seas. + +Maui warned the birds to refrain from making any noise while he made the +supreme effort of his life. He was about to enter upon his struggle for +immortality. He said to the birds: "If I go into the stomach of this +woman, do not laugh until I have gone through her, and come out again +at her mouth; then you can laugh at me." + +His friends said: "You will be killed." Maui replied: "If you laugh at +me when I have only entered her stomach I shall be killed, but if I have +passed through her and come out of her mouth I shall escape and +Hine-nui-te-po will die." + +His friends called out to him: "Go then. The decision is with you." + +Hine was sleeping soundly. The flashes of lightning had all ceased. The +sunlight had almost passed away and the house lay in quiet gloom. Maui +came near to the sleeping goddess. Her large, fish-like mouth was open +wide. He put off his clothing and prepared to pass through the ordeal of +going to the hidden source of life, to tear it out of the body of its +guardian and carry it back with him to mankind. He stood in all the +glory of savage manhood. His body was splendidly marked by the +tattoo-bones, and now well oiled shone and sparkled in the last rays of +the setting sun. + +He leaped through the mouth of the enchanted one and entered her +stomach, weapon in hand, to take out her heart, the vital principle +which he knew had its home somewhere within her being. He found +immortality on the other side of death. He turned to come back again +into life when suddenly a little bird (the Pata-tai) laughed in a clear, +shrill tone, and Great Hine, through whose mouth Maui was passing, +awoke. Her sharp, obsidian teeth closed with a snap upon Maui, cutting +his body in the center. Thus Maui entered the gates of death, but was +unable to return, and death has ever since been victor over rebellious +men. The natives have the saying: + +"If Maui had not died, he could have restored to life all who had gone +before him, and thus succeeded in destroying death." + +Maui's brothers took the dismembered body and buried it in a cave called +Te-ana-i-hana, "The cave dug out," possibly a prepared burial place. + +Maui's wife made war upon the spirits, the gods, and killed as many as +she could to avenge her husband's death. One of the old native poets of +New Zealand, in chanting the story to Mr. White, said: "But though Maui +was killed, his offspring survived. Some of these are at Hawa-i-i-ki and +some at Aotea-roa (New Zealand), but the greater part of them remained +at Hawa-i-ki. This history was handed down by the generations of our +ancestors of ancient times, and we continue to rehearse it to our +children, with our incantations and genealogies, and all other matters +relating to our race." + + "But death is nothing new, + Death is, and has been ever since old Maui died. + Then Pata-tai laughed loud + And woke the goblin-god, + Who severed him in two, and shut him in, + So dusk of eve came on." + + --Maori death chant, New Zealand. + + + + +XII. + +HINA OF HILO. + + +Hina is not an uncommon name in Hawaiian genealogies. It is usually +accompanied by some adjective which explains or identifies the person to +whom the name is given. In Hawaii the name Hina is feminine. This is +also true throughout all Polynesia except in a few cases where Hina is +reckoned as a man with supernatural attributes. Even in these cases it +is apparent that the legend has been changed from its original form as +it has been carried to small islands by comparatively ignorant people +when moving away from their former homes. + +Hina is a Polynesian goddess whose story is very interesting--one worthy +of study when comparing the legends of the island groups of the Pacific. +The Hina of Hilo is the same as the goddess of that name most widely +known throughout Polynesia--and yet her legends are located by the +ancient Hawaiians in Hilo, as if that place were her only home. The +legends are so old that the Hawaiians have forgotten their origin in +other lands. The stories were brought with the immigrants who settled on +the Hilo coast. Thus the stories found their final location with the +families who brought them. There are three Hawaiian Hinas practically +distinct from each other, although a supernatural element is connected +with each one. Hina who was stolen from Hawaii by a chief of the Island +of Molokai was an historical character, although surrounded by mythical +stories. Another Hina, who was the wife of Kuula, the fish god, was +pre-eminently a local deity, having no real connection with the legends +of the other islands of the Pacific, although sometimes the stories told +concerning her have not been kept entirely distinct from the legends of +the Hina of Hilo. + +The Hilo Hina was the true legendary character closely connected with +all Polynesia. The stories about her are of value not simply as legends, +but as traditions closely uniting the Hawaiian Islands with the island +groups thousands of miles distant. The Wailuku river, which flows +through the town of Hilo, has its own peculiar and weird beauty. For +miles it is a series of waterfalls and rapids. It follows the course of +an ancient lava flow, sometimes forcing its way under bridges of lava, +thus forming what are called boiling pots, and sometimes pouring in +massive sheets over the edges of precipices which never disintegrate. +By the side of this river Hina's son Maui had his lands. In the very bed +of the river, in a cave under one of the largest falls, Hina made her +own home, concealed from the world by the silver veil of falling water +and lulled to sleep by the continual roar of the flood falling into the +deep pool below. By the side of this river, the legends say, she pounded +her tapa and prepared her food. Here were the small, graceful mamake and +the coarser wauke trees, from which the bark was stripped with which she +made tapa cloth. Branches were cut or broken from these and other trees +whose bark was fit for the purpose. These branches were well soaked +until the bark was removed easily. Then the outer bark was scraped off, +leaving only the pliable inner bark. The days were very short and there +was no time for rest while making tapa cloth. Therefore, as soon as the +morning light reddened the clouds, Hina would take her calabash filled +with water to pour upon the bark, and her little bundle of round clubs +(the hohoa) and her four-sided mallets (the i-e-kuku) and hasten to the +sacred spot where, with chants and incantations, the tapa was made. + +The bark was well soaked in the water all the days of the process of +tapa making. Hina took small bundles of the wet inner bark and laid them +on the kua or heavy tapa board, pounding them together into a pulpy