The victor chief in New Zealand eats the eye of his slain enemy. In Tahiti the eye of the human sacrifice was offered by the priest to the officiating chief. In Hawaii that custom probably obtained formerly. The expression eia kuu maka, used as a mark of submission or devotion to another, most likely refers to some such ancient custom, but neither that nor cannibalism were practised in Hawaii, at least no trace of them remains in their traditions.
A New Zealand chief’s wife frequently hung herself on the death of her husband. There was no law or absolute necessity for so doing, but it was a custom whose observance was much applauded as the mark of a true and devoted wife.
In New Zealand the awa root is not used as a beverage, as in the other Polynesian tribes. The piper excelsum, called kawa grows there, but is not used. No salt nor spices is used with victuals.
Pigs and poultry were introduced by Europeans. Dogs and rats were indigenous, [[261]]or came with the Polynesians. The New Zealanders called the condor by the Polynesian name of poultry, moa. They then retained and transferred the name, though they did not succeed in bringing hens with them when they emigrated to New Zealand.
The legends about Maui, his adventures, his fishing up the earth from the water, his getting fire, his fish-hook, Manaiakalani, are many and mostly coincide with the Hawaiian legends. (See Grey’s “Polynesian Mythology.”) Those legends of Maui were recognized and more or less known through all the Polynesian groups, and hence probably arrived with the first settlers. One of the New Zealand traditions has it that the three Mauis concurred in the creation of man and, subsequently, of woman from him. On Hawaii and on the Society group a similar legend, mutatis mutandis, obtained.
There is also a legend of Lono (Rona), who fell in a well, caught in a tree, and was taken up to the moon, where he is still visible. This resembles somewhat the Hawaiian legend of Lonomoku or Hinahanaiakamalama, the wife of Aikanaka and reputed mother of Puna and Hema.
The New Zealanders call foreigners by the name, pakeha. (Any analogy to the Hawaiian, pakea, a kind of white stone?)
The constellation known as Orion’s belt was called by New Zealanders waka, the canoe.
The variation in legends indicate that the north and south islands of New Zealand received their inhabitants at different times.