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[Illustration: Hale-a-ka-la Crater, the House of the Sun.]
LEGENDS
OF
MA-UI--A DEMI GOD
OF
POLYNESIA
AND OF
HIS MOTHER HINA.
BY
W. D. WESTERVELT.
HONOLULU:
THE HAWAIIAN GAZETTE CO., LTD.
1910
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Maui's Home 3
II. Maui the Fisherman 12
III. Maui Lifting the Sky 31
IV. Maui Snaring the Sun 40
V. Maui Finding Fire 56
VI. Maui the Skillful 78
VII. Maui and Tuna 91
VIII. Maui and His Brother-in-Law 101
IX. Maui's Kite-Flying 112
X. Oahu Legends of Maui 119
XI. Maui Seeking Immortality 128
XII. Hina of Hilo 139
XIII. Hina and the Wailuku River 146
XIV. The Ghosts of the Hilo Hills 155
XV. Hina, the Woman in the Moon 165
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
OPPOSITE
PAGE
Frontispiece--Haleakala Crater
"Rugged Lava of Wailuku River" 7
Leaping to Swim to Coral Reefs 12
Sea of Sacred Caves 14
Spearing Fish 21
Here are the Canoes 29
Iao Mountain from the Sea 43
Haleakala 53
Hawaiian Vines and Bushes 74
Bathing Pool 84
Coconut Grove 96
Boiling Pots--Wailuku River 100
Outside were other Worlds 107
Hilo Coast--Home of the Winds 115
Bay of Waipio Valley 121
The Ieie Vine 125
Rainbow Falls 147
Wailuku River--The Home of Kuna 151
On Lava Beds 163
HELPS TO PRONUNCIATION
There are three simple rules which practically control Hawaiian
pronunciation: (1) Give each vowel the German sound. (2) Pronounce each
vowel. (3) Never allow a consonant to close a syllable.
Interchangeable consonants are many. The following are the most common:
h=s; l=r; k=t; n=ng; v=w.
PREFACE
Maui is a demi god whose name should probably be pronounced Ma-u-i, _i.
e._, Ma-oo-e. The meaning of the word is by no means clear. It may mean
"to live," "to subsist." It may refer to beauty and strength, or it may
have the idea of "the left hand" or "turning aside." The word is
recognized as belonging to remote Polynesian antiquity.
MacDonald, a writer of the New Hebrides Islands, gives the derivation of
the name Maui primarily from the Arabic word "Mohyi," which means
"causing to live" or "life," applied sometimes to the gods and sometimes
to chiefs as "preservers and sustainers" of their followers.
The Maui story probably contains a larger number of unique and ancient
myths than that of any other legendary character in the mythology of any
nation.
There are three centers for these legends, New Zealand in the south,
Hawaii in the north, and the Tahitian group including the Hervey Islands
in the east. In each of these groups of islands, separated by thousands
of miles, there are the same legends, told in almost the same way, and
with very little variation in names. The intermediate groups of islands
of even as great importance as Tonga, Fiji or Samoa, possess the same
legends in more or less of a fragmentary condition, as if the three
centers had been settled first when the Polynesians were driven away
from the Asiatic coasts by their enemies, the Malays. From these
centers voyagers sailing away in search of adventures would carry
fragments rather than complete legends. This is exactly what has been
done and there are as a result a large number of hints of wonderful
deeds. The really long legends as told about the demi god Ma-u-i and his
mother Hina number about twenty.
It is remarkable that these legends have kept their individuality. The
Polynesians are not a very clannish people. For some centuries they have
not been in the habit of frequently visiting each other. They have had
no written language, and picture writing of any kind is exceedingly rare
throughout Polynesia and yet in physical traits, national customs,
domestic habits, and language, as well as in traditions and myths, the
different inhabitants of the islands of Polynesia are as near of kin as
the cousins of the United States and Great Britain.