mass +with her round clubs. Then using the four-sided mallets, she beat this +pulp into thin sheets. Beautiful tapa, soft as silk, was made by adding +pulpy mass to pulpy mass and beating it day after day until the fibres +were lost and a sheet of close-woven bark cloth was formed. Although +Hina was a goddess and had a family possessing miraculous power, it +never entered the mind of the Hawaiian legend tellers to endow her with +ease in producing wonderful results. The legends of the Southern Pacific +Islands show more imagination. They say that Ina (Hina) was such a +wonderful artist in making beautiful tapas that she was placed in the +skies, where she beat out glistening fine tapas, the white and glorious +clouds. When she stretches these cloud sheets out to dry, she places +stones along the edges, so that the fierce winds of the heavens shall +not blow them away. When she throws these stones aside, the skies +reverberate with thunder. When she rolls her cloud sheets of tapa +together, the folds glisten with flashes of light and lightning leaps +from sheet to sheet. + +The Hina of Hilo was grieved as she toiled because after she had pounded +the sheets out so thin that they were ready to be dried, she found it +almost impossible to secure the necessary aid of the sun in the drying +process. She would rise as soon as she could see and hasten to spread +out the tapa made the day before. But the sun always hurried so fast +that the sheets could not dry. He leaped from the ocean waters in the +earth, rushed across the heavens and plunged into the dark waters again +on the other side of the island before she could even turn her tapas so +that they might dry evenly. This legend of very short days is strange +because of its place not only among the myths of Hawaii but also because +it belongs to practically all the tropical islands of the Pacific Ocean. +In Tahiti the legends said that the sun rushed across the sky very +rapidly. The days were too short for fruits to ripen or for work to be +finished. In Samoa the "mats" made by Sina had no time to dry. The +ancestors of the Polynesians sometime somewhere must have been in the +region of short days and long nights. Hina found that her incantations +had no influence with the sun. She could not prevail upon him to go +slower and give her more time for the completion of her task. Then she +called on her powerful son, Maui-ki-i-ki-i, for aid. + +Some of the legends of the Island Maui say that Hina dwelt by the sea +coast of that island near the high hill Kauwiki at the foot of the great +mountain Haleakala, House of the Sun, and that there, facing the +southern skies under the most favorable conditions for making tapa, she +found the days too short for the tapa to dry. At the present time the +Hawaiians point out a long, narrow stone not far from the surf and +almost below the caves in which the great queen Kaahumanu spent the +earliest days of her childhood. This stone is said to be the kua or +tapa board on which Hina pounded the bark for her cloth. Other legends +of that same island locate Hina's home on the northeast coast near +Pohakuloa. + +The Hilo legends, however, do not deem it necessary that Hina and Maui +should have their home across the wide channel which divides the Island +Hawaii from the Island Maui in order to wage war successfully with the +inconsiderate sun. Hina remained in her home by the Wailuku river, +sometimes resting in her cave under Rainbow Falls, and sometimes working +on the river bank, trusting her powerful son Maui to make the +swiftly-passing lord of day go more slowly. + +Maui possessed many supernatural powers. He could assume the form of +birds or insects. He could call on the winds to do his will, or he +could, if he wished, traverse miles with a single stride. It is +interesting to note that the Hilo legends differ as to the way in which +Ma-ui the man passed over to Mau-i the island. One legend says that he +crossed the channel, miles wide, with a single step. Another says that +he launched his canoe and with a breath the god of the winds placed him +on the opposite coast, while another story says that Maui assumed the +form of a white chicken, which flew over the waters to Haleakala. Here +he took ropes made from the fibre of trees and vines and lassoed the sun +while it climbed the side of the mountain and entered the great crater +which hollows out the summit. The sun came through a large gap in the +eastern side of the crater, rushing along as rapidly as possible. Then +Maui threw his lassoes one after the other over the sun's legs (the rays +of light), holding him fast and breaking off some of them. With a magic +club Maui struck the face of the sun again and again. At last, wounded +and weary, and also limping on its broken legs, the sun promised Maui to +go slowly forevermore. + +"La" among the Polynesians, like the word "Ra" among the Egyptians, +means "sun" or "day" or "sun-god"--and the mountain where the son of +Hina won his victory over the monster of the heavens has long borne the +name Hale-a-ka-la, or House of the Sun. + +Hina of Hilo soon realized the wonderful deed which Maui had done. She +spread out her fine tapas with songs of joy and cheerily performed the +task which filled the hours of the day. The comfort of sunshine and +cooling winds came with great power into Hina's life, bringing to her +renewed joy and beauty. + + + + +XIII. + +HINA AND THE WAILUKU RIVER. + + +There are two rivers of rushing, tumbling rapids and waterfalls in the +Hawaiian Islands, both bearing the name of Wailuku. One is on the Island +of Maui, flowing out of a deep gorge in the side of the extinct volcano +Iao. Yosemite-like precipices surround this majestically-walled crater. +The name Iao means "asking for clouds." The head of the crater-valley is +almost always covered with great masses of heavy rain clouds. Out of the +crater the massed waters rush in a swift-flowing stream of only four or +five miles, emptying into Kahului harbor. The other Wailuku river is on +the Island of Hawaii. The snows melt on the summits of the two great +mountains, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. The water seeps through the porous +lava from the eastern slope of Mauna Loa and the southern slope of Mauna +Kea, meeting where the lava flows of centuries from each mountain have +piled up against each other. Through the fragments of these volcanic +battles the waters creep down the mountain side toward the sea. + +[Illustration: Rainbow Falls, Hina's Home.] + +At one place, a number of miles above the city of Hilo, the waters were +heard gurgling and splashing far below the surface. Water was needed for +the sugar plantations, which modern energy has established all along the +eastern coast of the large island. A tunnel was cut into the lava, the +underground stream was tapped--and an abundant supply of water secured +and sluiced down to the large plantations below. The head waters of the +Wailuku river gathered from the melting snow of the mountains found +these channels, which centered at last in the bed of a very ancient and +very interesting lava flow. Sometimes breaking forth in a large, +turbulent flood, the stream forces its way over and around the huge +blocks of lava which mark the course of the eruption of long ago. +Sometimes it courses in a tunnel left by the flowing lava and comes up +from below in a series of boiling pools. Then again it falls in majestic +sheets over high walls of worn precipices. Several large falls and some +very picturesque smaller cascades interspersed with rapids and natural +bridges give to this river a beauty peculiarly its own. The most weird +of all the rough places through which the Wailuku river flows is that +known as the basin of Rainbow Falls near Hilo. Here Hina, the moon +goddess of the Polynesians, lived in a great open cave, over which the +falls hung their misty, rainbow-tinted veil. Her son Maui, the mighty +demi-god of Polynesia, supposed by some writers to be the sun-god of the +Polynesians, had extensive lands along the northern bank of the river. +Here among his cultivated fields he had his home, from which he went +forth to accomplish the wonders attributed to him in the legends of the +Hawaiians. + +Below the cave in which Hina dwelt the river fought its way through a +narrow gorge and then, in a series of many small falls, descended to the +little bay, where its waters mingled with the surf of the salt sea. Far +above the cave, in the bed of the river, dwelt Kuna. The district +through which that portion of the river runs bears to this day the name +"Wai-kuna" or "Kuna's river." When the writer was talking with the +natives concerning this part of the old legend, they said "Kuna is not a +Hawaiian word. It means something like a snake or a dragon, something we +do not have in these islands." This, they thought, made the connection +with the Hina legend valueless until they were shown that Tuna (or kuna) +was the New Zealand name of a reptile which attacked Hina and struck her +with his tail like a crocodile, for which Maui killed him. When this was +understood, the Hawaiians were greatly interested to give the remainder +of this legend and compare it with the New Zealand story. In New Zealand +there are several statements concerning Tuna's dwelling place. He is +sometimes represented as coming from a pool to attack Hina and sometimes +from a distant stream, and sometimes from the river by which Hina dwelt. +The Hawaiians told of the annoyances which Hina endured from Kuna while +he lived above her home in the Wailuku. He would stop up the river and +fill it with dirt as when the freshets brought down the debris of the +storms from the mountain sides. He would throw logs and rolling stones +into the stream that they might be carried over the falls and drive Hina +from her cave. He had sought Hina in many ways and had been repulsed +again and again until at last hatred took the place of all more kindly +feelings and he determined to destroy the divine chiefess. + +Hina was frequently left with but little protection, and yet from her +home in the cave feared nothing that Kuna could do. Precipices guarded +the cave on either side, and any approach of an enemy through the +falling water could be easily thwarted. So her chants rang out through +the river valley even while floods swirled around her, and Kuna's +missiles were falling over the rocky bed of the stream toward her. Kuna +became very angry and, uttering great curses and calling upon all his +magic forces to aid him, caught a great stone and at night hurled it +into the gorge of the river below Hina's home, filling the river bed +from bank to bank. "Ah, Hina! Now is the danger, for the river rises. +The water cannot flow away. Awake! Awake!" + +Hina is not aware of this evil which is so near. The water rises and +rises, higher and higher. "Auwe! Auwe! Alas, alas, Hina must perish!" +The water entered the opening of the cave and began to creep along the +floor. Hina cannot fly, except into the very arms of her great enemy, +who is waiting to destroy her. Then Hina called for Maui. Again and +again her voice went out from the cave. It pierced through the storms +and the clouds which attended Kuna's attack upon her. It swept along the +side of the great mountain. It crossed the channel between the islands +of Hawaii and Maui. Its anguish smote the side of the great mountain +Haleakala, where Maui had been throwing his lassoes around the sun and +compelling him to go more slowly. When Maui heard Hina's cry for help +echoing from cliff to cliff and through the ravines, he leaped at once +to rush to her assistance. + +Some say that Hina, the goddess, had a cloud servant, the "ao-opua," the +"warning cloud," which rose swiftly above the falls when Hina cried for +aid and then, assuming a peculiar shape, stood high above the hills that +Maui might see it. Down the mountain he leaped to his magic canoe. +Pushing it into the sea with two mighty strokes of his paddle he crossed +the sea to the mouth of the Wailuku river. Here even to the present day +lies a long double rock, surrounded by the waters of the bay, which +the natives call Ka waa o Maui, "The canoe of Maui." It represents to +Hawaiian thought the magic canoe with which Maui always sailed over the +ocean more swiftly than any winds could carry him. Leaving his canoe, +Maui seized the magic club with which he had conquered the sun after +lassoing him, and rushed along the dry bed of the river to the place of +danger. Swinging the club swiftly around his head, he struck the dam +holding back the water of the rapidly-rising river. + +[Illustration: Wailuku River, the Home of Kuna.] + +"Ah! Nothing can withstand the magic club. The bank around one end of +the dam gives way. The imprisoned waters leap into the new channel. Safe +is Hina the goddess." + +Kuna heard the crash of the club against the stones of the river bank +and fled up the river to his home in the hidden caves by the pools in +the river bed. Maui rushed up the river to punish Kuna-mo-o for the +trouble he had caused Hina. When he came to the place where the dragon +was hidden under deep waters, he took his magic spear and thrust it +through the dirt and lava rocks along one side of the river, making a +long hole, through which the waters rushed, revealing Kuna-mo-o's hiding +place. This place of the spear thrust is known among the Hawaiians as Ka +puka a Maui, "the door made by Maui." It is also known