lar coincidence, in some
respects, between their mythology and that of the ancient Malay tribe,
the Battas of Sumatra, whose extraordinary cannibal practices we have
already detailed; especially in the circumstance of the three principal
divinities of the Battas having precisely the same functions assigned to
them with the three that occupy the same rank in the system of the New
Zealanders.[BK]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote BJ: Marae. With Maoris and Samoans the word means an open
space in a village; in the Tahitian, Mangaian, and Paumotan languages it
means a temple, or a place where rites were performed.]

[Footnote BK: The religion, and superstitions and legends of the Maoris
are dealt with in Sir George Grey's "Polynesian Mythology," Mr. S. Percy
Smith's "Hawaiki," articles by Mr. Elsdon Best in the "Transactions of
the New Zealand Institute," articles by that author and by Mr. Percy
Smith in the "Journal of the Polynesian Society," Mr. E. Tregear's "The
Maori Race," and Mr. J.C. Andersen's "Maori Life in Ao-tea."]

CHAPTER X.

It is very remarkable that the New Zealanders attribute the creation of
man to their three principal deities acting together; thus exhibiting in
their barbarous theology something like a shadow of the Christian
Trinity. What is still more extraordinary is their tradition respecting
the formation of the first woman, who, they say, was made of one of the
man's ribs; and their general term for bone is hevee, or, as Professor
Lee gives it, iwi[BL] a sound bearing a singular resemblance to the
Hebrew name of our first mother.

[Illustration: _Christchurch Museum._

Carved boxes (_waka-papa_, or _waka_) for holding feathers and trinkets.
The upper box is said to have formed part of Captain Cook's collection.]

Particular individuals and places would also seem to have their own
gods. When the "Active" was in the river Thames, a gale of wind, by
which the ship was attacked, was attributed by the natives on board to
the anger of the god of Shoupah,[BM] the Areekee who resided in the
neighbourhood. Korro-korro, who was among them said that as soon as he
got on shore he would endeavour to prevail upon the Areekee to
propitiate the offended deity. When Marsden asked the people of
Kiperro[BN] if they

knew anything of their god, or ever had any communication with him,
they replied that they often heard him whistle. The chiefs, too, are
often called atuas, or gods, even while they are alive. Th