The Maui legends form one of the strongest links in the mythological
chain of evidence which binds the scattered inhabitants of the Pacific
into one nation. An incomplete list aids in making clear the fact that
groups of islands hundreds and even thousands of miles apart have been
peopled centuries past by the same organic race. Either complete or
fragmentary Maui legends are found in the single islands and island
groups of Aneityum, Bowditch or Fakaofa, Efate, Fiji, Fotuna, Gilbert,
Hawaii, Hervey, Huahine, Mangaia, Manihiki, Marquesas, Marshall, Nauru,
New Hebrides, New Zealand, Samoa, Savage, Tahiti or Society, Tauna,
Tokelau and Tonga.
S. Percy Smith of New Zealand in his book Hawaiki mentions a legend
according to which Maui made a voyage after overcoming a sea monster,
visiting the Tongas, the Tahitian group, Vai-i or Hawaii, and the
Paumotu Islands. Then Maui went on to U-peru, which Mr. Smith says "may
be Peru." It was said that Maui named some of the islands of the
Hawaiian group, calling the island Maui "Maui-ui in remembrance of his
efforts in lifting up the heavens." Hawaii was named Vai-i, and Lanai
was called Ngangai--as if Maui had found the three most southerly
islands of the group.
The Maui legends possess remarkable antiquity. Of course, it is
impossible to give any definite historical date, but there can scarcely
be any question of their origin among the ancestors of the Polynesians
before they scattered over the Pacific ocean. They belong to the
prehistoric Polynesians. The New Zealanders claim Maui as an ancestor of
their most ancient tribes and sometimes class him among the most ancient
of their gods, calling him "creator of land" and "creator of man."
Tregear, in a paper before the New Zealand Institute, said that Maui was
sometimes thought to be "the sun himself," "the solar fire," "the sun
god," while his mother Hina was called "the moon goddess." The noted
greenstone god of the Maoris of New Zealand, Potiki, may well be
considered a representation of Maui-Tiki-Tiki, who was sometimes called
Maui-po-tiki.
Whether these legends came to the people in their sojourn in India
before they migrated to the Straits of Sunda is not certain; but it may
well be assumed that these stories had taken firm root in the memories
of the priests who transmitted the most important traditions from
generation to generation, and that this must have been done before they
were driven away from the Asiatic coasts by the Malays.
Several hints of Hindoo connection is found in the Maui legends. The
Polynesians not only ascribed human attributes to all animal life with
which they were acquainted, but also carried the idea of an alligator or
dragon with them, wherever they went, as in the mo-o of the story
Tuna-roa.
The Polynesians also had the idea of a double soul inhabiting the body.
This is carried out in the ghost legends more fully than in the Maui
stories, and yet "the spirit separate from the spirit which never
forsakes man" according to Polynesian ideas, was a part of the Maui
birth legends. This spirit, which can be separated or charmed away from
the body by incantations was called the "hau." When Maui's father
performed the religious ceremonies over him which would protect him and
cause him to be successful, he forgot a part of his incantation to the
"hau," therefore Maui lost his protection from death when he sought
immortality for himself and all mankind.
How much these things aid in proving a Hindoo or rather Indian origin
for the Polynesians is uncertain, but at least they are of interest
along the lines of race origin.
The Maui group of legends is preeminently peculiar. They are not only
different from the myths of other nations, but they are unique in the
character of the actions recorded. Maui's deeds rank in a higher class
than most of the mighty efforts of the demi gods of other nations and
races, and are usually of more utility. Hercules accomplished nothing to
compare with "lifting the sky," "snaring the sun," "fishing for
islands," "finding fire in his grandmother's finger nails," or "learning
from birds how to make fire by rubbing dry sticks," or "getting a magic
bone" from the jaw of an ancestor who was half dead, that is dead on one
side and therefore could well afford to let the bone on that side go for
the benefit of a descendant. The Maui legends are full of helpful
imaginations, which are distinctly Polynesian.
The phrase "Maui of the Malo" is used among the Hawaiians in connection
with the name Maui a Kalana, "Maui the son of Akalana." It may be well
to note the origin of the name. It was said that Hina usually sent her
retainers to gather sea moss for her, but one morning she went down to
the sea by herself. There she found a beautiful red malo, which she
wrapped around her as a pa-u or skirt. When she showed it to Akalana,
her husband, he spoke of it as a gift of the gods, thinking that it
meant the gift of Mana or spiritual power to their child when he should
be born. In this way the Hawaiians explain the superior talent and
miraculous ability of Maui which placed him above his brothers.