as "The natural +bridge of the Wailuku river." + +Kuna-mo-o fled to his different hiding places, but Maui broke up the +river bed and drove the dragon out from every one, following him from +place to place as he fled down the river. Apparently this is a legendary +account of earthquakes. At last Kuna-mo-o found what seemed to be a safe +hiding place in a series of deep pools, but Maui poured a lava flow into +the river. He threw red-hot burning stones into the water until the +pools were boiling and the steam was rising in clouds. Kuna uttered +incantation after incantation, but the water scalded and burned him. +Dragon as he was, his hard, tough skin was of no avail. The pain was +becoming unbearable. With cries to his gods he leaped from the pools and +fled down the river. The waters of the pools are no longer scalding, but +they have never lost the tumbling, tossing, foaming, boiling swirl which +Maui gave to them when he threw into them the red-hot stones with which +he hoped to destroy Kuna, and they are known today as "The Boiling +Pots." + +Some versions of the legend say that Maui poured boiling water in the +river and sent it in swift pursuit of Kuna, driving him from point to +point and scalding his life out of him. Others say that Maui chased the +dragon, striking him again and again with his consecrated weapons, +following Kuna down from falls to falls until he came to the place where +Hina dwelt. Then, feeling that there was little use in flight, Kuna +battled with Maui. His struggles were of no avail. He was forced over +the falls into the stream below. Hina and her women encouraged Maui by +their chants and strengthened him by the most powerful incantations with +which they were acquainted. Great was their joy when they beheld Kuna's +ponderous body hurled over the falls. Eagerly they watched the dragon as +the swift waters swept him against the dam with which he had hoped to +destroy Hina; and when the whirling waves caught him and dashed him +through the new channel made by Maui's magic club, they rejoiced and +sang the praise of the mighty warrior who had saved them. Maui had +rushed along the bank of the river with tremendous strides overtaking +the dragon as he was rolled over and over among the small waterfalls +near the mouth of the river. Here Maui again attacked Kuna, at last +beating the life out of his body. "Moo-Kuna" was the name given by the +Hawaiians to the dragon. "Moo" means anything in lizard shape, but Kuna +was unlike any lizard known in the Hawaiian Islands. Moo Kuna is the +name sometimes given to a long black stone lying like an island in the +waters between the small falls of the river. As one who calls attention +to this legendary black stone says: "As if he were not dead enough +already, every big freshet in the stream beats him and pounds him and +drowns him over and over as he would have drowned Hina." A New Zealand +legend relates a conflict of incantations, somewhat like the filling in +of the Wailuku river by Kuna, and the cleaving of a new channel by Maui +with the different use of means. In New Zealand the river is closed by +the use of powerful incantations and charms and reopened by the use of +those more powerful. + +In the Hervey Islands, Tuna, the god of eels, loved Ina (Hina) and +finally died for her, giving his head to be buried. From this head +sprang two cocoanut trees, bearing fruit marked with Tuna's eyes and +mouth. + +In Samoa the battle was between an owl and a serpent. The owl conquered +by calling in the aid of a friend. + +This story of Hina apparently goes far back in the traditions of +Polynesians, even to their ancient home in Hawaiki, from which it was +taken by one branch of the family to New Zealand and by another to the +Hawaiian Islands and other groups in the Pacific Ocean. The dragon may +even be a remembrance of the days when the Polynesians were supposed to +dwell by the banks of the River Ganges in India, when crocodiles were +dangerous enemies and heroes saved families from their destructive +depredations. + + + + +XIV. + +GHOSTS OF THE HILO HILLS. + + +The legends about Hina and her famous son Maui and her less widely known +daughters are common property among the natives of the beautiful little +city of Hilo. One of these legends of more than ordinary interest finds +its location in the three small hills back of Hilo toward the mountains. + +These hills are small craters connected with some ancient lava flow of +unusual violence. The eruption must have started far up on the slopes of +Mauna Loa. As it sped down toward the sea it met some obstruction which, +although overwhelmed, checked the flow and caused a great mass of +cinders and ashes to be thrown out until a large hill with a hollow +crater was built up, covering many acres of ground. + +Soon the lava found another vent and then another obstruction and a +second and then a third hill were formed nearer the sea. These hills or +extinct craters bear the names Halai, Opeapea and Puu Honu. They are +not far from the Wailuku river, famous for its picturesque waterfalls +and also for the legends which are told along its banks. Here Maui had +his lands overlooking the steep bluffs. Here in a cave under the Rainbow +Falls was the home of Hina, the mother of Maui, according to the +Hawaiian stories. Other parts of the Pacific sometimes make Hina Maui's +wife, and sometimes a goddess from whom he descended. In the South Sea +legends Hina was thought to have married the moon. Her home was in the +skies, where she wove beautiful tapa cloths (the clouds), which were +bright and glistening, so that when she rolled them up flashes of light +(cloud lightning) could be seen on the earth. She laid heavy stones on +the corners of these tapas, but sometimes the stones rolled off and made +the thunder. Hina of the Rainbow Falls was a famous tapa maker whose +tapa was the cause of Maui's conflict with the sun. + +Hina had several daughters, four of whose names are given: Hina Ke Ahi, +Hina Ke Kai, Hina Mahuia, and Hina Kuluua. Each name marked the peculiar +"mana" or divine gift which Hina, the mother, had bestowed upon her +daughters. + +Hina Ke Ahi meant the Hina who had control of fire. This name is +sometimes given to Hina the mother. Hina Ke Kai was the daughter who had +power over the sea. She was said to have been in a canoe with her +brother Maui when he fished up Cocoanut Island, his line breaking +before he could pull it up to the mainland and make it fast. Hina Kuluua +was the mistress over the forces of rain. The winds and the storms were +supposed to obey her will. Hina Mahuia is peculiarly a name connected +with the legends of the other island groups of the Pacific. Mahuia or +Mafuie was a god or goddess of fire all through