es 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 b