These stories were originally printed as magazine articles, chiefly in
the Paradise of the Pacific, Honolulu; therefore there are sometimes
repetitions which it seemed best to leave, even when reprinted in the
present form.
I.
MAUI'S HOME
"Akalana was the man;
Hina-a-ke-ahi was the wife;
Maui First was born;
Then Maui-waena;
Maui Kiikii was born;
Then Maui of the malo."
--Queen Liliuokalani's Family Chant.
Four brothers, each bearing the name of Maui, belong to Hawaiian legend.
They accomplished little as a family, except on special occasions when
the youngest of the household awakened his brothers by some unexpected
trick which drew them into unwonted action. The legends of Hawaii,
Tonga, Tahiti, New Zealand and the Hervey group make this youngest Maui
"the discoverer of fire" or "the ensnarer of the sun" or "the fisherman
who pulls up islands" or "the man endowed with magic," or "Maui with
spirit power." The legends vary somewhat, of course, but not as much as
might be expected when the thousands of miles between various groups of
islands are taken into consideration.
Maui was one of the Polynesian demi-gods. His parents belonged to the
family of supernatural beings. He himself was possessed of supernatural
powers and was supposed to make use of all manner of enchantments. In
New Zealand antiquity a Maui was said to have assisted other gods in the
creation of man. Nevertheless Maui was very human. He lived in thatched
houses, had wives and children, and was scolded by the women for not
properly supporting his household.
The time of his sojourn among men is very indefinite. In Hawaiian
genealogies Maui and his brothers were placed among the descendants of
Ulu and "the sons of Kii," and Maui was one of the ancestors of
Kamehameha, the first king of the united Hawaiian Islands. This would
place him in the seventh or eighth century of the Christian Era. But it
is more probable that Maui belongs to the mist-land of time. His
mischievous pranks with the various gods would make him another Mercury
living in any age from the creation to the beginning of the Christian
era.
The Hervey Island legends state that Maui's father was "the supporter of
the heavens" and his mother "the guardian of the road to the invisible
world."
In the Hawaiian chant, Akalana was the name of his father. In other
groups this was the name by which his mother was known. Kanaloa, the
god, is sometimes known as the father of Maui. In Hawaii Hina was his
mother. Elsewhere Ina, or Hina, was the grandmother, from whom he
secured fire.
The Hervey Island legends say that four mighty ones lived in the old
world from which their ancestors came. This old world bore the name
Ava-iki, which is the same as Hawa-ii, or Hawaii. The four gods were
Mauike, Ra, Ru, and Bua-Taranga.
It is interesting to trace the connection of these four names with
Polynesian mythology. Mauike is the same as the demi-god of New Zealand,
Mafuike. On other islands the name is spelled Mauika, Mafuika, Mafuia,
Mafuie, and Mahuika. Ra, the sun god of Egypt, is the same as Ra in New
Zealand and La (sun) in Hawaii. Ru, the supporter of the heavens, is
probably the Ku of Hawaii, and the Tu of New Zealand and other islands,
one of the greatest of the gods worshiped by the ancient Hawaiians. The
fourth mighty one from Ava-ika was a woman, Bua-taranga, who guarded the
path to the underworld. Talanga in Samoa, and Akalana in Hawaii were the
same as Taranga. Pua-kalana (the Kalana flower) would probably be the
same in Hawaiian as Bua-taranga in the language of the Society Islands.
Ru, the supporter of the Heavens, married Bua-taranga, the guardian of
the lower world. Their one child was Maui. The legends of Raro-Tonga
state that Maui's father and mother were the children of Tangaroa
(Kanaloa in Hawaiian), the great god worshiped throughout Polynesia.
There were three Maui brothers and one sister, Ina-ika (Ina, the fish).
The New Zealand legends relate the incidents of the babyhood of Maui.