Polynesia. + +The legend of the Hilo hills pertains especially to Hina Ke Ahi and Hina +Kuluua. Hina the mother gave the hill Halai to Hina Ke Ahi and the hill +Puu Honu to Hina Kuluua for their families and dependents. + +The hills were of rich soil and there was much rain. Therefore, for a +long time, the two daughters had plenty of food for themselves and their +people, but at last the days were like fire and the sky had no rain in +it. The taro planted on the hillsides died. The bananas and sugar cane +and sweet potatoes withered and the fruit on the trees was blasted. The +people were faint because of hunger, and the shadow of death was over +the land. Hina Ke Ahi pitied her suffering friends and determined to +provide food for them. Slowly her people labored at her command. Over +they went to the banks of the river course, which was only the bed of an +ancient lava stream, over which no water was flowing; the famished +laborers toiled, gathering and carrying back whatever wood they could +find, then up the mountain side to the great koa and ohia forests, +gathering their burdens of fuel according to the wishes of their +chiefess. + +Their sorcerers planted charms along the way and uttered incantations to +ward off the danger of failure. The priests offered sacrifices and +prayers for the safe and successful return of the burden-bearers. After +many days the great quantity of wood desired by the goddess was piled up +by the side of the Halai Hill. + +Then came the days of digging out the hill and making a great imu or +cooking oven and preparing it with stones and wood. Large quantities of +wood were thrown into the place. Stones best fitted for retaining heat +were gathered and the fires kindled. When the stones were hot, Hina Ke +Ahi directed the people to arrange the imu in its proper order for +cooking the materials for a great feast. A place was made for sweet +potatoes, another for taro, another for pigs and another for dogs. All +the form of preparing the food for cooking was passed through, but no +real food was laid on the stones. Then Hina told them to make a place in +the imu for a human sacrifice. Probably out of every imu of the long ago +a small part of the food was offered to the gods, and there may have +been a special place in the imu for that part of the food to be cooked. +At any rate Hina had this oven so built that the people understood that +a remarkable sacrifice would be offered in it to the gods, who for some +reason had sent the famine upon the people. + +Human sacrifices were frequently offered by the Hawaiians even after the +days of the coming of Captain Cook. A dead body was supposed to be +acceptable to the gods when a chief's house was built, when a chief's +new canoe was to be made or when temple walls were to be erected or +victories celebrated. The bodies of the people belonged to the will of +the chief. Therefore it was in quiet despair that the workmen obeyed +Hina Ke Ahi and prepared the place for sacrifice. It might mean their +own holocaust as an offering to the gods. At last Hina Ke Ahi bade the +laborers cease their work and stand by the side of the oven ready to +cover it with the dirt which had been thrown out and piled up by the +side. The people stood by, not knowing upon whom the blow might fall. + +But Hina Ke Ahi was "Hina the kind," and although she stood before them +robed in royal majesty and power, still her face was full of pity and +love. Her voice melted the hearts of her retainers as she bade them +carefully follow her directions. + +"O my people. Where are you? Will you obey and do as I command? This imu +is my imu. I shall lie down on its bed of burning stones. I shall sleep +under its cover. But deeply cover me or I may perish. Quickly throw the +dirt over my body. Fear not the fire. Watch for three days. A woman +will stand by the imu. Obey her will." + +Hina Ke Ahi was very beautiful, and her eyes flashed light like fire as +she stepped into the great pit and lay down on the burning stones. A +great smoke arose and gathered over the imu. The men toiled rapidly, +placing the imu mats over their chiefess and throwing the dirt back into +the oven until it was all thoroughly covered and the smoke was quenched. + +Then they waited for the strange, mysterious thing which must follow the +sacrifice of this divine chiefess. + +Halai hill trembled and earthquakes shook the land round about. The +great heat of the fire in the imu withered the little life which was +still left from the famine. Meanwhile Hina Ke Ahi was carrying out her +plan for securing aid for her people. She could not be injured by the +heat for she was a goddess of fire. The waves of heat raged around her +as she sank down through the stones of the imu into the underground +paths which belonged to the spirit world. The legend says that Hina made +her appearance in the form of a gushing stream of water which would +always supply the want of her adherents. The second day passed. Hina was +still journeying underground, but this time she came to the surface as a +pool named Moe Waa (canoe sleep) much nearer the sea. The third day came +and Hina caused a great spring of sweet water to burst forth from the +sea shore in the very path of the ocean surf. This received the name +Auauwai. Here Hina washed away all traces of her journey through the +depths. This was the last of the series of earthquakes and the +appearance of new water springs. The people waited, feeling that some +more wonderful event must follow the remarkable experiences of the three +days. Soon a woman stood by the imu, who commanded the laborers to dig +away the dirt and remove the mats. When this was done, the hungry people +found a very great abundance of food, enough to supply their want until +the food plants should have time to ripen and the days of the famine +should be over. + +The joy of the people was great when they knew that their chiefess had +escaped death and would still dwell among them in comfort. Many were the +songs sung and stories told about the great famine and the success of +the goddess of fire. + +The second sister, Hina Kuluua, the goddess of rain, was always very +jealous of her beautiful sister Hina Ke Ahi, and many times sent rain to +put out fires which her sister tried to kindle. Hina Ke Ahi could not +stand the rain and so fled with her people to a home by the seaside. + +Hina Kuluua (or Hina Kuliua as she was sometimes known among the +Hawaiians) could control rain and storms, but for some reason failed to +provide a food supply for her people, and the famine wrought havoc +among them. She thought of the stories told and songs sung about her +sister and wished for the same honor for herself. She commanded her +people to make a great imu