Maui caught the sun in a noose, beat him and compelled him ever after to travel slower and with a lesser heat. He fished up a great portion of the submerged land, and his fish-hook, made from the jaw-bone of his ancestress Muri-ranga-whenua, is still shown in the district of Heretaunga in New Zealand, transformed into the south end of Hawke’s Bay. He got fire from his ancestress Mahu-ika, who pulled out her nails and [[337]]fire followed. Maui had a sister Hina-uri, whose husband, Irawaru, was changed into a dog by Maui. From Irawaru sprang all dogs. Maui and his descendants lived in Hawaiki, until some of them left there and went to Aotea-roa (New Zealand). (Sir Geo. Grey’s Pol. Mythol.)
According to Moerenhout (Voyage aux Iles du Grand Ocean, I, 446), Rii (a secondary god) separated Heaven and Earth by stretching out the former like a curtain. Mahui “brought the earth up from the depths of the ocean, and when mankind suffered from the prolonged absence of the sun and had lived mournfully in deep obscurity, and when fruits would not ripen, he stopped the sun and regulated its course so as to make day and night equal.” (Does not that legend indicate that Polynesians formerly lived in a zone where the inequality of day and night was greater than in the tropics?). Ru (god of winds), caused the ocean to swell over and break up the continent into its present island condition. Moerenhout says further (Op. Cit. p. 568): “On ne trouve, nulle part, de vestiges des deux principes, ni de ces combats entre les ténèbres et la lumiere, la vie et la mort.” Compare, however, the Marquesan cosmogony. He says also (Op. Cit. p. 571) that Polynesian legends represent the ocean as overflowing its bed and rising up to the highest mountains “sans que, nulle part, il soit question des eaux pluviales.” See, however, the mele of the Deluge in Hawaiian and Marquesan.
The frequent reference in Polynesian legends to moo, enormous, powerful and magical lizards or serpents, relates to a previous residence in some country where such reptiles exist, for in Polynesia these are of the smallest kind. It is more likely to be a remembrance of the serpent worship which obtained in the Hamitic-Arabic race and was by them spread over India and the archipelago.
Manua was another Hawaiian name for the god or chief of the infernal regions, called “Po-pau-ole,” “Po-ia-Milu,” “Po-kini-kini,” “Po-kuakini,” “Po-lua-ahi,” “Po-papaia-owa.” Manua is said to have been the original lord of this place. Milu was only a wicked chief, whose spirit was retained there. It was not an entirely dark place—there was light and there was fire. The legends record several instances where spirits of the dead who had been sent thither were withdrawn from there and brought to the light and life of the upper world again. Moku-lehua brought his wife Pueo up again from there. Maluae brought his son Kaalii back from there; the former by the help of his god Kanikaniula, the latter by that of Kane and Kanaloa; and thus Hiku brought up the spirit of Kawelu (w.) and revived her. [[338]]
[1] Maka olohilohi, or more properly alohilohi, means bright, sparkling eyes. [↑]
Traditionary Voyages.
During the period in Hawaiian History designated as that of Maweke and Paumakua, which was about the commencement of the 11th century, or from twenty-eight to thirty generations ago,[1] after a period of comparative quiet and obscurity, the Polynesian folk-lore in all the principal groups becomes replete with the legends and songs of a number of remarkable men, of bold expeditions, stirring adventures, and voyages undertaken to far-off lands. An era of national unrest and of tribal commotion seems to have set in from causes not now known. A migratory wave swept the island world of the Pacific, and left its traces on the genealogies of the chiefs, in the disuse of old and substitution of new names for places and landmarks, in the displacement of old, and setting up of new tutelar gods with enlarged rites of worship and stricter kapus. Chiefs from the southern groups visited the Hawaiian group, and chiefs from the latter visited the former, accompanied by their relatives, priests and retainers. Where this ethnic movement originated,—in the southern groups or in the northern,—it is now hardly possible to determine. That the Hawaiian group was known at that time to the southern chiefs and priests, may be shown from the legend of Paao, who, by every concurrent tradition was a southerner from the Society group, a high-priest of princely blood, and the founder of one of the high-priest families on Hawaii. In that legend occurs the song of Paao’s companion, Makuakaumana, a portion of which is still preserved, urging upon Lonokaeho, another southern chief, to come with them and take possession of Hawaii. Lonokaeho declined however and sent Pili in his place. That the Hawaii mentioned in this song is not the Samoan Hawaii, but that of this (Hawaiian) group, becomes evident by comparing the description of Hawaii in this song with the description given by Kamahualele, the high-priest of Moikeha, a Hawaiian chief of the same period, who had resided for many years on the southern groups, but returned to Hawaii and died on Kauai.