Maui was prematurely born, and his mother, not caring to be troubled
with him, cut off a lock of her hair, tied it around him and cast him
into the sea. In this way the name came to him, Maui-Tiki-Tiki, or "Maui
formed in the topknot." The waters bore him safely. The jelly fish
enwrapped and mothered him. The god of the seas cared for and protected
him. He was carried to the god's house and hung up in the roof that he
might feel the warm air of the fire, and be cherished into life. When he
was old enough, he came to his relations while they were all gathered in
the great House of Assembly, dancing and making merry. Little Maui crept
in and sat down behind his brothers. Soon his mother called the children
and found a strange child, who proved that he was her son, and was taken
in as one of the family. Some of the brothers were jealous, but the
eldest addressed the others as follows:
"Never mind; let him be our dear brother. In the days of peace remember
the proverb, 'When you are on friendly terms, settle your disputes in a
friendly way; when you are at war, you must redress your injuries by
violence.' It is better for us, brothers, to be kind to other people.
These are the ways by which men gain influence--by laboring for
abundance of food to feed others, by collecting property to give to
others, and by similar means by which you promote the good of others."
[Illustration: Rugged Lava of Wailuku River.]
Thus, according to the New Zealand story related by Sir George Grey,
Maui was received in his home.
Maui's home was placed by some of the Hawaiian myths at Kauiki, a
foothill of the great extinct crater Haleakala, on the Island of Maui.
It was here he lived when the sky was raised to its present position.
Here was located the famous fort around which many battles were fought
during the years immediately preceding the coming of Captain Cook. This
fort was held by warriors of the Island of Hawaii a number of years. It
was from this home that Maui was supposed to have journeyed when he
climbed Mt. Haleakala to ensnare the sun.
And yet most of the Hawaiian legends place Maui's home by the rugged
black lava beds of the Wailuku river near Hilo on the island Hawaii.
Here he lived when he found the way to make fire by rubbing sticks
together, and when he killed Kuna, the great eel, and performed other
feats of valor. He was supposed to cultivate the land on the north side
of the river. His mother, usually known as Hina, had her home in a lava
cave under the beautiful Rainbow Falls, one of the fine scenic
attractions of Hilo. An ancient demigod, wishing to destroy this home,
threw a great mass of lava across the stream below the falls. The rising
water was fast filling the cave.
Hina called loudly to her powerful son Maui. He came quickly and found
that a large and strong ridge of lava lay across the stream. One end
rested against a small hill. Maui struck the rock on the other side of
the hill and thus broke a new pathway for the river. The water swiftly
flowed away and the cave remained as the home of the Maui family.
According to the King Kalakaua family legend, translated by Queen
Liliuokalani, Maui and his brothers also made this place their home.
Here he aroused the anger of two uncles, his mother's brothers, who were
called "Tall Post" and "Short Post," because they guarded the entrance
to a cave in which the Maui family probably had its home.
"They fought hard with Maui, and were thrown, and red water flowed
freely from Maui's forehead. This was the first shower by Maui." Perhaps
some family discipline followed this knocking down of door posts, for it
is said:
"They fetched the sacred Awa bush,
Then came the second shower by Maui;
The third shower was when the elbow of Awa was broken;
The fourth shower came with the sacred bamboo."
Maui's mother, so says a New Zealand legend, had her home in the
under-world as well as with her children. Maui determined to find the
hidden dwelling place. His mother would meet the children in the evening
and lie down to sleep with them and then disappear with the first
appearance of dawn. Maui remained awake one night, and when all were
asleep, arose quietly and stopped up every crevice by which a ray of
light could enter. The morning came and the sun mounted up--far up in
the sky. At last his mother leaped up and tore away the things which
shut out the light.
"Oh, dear; oh, dear! She saw the sun high in the heavens; so she hurried
away, crying at the thought of having been so badly treated by her own
children."
Maui watched her as she pulled up a tuft of grass and disappeared in the
earth, pulling the grass back to its place.
Thus Maui found the path to the under-world. Soon he transformed himself
into a pigeon and flew down, through the cave, until he saw a party of
people under a sacred tree, like those growing in the ancient first
Hawaii. He flew to the tree and threw down berries upon the people. They
threw back stones. At last he permitted a stone from his father to
strike him, and he fell to the ground. "They ran to catch him, but lo!
the pigeon had turned into a man."