for her in the hill Puu Honu. She knew that a +strange power belonged to her and yet, blinded by jealousy, forgot that +rain and fire could not work together. She planned to furnish a great +supply of food for her people in the same way in which her sister had +worked. + +The oven was dug. Stones and wood were collected and the same ghostly +array of potatoes, taro, pig and dog prepared as had been done before by +her sister. + +The kahunas or priests knew that Hina Kuluua was going out of her +province in trying to do as her sister had done, but there was no use in +attempting to change her plans. Jealousy is self-willed and obstinate +and no amount of reasoning from her dependents could have any influence +over her. + +The ordinary incantations were observed, and Hina Kuluua gave the same +directions as those her sister had given. The imu was to be well heated. +The make-believe food was to be put in and a place left for her body. It +was the goddess of rain making ready to lie down on a bed prepared for +the goddess of fire. When all was ready, she lay down on the heated +stones and the oven mats were thrown over her and the ghostly +provisions. Then the covering of dirt was thrown back upon the mats and +heated stones, filling the pit which had been dug. The goddess of +rain was left to prepare a feast for her people as the goddess of fire +had done for her followers. + +[Illustration: On Lava Beds.] + +Some of the legends have introduced the demi-god Maui into this story. +The natives say that Maui came to "burn" or "cook the rain" and that he +made the oven very hot, but that the goddess of rain escaped and hung +over the hill in the form of a cloud. At least this is what the people +saw--not a cloud of smoke over the imu, but a rain cloud. They waited +and watched for such evidences of underground labor as attended the +passage of Hina Ke Ahi through the earth from the hill to the sea, but +the only strange appearance was the dark rain cloud. They waited three +days and looked for their chiefess to come in the form of a woman. They +waited another day and still another and no signs or wonders were +manifest. Meanwhile Maui, changing himself into a white bird, flew up +into the sky to catch the ghost of the goddess of rain which had escaped +from the burning oven. Having caught this spirit, he rolled it in some +kapa cloth which he kept for food to be placed in an oven and carried it +to a place in the forest on the mountain side where again the attempt +was made to "burn the rain," but a great drop escaped and sped upward +into the sky. Again Maui caught the ghost of the goddess and carried it +to a pali or precipice below the great volcano Kilauea, where he again +tried to destroy it in the heat of a great lava oven, but this time the +spirit escaped and found a safe refuge among kukui trees on the mountain +side, from which she sometimes rises in clouds which the natives say are +the sure sign of rain. + +Whether this Maui legend has any real connection with the two Hinas and +the famine we do not surely know. The legend ordinarily told among the +Hawaiians says that after five days had passed the retainers decided on +their own responsibility to open the imu. No woman had appeared to give +them directions. Nothing but a mysterious rain cloud over the hill. In +doubt and fear, the dirt was thrown off and the mats removed. Nothing +was found but the ashes of Hina Kuluua. There was no food for her +followers and the goddess had lost all power of appearing as a chiefess. +Her bitter and thoughtless jealousy brought destruction upon herself and +her people. The ghosts of Hina Ke Ahi and Hina Kuluua sometimes draw +near to the old hills in the form of the fire of flowing lava or clouds +of rain while the old men and women tell the story of the Hinas, the +sisters of Maui, who were laid upon the burning stones of the imus of a +famine. + + + + +XV. + +HINA, THE WOMAN IN THE MOON. + + +The Wailuku river has by its banks far up the mountain side some of the +most ancient of the various interesting picture rocks of the Hawaiian +Islands. The origin of the Hawaiian picture writing is a problem still +unsolved, but the picture rocks of the Wailuku river are called "na kii +o Maui," "the Maui pictures." Their antiquity is beyond question. + +The most prominent figure cut in these rocks is that of the crescent +moon. The Hawaiian legends do not attempt any direct explanation of the +meaning of this picture writing. The traditions of the Polynesians both +concerning Hina and Maui look to Hina as the moon goddess of their +ancestors, and in some measure the Hawaiian stories confirm the +traditions of the other island groups of the Pacific. + +Fornander, in his history of the Polynesian race, gives the Hawaiian +story of Hina's ascent to the moon, but applies it to a Hina the wife +of a chief called Aikanaka rather than to the Hina of Hilo, the wife of +Akalana, the father of Maui. However, Fornander evidently found some +difficulty in determining the status of the one to whom he refers the +legend, for he calls her "the mysterious wife of Aikanaka." In some of +the Hawaiian legends Hina, the mother of Maui, lived on the southeast +coast of the Island Maui at the foot of a hill famous in Hawaiian story +as Kauiki. Fornander says that this "mysterious wife" of Aikanaka bore +her children Puna and Huna, the latter a noted sea-rover among the +Polynesians, at the foot of this hill Kauiki. It can very easily be +supposed that a legend of the Hina connected with the demi-god Maui +might be given during the course of centuries to the other Hina, the +mother of Huna. The application of the legend would make no difference +to anyone were it not for the fact that the story of Hina and her ascent +to the moon has been handed down in different forms among the traditions +of Samoa, New Zealand, Tonga, Hervey Islands, Fate Islands, Nauru and +other Pacific island groups. The Polynesian name of the moon, Mahina or +Masina, is derived from Hina, the goddess mother of Maui. It is even +possible to trace the name back to "Sin," the moon god of the Assyrians. + +The moon goddess of Ponape was Ina-maram. (Hawaiian Hina-malamalama), +"Hina giving light." + +In the Paumotan Islands an eclipse of the sun is called Higa-higa-hana +(Hina-hiua-hana), "The act (hana) of Hina--the moon." + +In New Zealand moonless nights were called "Dark Hina." + +In Tahiti it is said there was war among the gods. They cursed the +stars. Hina saved them, although they lost a little light. Then they +cursed the sea, but Hina preserved the tides. They cursed the rivers, +but Hina saved the springs--the moving waters inland, like the tides in +the ocean. + +The Hawaiians say that Hina and her maidens