Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders; With Illustrations of Their Manners and Customs (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. GENEALOGY OF MANKIND.?TRADITIONS REFERRING TO TIMES PRIOR TO THE VOYAGE FROM HAWAIKI.?1'ABLE OF THE SHARK AND THE LIZARD. LEGEND OF THE BROTHERS 'MAUl' AND THE ' GREAT- DADaHTER-OF-NIGHT.' LEGEND OF TTNTRAU'S PET WHALE. STORY OF WAKATAU, AND THE BURNING OF THB TIHI-O-MAICONO. TRADITIONS OF THE FORMER EXISTENCE OF LARGE SAURIA IN NEW ZEALAND. ADVENTURES OF A ' TANIWHA.' REMARKS ON TRADITIONS SUPPOSED TO REFER TO THE DELUGE. The New Zealanders had no idea of a Supreme Intelligence creating and over-ruling all things. The heavens, the earth, and even the light of day, which the Mosaic account describes as created by the will of God, they appear to have invested with individual existences, imagining the one to have been generated by the other, as children are begotten by their parents. Such is the idea conveyed in the following genealogical legend, which refers to Night or Darkness as the primitive state from which all things have sprung. GENEALOGY OF MAN. In the beginning of time was Te Po (the night or darkness). In the generations that followed Te Po, came Te Ao (the light), Te Ao-tu-roa (light-standing- long), Te Ao-marama (clear light of day), Te Kore (nothingness), Te Kore-te-whiwhia (nothingness- the-possessed), Te Kore-te-rawea (nothingness-the- made-excellent), Te Kore-te-tamaua (nothingness- the-fast-bound), Te Kore-matua (nothingness-the- first), Maku (moisture). Maku slept with Mahora- nui-atea (the straight?the vast?the clear); their offspring was Rangi (the sky). Rangi slept with Papatuanuku (the wide extending plane); their children were Rehu (the mist), Tane (male), and Paia. From Tane and Paia sprung Te Tangata (man). This tradition I picked up at Moeraki, in the Middle Island, a part of New Zealand where the natives ...