Then his father "took him to the water to be baptized" (possibly a
modern addition to the legend). Prayers were offered and ceremonies
passed through. But the prayers were incomplete and Maui's father knew
that the gods would be angry and cause Maui's death, and all because in
the hurried baptism a part of the prayers had been left unsaid. Then
Maui returned to the upper world and lived again with his brothers.
Maui commenced his mischievous life early, for Hervey Islanders say that
one day the children were playing a game dearly loved by
Polynesians--hide-and-seek. Here a sister enters into the game and hides
little Maui under a pile of dry sticks. His brothers could not find him,
and the sister told them where to look. The sticks were carefully
handled, but the child could not be found. He had shrunk himself so
small that he was like an insect under some sticks and leaves. Thus
early he began to use enchantments.
Maui's home, at the best, was only a sorry affair. Gods and demigods
lived in caves and small grass houses. The thatch rapidly rotted and
required continual renewal. In a very short time the heavy rains beat
through the decaying roof. The home was without windows or doors, save
as low openings in the ends or sides allowed entrance to those willing
to crawl through. Off on one side would be the rude shelter, in the
shadow of which Hina pounded the bark of certain trees into wood pulp
and then into strips of thin, soft wood-paper, which bore the name of
"Tapa cloth." This cloth Hina prepared for the clothing of Maui and his
brothers. Tapa cloth was often treated to a coat of cocoa-nut, or
candle-nut oil, making it somewhat waterproof and also more durable.
Here Maui lived on edible roots and fruits and raw fish, knowing little
about cooked food, for the art of fire making was not yet known. In
later years Maui was supposed to live on the eastern end of the island
Maui, and also in another home on the large island Hawaii, on which he
discovered how to make fire by rubbing dry sticks together. Maui was the
Polynesian Mercury. As a little fellow he was endowed with peculiar
powers, permitting him to become invisible or to change his human form
into that of an animal. He was ready to take anything from any one by
craft or force. Nevertheless, like the thefts of Mercury, his pranks
usually benefited mankind.
It is a little curious that around the different homes of Maui, there is
so little record of temples and priests and altars. He lived too far
back for priestly customs. His story is the rude, mythical survival of
the days when of church and civil government there was none and worship
of the gods was practically unknown, but every man was a law unto
himself, and also to the other man, and quick retaliation followed any
injury received.
II.
MAUI THE FISHERMAN
"Oh the great fish hook of Maui!
Manai-i-ka-lani 'Made fast to the heavens'--its name;
An earth-twisted cord ties the hook.
Engulfed from the lofty Kauiki.
Its bait the red billed Alae,
The bird made sacred to Hina.
It sinks far down to Hawaii,
Struggling and painfully dying.
Caught is the land under the water,
Floated up, up to the surface,
But Hina hid a wing of the bird
And broke the land under the water.
Below, was the bait snatched away
And eaten at once by the fishes,
The Ulua of the deep muddy places."
--Chant of Kualii, about A. D. 1700.
One of Maui's homes was near Kauiki, a place well known throughout the
Hawaiian Islands because of its strategic importance. For many years it
was the site of a fort around which fierce battles were fought by the
natives of the island Maui, repelling the invasions of their neighbors
from Hawaii.
[Illustration: Leaping to Swim to Coral Reefs.]
Haleakala (the House of the Sun), the mountain from which Maui the
demi-god snared the sun, looks down ten thousand feet upon the Kauiki
headland. Across the channel from Haleakala rises Mauna Kea, "The White
Mountain"--the snow-capped--which almost all the year round rears its
white head in majesty among the clouds.
In the snowy breakers of the surf which washes the beach below these
mountains, are broken coral reefs--the fishing grounds of the Hawaiians.
Here near Kauiki, according to some Hawaiian legends, Maui's mother Hina
had her grass house and made and dried her kapa cloth. Even to the
present day it is one of the few places in the islands where the kapa is
still pounded into sheets from the bark of the hibiscus and kindred
trees.