pounded out the softest, +finest kapa cloth on the long, thick kapa board at the foot of Kauiki. +Incessantly the restless sea dashed its spray over the picturesque +groups of splintered lava rocks which form the Kauiki headland. Here +above the reach of the surf still lies the long, black stone into which +the legends say Hina's kapa board was changed. Here Hina took the leaves +of the hala tree and, after the manner of the Hawaiian women of the ages +past, braided mats for the household to sleep upon, and from the nuts of +the kukui trees fashioned the torches which were burned around the homes +of those of high chief rank. + +At last she became weary of her work among mortals. Her family had +become more and more troublesome. It was said that her sons were unruly +and her husband lazy and shiftless. She looked into the heavens and +determined to flee up the pathway of her rainbow through the clouds. + +The Sun was very bright and Hina said, "I will go to the Sun." So she +left her home very early in the morning and climbed up, higher, higher, +until the heat of the rays of the sun beat strongly upon her and +weakened her so that she could scarcely crawl along her beautiful path. +Up a little higher and the clouds no longer gave her even the least +shadow. The heat from the sun was so great that she began to feel the +fire shriveling and torturing her. Quickly she slipped down into the +storms around her rainbow and then back to earth. As the day passed her +strength came back, and when the full moon rose through the shadows of +the night she said, "I will climb to the moon and there find rest." + +But when Hina began to go upward her husband saw her and called to her: +"Do not go into the heavens." She answered him: "My mind is fixed; I +will go to my new husband, the moon." And she climbed up higher and +higher. Her husband ran toward her. She was almost out of reach, but he +leaped and caught her foot. This did not deter Hina from her purpose. +She shook off her husband, but as he fell he broke her leg so that the +lower part came off in his hands. Hina went up through the stars, crying +out the strongest incantations she could use. The powers of the night +aided her. The mysterious hands of darkness lifted her, until she stood +at the door of the moon. She had packed her calabash with her most +priceless possessions and had carried it with her even when injured by +her cruel husband. With her calabash she limped into the moon and found +her abiding home. When the moon is full, the Hawaiians of the long ago, +aye and even today, look into the quiet, silvery light and see the +goddess in her celestial home, her calabash by her side. + +The natives call her now Lono-moku, "the crippled Lono." From this watch +tower in the heavens she pointed out to Kahai, one of her descendents, +the way to rise up into the skies. The ancient chant thus describes his +ascent: + + "The rainbow is the path of Kahai. + Kahai rose. Kahai bestirred himself. + Kahai passed on the floating cloud of Kane. + Perplexed were the eyes of Alihi. + Kahai passed on on the glancing light. + The glancing light on men and canoes. + Above was Hanaiakamalama." (Hina). + +Thus under the care of his ancestress Hina, Kahai, the great sea-rover, +made his ascent in quest of adventures among the immortals. + +In the Tongan Islands the legends say that Hina remains in the moon +watching over the "fire-walkers" as their great protecting goddess. + +The Hervey Island traditions say that the Moon (Marama) had often seen +Hina and admired her, and at last had come down and caught her up to +live with himself. The moonlight in its glory is called Ina-motea, "the +brightness of Ina." + +The story as told on Atiu Island (one of the Society group) is that Hina +took her human husband with her to the moon, where they dwelt happily +for a time, but as he grew old she prepared a rainbow, down which he +descended to the earth to die, leaving Hina forevermore as "the woman in +the moon." The Savage Islanders worshiped the spirits of their +ancestors, saying that many of them went up to the land of Sina, the +always bright land in the skies. To the natives of Niue Island, Hina has +been the goddess ruling over all tapa making. They say that her home is +"Motu a Hina," "the island of Hina," the home of the dead in the skies. + +The Samoans said that the Moon received Hina and a child, and also her +tapa board and mallet and material for the manufacture of tapa cloth. +Therefore, when the moon is shining in full splendor, they shade their +eyes and look for the goddess and the tools with which she fashions the +tapa clouds in the heavens. + +The New Zealand legend says that the woman went after water in the +night. As she passed down the path to the spring the bright light of the +full moon made the way easy for her quick footsteps, but when she had +filled her calabash and started homeward, suddenly the bright light was +hidden by a passing cloud and she stumbled against a stone in the path +and fell to the ground, spilling the water she was carrying. Then she +became very angry and cursed the moon heartily. Then the moon became +angry and swiftly swept down upon her from the skies, grasping her and +lifting her up. In her terrible fight she caught a small tree with one +hand and her calabash with the other. But oh! the strong moon pulled her +up with the tree and the calabash and there in the full moon they can +all be traced when the nights are clear. + +Pleasant or Nauru Island, in which a missionary from Central Union +Church, Honolulu, is laboring, tells the story of Gigu, a beautiful +young woman, who has many of the experiences of Hina. She opened the +eyes of the Mother of the Moon as Hina, in some of the Polynesian +legends, is represented to have opened the eyes of one of the great +goddesses, and in reward is married to Maraman, the Moon, with whom she +lives ever after, and in whose embrace she can always be seen when the +moon is full. Gigu is Hina under another and more guttural form of +speech. Maraman is the same as Malama, one of the Polynesian names for +the moon. + + + + +INDEX + + + Page. + + Akea or Atea, see Wakea, 41 + + Akalana, or Ataranga, 3, 4, 166 + + Alae birds, 12, 18, 27, 62, 65, 120, 123 + + Alae-Huapi, 120 + + Alae-nui-a-Hina, 123 + + Ao-tea-roa, 23, 93, 106, 108, 128, 137 + + Aumakuas, 26 + + Ava-iki, or Hawa-i-ki, 5, 37, 41, 52, 72, 137 + + Awa, 8 + + Axe, stone, 93, 94 + + + Bailing dish, 123 + + Bananas, 45, 64 + + Banyan, 56, 71 + + Barbs, spears, 79, 101 + + Birds, 85, 110, 112, 135, 144 + + Bird-machine, 125 + + Birds, painted, 85, 112 + + Black rock, 32, 48 + + Boiling pots, 100, 152 + + Bones, fish hooks, 15, 83 + + Brittany, 57 + + Bua-Tarana-ga, 5 + + + Cain and Abel, 