ond 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 bi