Here is a small bay partially reef-protected, over which year after year
the moist clouds float and by day and by night crown the waters with
rainbows--the legendary sign of the home of the deified ones. Here when
the tide is out the natives wade and swim, as they have done for
centuries, from coral block to coral block, shunning the deep resting
places of their dread enemy, the shark, sometimes esteemed divine. Out
on the edge of the outermost reef they seek the shellfish which cling
to the coral, or spear the large fish which have been left in the
beautiful little lakes of the reef. Coral land is a region of the sea
coast abounding in miniature lakes and rugged valleys and steep
mountains. Clear waters with every motion of the tide surge in and out
through sheltered caves and submarine tunnels, according to an ancient
Hawaiian song--
"Never quiet, never failing, never sleeping,
Never very noisy is the sea of the sacred caves."
Sea mosses of many hues are the forests which drape the hillsides of
coral land and reflect the colored rays of light which pierce the
ceaselessly moving waves. Down in the beautiful little lakes, under
overhanging coral cliffs, darting in and out through the fringes of
seaweed, the purple mullet and royal red fish flash before the eyes of
the fisherman. Sometimes the many-tinted glorious fish of paradise
reveal their beauties, and then again a school of black and gold
citizens of the reef follow the tidal waves around projecting crags and
through the hidden tunnels from lake to lake, while above the fisherman
follows spearing or snaring as best he can. Maui's brothers were better
fishermen than he. They sought the deep sea beyond the reef and the
larger fish. They made hooks of bone or of mother of pearl, with a
straight, slender, sharp-pointed piece leaning backward at a sharp
angle. This was usually a consecrated bit of bone or mother of pearl,
and was supposed to have peculiar power to hold fast any fish which had
taken the bait.
[Illustration: In the Sea of Sacred Caves.]
These bones were usually taken from the body of some one who while
living had been noted for great power or high rank. This sharp piece was
tightly tied to the larger bone or shell, which formed the shank of the
hook. The sacred barb of Maui's hook was a part of the magic bone he had
secured from his ancestors in the under-world--the bone with which he
struck the sun while lassooing him and compelling him to move more
slowly through the heavens.
"Earth-twisted"--fibres of vines--twisted while growing, was the cord
used by Maui in tying the parts of his magic hook together.
Long and strong were the fish lines made from the olona fibre, holding
the great fish caught from the depths of the ocean. The fibres of the
olona vine were among the longest and strongest threads found in the
Hawaiian Islands.
Such a hook could easily be cast loose by the struggling fish, if the
least opportunity were given. Therefore it was absolutely necessary to
keep the line taut, and pull strongly and steadily, to land the fish in
the canoe.
Maui did not use his magic hook for a long time. He seemed to understand
that it would not answer ordinary needs. Possibly the idea of making
the supernatural hook did not occur to him until he had exhausted his
lower wit and magic upon his brothers.
It is said that Maui was not a very good fisherman. Sometimes his end of
the canoe contained fish which his brothers had thought were on their
hooks until they were landed in the canoe.
Many times they laughed at him for his poor success, and he retaliated
with his mischievous tricks.
"E!" he would cry, when one of his brothers began to pull in, while the
other brothers swiftly paddled the canoe forward. "E!" See we both have
caught great fish at the same moment. Be careful now. Your line is
loose. "Look out! Look out!"
All the time he would be pulling his own line in as rapidly as possible.
Onward rushed the canoe. Each fisherman shouting to encourage the
others. Soon the lines by the tricky manipulation of Maui would be
crossed. Then as the great fish was brought near the side of the boat
Maui the little, the mischievous one, would slip his hook toward the
head of the fish and flip it over into the canoe--causing his brother's
line to slacken for a moment. Then his mournful cry rang out: "Oh, my
brother, your fish is gone. Why did you not pull more steadily? It was a
fine fish, and now it is down deep in the waters." Then Maui held up his
splendid catch (from his brother's hook) and received somewhat
suspicious congratulations. But what could they do, Maui was the smart
one of the family.
Their father and mother were both members of the household of the gods.