89 + + Calabash, 19, 31, 84, 115 + + Cannibalism, 91, 93 + + Canoe, Maui's, 28, 118, 150 + + Cats-cradle, 86 + + Cloud, Maui's-ao-opua, 150 + + Coco-nut Island, 19, 26 + + Cook, Captain, 7 + + Cooking the rain, 163 + + Coral, 29 + + Creation, 4, 80, 86 + + Crocodile, 148 + + + Death, 25, 38, 67, 82, 137, 170 + + Death chant, 138 + + Dog, 80, 102 + + Dragon, 97, 148, 153 + + + Earth twisted, 12, 15 + + Eclipse, 42, 158 + + Eel, 7, 33, 83, 94, 130 + + Eel baskets, 79, 102 + + Eight-eyed, 83, 124 + + Ellis, William, 84 + + Egypt, 44 + + Evolution, 85, 103, 109, 132 + + + Fairies, 113 + + Fire-finding-- + Australia, 59 + Bowditch Islands, 76 + Chatham Islands, 75 + De Peysters Islands, 59 + Hawaii, 61, 120 + Hervey Islands, 67, 70 + Indians, 57 + New Zealand, 67, 74, 88 + Peruvians, 59 + Samoa, 67, 70 + Savage Islands, 67, 72 + Society Islands, 66, 72 + Tartary, 59 + Tokelau Island, 67 + + First man, 89 + + Fishing up islands-- + Hawaii, 14, 18, 26 + Hervey Islands, 26 + New Hebrides, 25 + New Zealand, 19, 88 + Samoa, 24 + Tonga, 24, 28 + + Fish hooks, 12, 15, 20, 26, 81, 118 + + Fish nets, 81 + + Flood, 25 + + Flying machine, 125 + + Forbes, Rev. A. O., 42 + + Fornander, A., 83 + + + Ganges, 154 + + Gilbert Islands, 34, 60 + + Gill, W. W., 36 + + Gray, Sir George, 7, 20, 23, 49, 101, 110 + + Green stone, 110, 134 + + Guardian of under-world, 4, 5, 17, 70 + + + Hades, 129 + + Halai hills, 64, 155 + + Hale-a-ka-la, 7, 13, 32, 43, 62, 143 + + Hale-a-o-a, 76 + + Hau tree, 102 + + Hau spirit, Preface + + Haumia-Tiki-Tiki, 34 + + Hawa-iki, 5, 35, 37, 137, 154 + + Hawaii-loa, 29 + + Hawke's bay, 28 + + Hele-a-ka-la, 122 + + Hercules, 53, 112 + + Hervey Islands, 4, 5, 10 + + Hide-and-seek, 10 + + Hilo, 7, 19, 26, 64, 129, 147, 155 + + Hina, 5, 7, 10, 12, 18, 45, 61, 64, 121, 139 + + Hina-a-ke-ahi, 3, 27, 157 + + Hina-a-ke-ka, 123 + + Hina-a-te-lepo, 91 + + Hina-Kulu-ua, 157, 161 + + Hina-uri, 101 + + Hine-nui-te-po, 23, 123, 133 + + Hina's daughters, 156 + + Horizon or heaven, 107 + + Human sacrifices, 159 + + Hump-back, 125 + + Huna, 166 + + + Iao, 43 + + Ie-ie, fiber, 125 + + Iiwi, 113 + + Ika-o-Maui, 23 + + Ili-ahi, 66 + + Immortality, Maui, 128 + + Imu, oven, 159 + + Ina, see Hina, 5, 66, 142 + + India, 154 + + Indians, fire-finding, 57 + + Indians, snaring sun, 54 + + Ira Waru, 101 + + + Kaahumanu, 143 + + Ka-alae-huapi, 120 + + Kahai chant, 169 + + Ka-iwi-o-Pele, 18 + + Kalakaua, 8 + + Kalana-Kalanga, see Akalana, 3, 4, 60 + + Kalau-hele-moa, 45 + + Kamapuaa, 83 + + Kanaloa, 5, 24, 29, 120 + + Kane, 35, 119, 135 + + Kane's cave, 119 + + Kauai, 26 + + Kauiki, or Kauwiki, 7, 12, 26, 143, 168 + + Kaula Island, 26 + + Kipahula, 18 + + Ki-i-ki-i, 6, 32, 143 + + Kite-flying, 87, 112, 128 + + Ko, spade, 94 + + Kohala, 28 + + Koolau, 44 + + Ku, 5 + + Kualii, 12 + + Kuna, see Tuna, 7, 99 + + Ku-olo--Kele, 125 + + Ku-ula, fish god, 140 + + + La, or Ra, 5, 44 + + Langi, Lani, 34 + + Lahaina, 32 + + Lasso, 47, 51, 80, 144 + + Lifting the sky-- + Ellice Islands, 33 + Gilbert Islands, 34 + Hawaii, 31 + Hervey Islands, 36 + Manahiki, 35 + New Zealand, 34 + Samoa, 32 + + Liliuokalani chants, 3, 8, 17, 27, 40 + + Long Eel, 92 + + Lono, 34 + + + Ma-eli-eli hill, 120 + + Magic fish hook, 82 + + Mahui, Mahuika, Mafuia, 5, 60, 68, 73, 132 + + Mahina, or Masina, 166 + + Mamo bird, 114 + + Manahiki Islands, 24, 80 + + Maori, 28, 34 + + Marama, or Malama, 166, 171 + + Marshall Islands, 60 + + Maru, 89 + + Mauna Kea, 13 + + Maui Akalana-- + Akamai, 78, 82 + baptized, 10, 133 + birth, 6 + bird or insect, 9, 10, 20, 24, 71, 114, 144 + brothers, 3, 6, 14, 22, 24, 78, 107 + canoes, 28 + children, 82, 93, 137 + creation, 4, 80 + death, 25, 26 + Hawaii, 130 + Hervey Islands, 131 + New Zealand, 137 + Samoa, 131 + eight-eyed, 83 + footprints, 25, 33 + god or demi-god, 4, 148 + home, 4, 7, 10, 31, 119 + hook, 12, 15, 19, 26, 28 + of the malo, Preface + prophet, 84 + sister, 6 + the swift, 64, 117, 121 + uncles, 8 + + Maui-Mua, or Rupe, 106, 125 + + Maui Hope, 124 + + Maui Waena, 3, 124 + + Mercury, 11 + + Moemoe, 48 + + Mo-o, 41, 97, 99 + + Moon, 41, 89, 134 + + Moon, Hina the goddess, 147, 156, 165 + + Motu, or Mokua Hina, 170 + + Mudhen, 120 + + Muri, 48, 50 + + + Nauru Islands, 171 + + New Heavens, 107 + + New Hebrides Islands, 25 + + New Zealand, 4, 5, 7, 9 + + Niu Islands, 33 + + + Oahu legends-- + Maui and the two gods, 119 + How they found fire, 120 + Maui catching the sun, 122 + Uniting the islands, 123 + Maui and Pea-pea, 124 + + Obsidian, 109, 134 + + Ohia trees, 80 + + Olona, 81, 114, 117 + + O-o, spade, 94 + + O-o, bird, 114 + + + Paoa, 29 + + Papa, 34 + + Payton, 25 + + Pea-pea, the eight-eyed, 124 + + Pearl Harbor, 123 + + Peruvians, 59 + + Pictographs, 165 + + Pigeon, 9 + + Pimoe, 18 + + Pohakunui, 64 + + Prometheus, 57 + + Puka-a-Maui, 151 + + Pumice stone, 38 + + Puna, 166 + + Puu-o-hulu, 119, 123 + + + Ra or La, sun-god, 5, 44 + + Rainbow Falls, 8, 26, 99, 147 + + Raro Tonga, 6, 24 + + Roko, 97 + + Rongo, 34 + + Ru, 5, 35 + + Rupe, Maui-mua, 106, 125 + + + Samoa, 5, 24, 29 + + Sandalwood, 66 + + Savage Islands, 74 + + Savaii, 29, 129 + + Scorpion, 26 + + Serpent, 33 + + Sharks, 18, 123 + + Short days, 143 + + Sina, see Hina, 96, 143, 166, 171 + + Snaring the sun-- + Fiji, 54 + Hawaii, 42, 122, 144 + Hervey Islands, 52 + Indians, 54 + New Zealand, 48 + Samoa, 143 + Society Islands, 41, 50, 53, 143 + Tonga, 40 + + Snow, 89 + + Society Islands, 5 + + Spears, 81 + + Spirits, islands of, 129 + + Stone implements, 86, 93, 110 + + Sun, created, 41 + + Supporter of the Heavens, 37 + + + Tabu, 102, 126 + + Tahiti, 76, 86 + + Talanga or Kalana, 5, 68 + + Tane, see Kane, 35 + + Tangaroa or Kanaloa, 6, 24, 25, 34, 66 + + Tapa, 11, 13, 42, 62, 116, 119, 122, 141 + + Taro, 121 + + Tattooing, 80, 104, 136 + + Tawhiri, 35 + + Te-ika-o-Maui, 23 + + Ti leaves, 125 + + Ti-i-Ti-i} + } Kii-Kii, 6, 25, 32, 34, 60, 68 + Tiki-Tiki} + + Tini-rau, 106, 108 + + Tokelau Island, 67 + + Tonga, 28, 40, 89, 129 + + Tonga-iti, 41 + + Tracey Islands, 33 + + Tu or Ku, 35 + + Tuna or Kuna, 91 + Fiji, 91 + Hawaii, 99, 148 + Hervey Islands, 154 + New Zealand, 92 + Samoa, 96 + + Turner, 24 + + + Ulua, 12, 18 + + Under-world, 4, 9, 15, 51, 68, 129 + + Uniting the islands, 123 + + Upolu, 25 + + + Vatea, or Wakea, 41 + + Vatupu Islands, 33 + + + Waianae, 65, 119 + + Waikuna, 100, 148 + + Wailuku, 7, 26, 80, 140, 146 + + Waipahu, 125 + + Waipio, 115 + + Wakea, Vatea, Atea, 4, 41 + + Water of life, 134 + + White, John, 87, 96, 101, 132 + + Wife of Maui, 91, 124, 137, 156 + + Wiliwili tree, 44 + + Winds, 86, 115 + + Woman in the Moon, 165 + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Legends of Ma-ui--a demi god of +Polynesia, and of his mother Hina, by W. 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