The father was "the supporter of the heavens" and the mother was "the
guardian of the way to the invisible world," but pitifully small and
very few were the gifts bestowed upon their children. Maui's brothers
knew nothing beyond the average home life of the ordinary Hawaiian, and
Maui alone was endowed with the power to work miracles. Nevertheless the
student of Polynesian legends learns that Maui is more widely known than
almost all the demi-gods of all nations as a discoverer of benefits for
his fellows, and these physical rather than spiritual. After many
fishing excursions Maui's brothers seemed to have wit enough to
understand his tricks, and thenceforth they refused to take him in their
canoe when they paddled out to the deep-sea fishing grounds. Then those
who depended upon Maui to supply their daily needs murmured against his
poor success. His mother scolded him and his brothers ridiculed him.
In some of the Polynesian legends it is said that his wives and children
complained because of his laziness and at last goaded him into a new
effort.
The ex-Queen Liliuokalani, in a translation of what is called "the
family chant," says that Maui's mother sent him to his father for a hook
with which to supply her need.
"Go hence to your father,
'Tis there you find line and hook.
This is the hook--'Made fast to the heavens--'
'Manaia-ka-lani'--'tis called.
When the hook catches land
It brings the old seas together.
Bring hither the large Alae,
The bird of Hina."
When Maui had obtained his hook, he tried to go fishing with his
brothers. He leaped on the end of their canoe as they pushed out into
deep water. They were angry and cried out: "This boat is too small for
another Maui." So they threw him off and made him swim back to the
beach. When they returned from their day's work, they brought back only
a shark. Maui told them if he had been with them better fish would have
been upon their hooks--the Ulua, for instance, or, possibly, the
Pimoe--the king of fish. At last they let him go far out outside the
harbor of Kipahula to a place opposite Ka Iwi o Pele, "The bone of
Pele," a peculiar piece of lava lying near the beach at Hana on the
eastern side of the island Maui. There they fished, but only sharks were
caught. The brothers ridiculed Maui, saying: "Where are the Ulua, and
where is Pimoe?"
Then Maui threw his magic hook into the sea, baited with one of the Alae
birds, sacred to his mother Hina. He used the incantation, "When I let
go my hook with divine power, then I get the great Ulua."
The bottom of the sea began to move. Great waves arose, trying to carry
the canoe away. The fish pulled the canoe two days, drawing the line to
its fullest extent. When the slack began to come in the line, because of
the tired fish, Maui called for the brothers to pull hard against the
coming fish. Soon land rose out of the water. Maui told them not to look
back or the fish would be lost. One brother did look back--the line
slacked, snapped, and broke, and the land lay behind them in islands.
One of the Hawaiian legends also says that while the brothers were
paddling in full strength, Maui saw a calabash floating in the water. He
lifted it into the canoe, and behold! his beautiful sister Hina of the
sea. The brothers looked, and the separated islands lay behind them,
free from the hook, while Cocoanut Island--the dainty spot of beauty in
Hilo harbor--was drawn up--a little ledge of lava--in later years the
home of a cocoanut grove.
The better, the more complete, legend comes from New Zealand, which
makes Maui so mischievous that his brothers refuse his
companionship--and therefore, thrown on his own resources, he studies
how to make a hook which shall catch something worth while. In this
legend Maui is represented as making his own hook and then pleading with
his brothers to let him go with them once more. But they hardened their
hearts against him, and refused again and again.
Maui possessed the power of changing himself into different forms. At
one time while playing with his brothers he had concealed himself for
them to find. They heard his voice in a corner of the house--but could
not find him. Then under the mats on the floor, but again they could not
find him. There was only an insect creeping on the floor. Suddenly they
saw their little brother where the insect had been. Then they knew he
had been tricky with them. So in these fishing days he resolved to go
back to his old ways and cheat his brothers into carrying him with them
to the great fishing grounds.
Sir George Gray says that the New Zealand Maui went out to the canoe and
concealed himself as an insect in the bottom of the boat so that when
the early morning light crept over the waters and his brothers pushed
the canoe into the surf they could not see him. They rejoiced that Maui
did not appear, and paddled away over the waters.
They fished all day and all night and on the morning of the next day,
out from among the fish in the bottom of the boat came their troublesome
brother.
They had caught many fine fish and were satisfied, so thought to paddle
homeward; but their younger brother plead with them to go out, far out,
to the deeper seas and permit him to cast his hook. He said he wanted
larger and better fish than any they had captured.
[Illustration: Spearing Fish.]
So they paddled to their outermost fishing grounds--but this did not
satisfy Maui--
"Farther out on the waters,
O! my brothers,
I seek the great fish of the sea."
It was evidently easier to work for him than to argue with
him--therefore far out in the sea they went. The home land disappeared
from view; they could see only the outstretching waste of waters. Maui
urged them out still farther. Then he drew his magic hook from under his
malo or loin-cloth. The brothers wondered what he would do for bait. The
New Zealand legend says that he struck his nose a mighty blow until the
blood gushed forth. When this blood became clotted, he fastened it upon
his hook and let it down into the deep sea.
Down it went to the very bottom and caught the under world. It was a
mighty fish--but the brothers paddled with all their might and main and
Maui pulled in the line. It was hard rowing against the power which held
the hook down in the sea depths--but the brothers became enthusiastic
over Maui's large fish, and were generous in their strenuous endeavors.
Every muscle was strained and every paddle held strongly against the sea
that not an inch should be lost. There was no sudden leaping and darting
to and fro, no "give" to the line; no "tremble" as when a great fish
would shake itself in impotent wrath when held captive by a hook. It was
simply a struggle of tense muscle against an immensely heavy dead
weight. To the brothers there came slowly the feeling that Maui was in
one of his strange moods and that something beyond 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 biting, biting below?
Beneath the earth
The power is felt,
The foam is seen,
Coming.
O thou loved grandchild
Of Tangaroa-meha."
This is an excellent poetical description of the great fish delaying the
quick hard bite. Then the island comes to the surface and Maui, the
beloved grandchild of the Polynesian god Kanaloa, is praised.
It was part of one of the legends that Maui changed himself into a bird
and from the heavens let down a line with which he drew up land, but the
line broke, leaving islands rather than a mainland. About two hundred
lesser gods went to the new islands in a large canoe. The greater gods
punished them by making them mortal.
Turner, in his book on Samoa, says there were three Mauis, all brothers.
They went out fishing from Rarotonga. One of the brothers begged the
"goddess of the deep rocks" to let his hooks catch land. Then the island
Manahiki was drawn up. A great wave washed two of the Mauis away. The
other Maui found a great house in which eight hundred gods lived. Here
he made his home until a chief from Rarotonga drove him away. He fled
into the sky, but as he leaped he separated the land into two islands.
Other legends of Samoa say that Tangaroa, the great god, rolled stones
from heaven. One became the island Savaii, the other became Upolu. A god
is sometimes represented as passing over the ocean with a bag of sand.
Wherever he dropped a little sand islands sprang up.
Payton, the earnest and honored missionary of the New Hebrides Islands,
evidently did not know the name Mauitikitiki, so he spells the name of
the fisherman Ma-tshi-ktshi-ki, and gives the myth of the fishing up of
the various islands. The natives said that Maui left footprints on the
coral reefs of each island where he stood straining and lifting in his
endeavors to pull up each other island. He threw his line around a large
island intending to draw it up and unite it with the one on which he
stood, but his line broke. Then he became angry and divided into two
parts the island on which he stood. This same Maui is recorded by Mr.
Payton as being in a flood which put out one volcano--Maui seized
another, sailed across to a neighboring island and piled it upon the top
of the volcano there, so the fire was placed out of reach of the flood.
In the Hervey Group of the Tahitian or Society Islands the same story
prevails and the natives point out the place where the hook caught and a
print was made by the foot in the coral reef. But they add some very
mythical details. Maui's magic fish hook is thrown into the skies, where
it continuously hangs, the curved tail of the constellation which we
call Scorpio. Then one of the gods becoming angry with Maui seized him
and threw him also among the stars. There he stays looking down upon his
people. He has become a fixed part of the scorpion itself.
The Hawaiian myths sometimes represent Maui as trying to draw the
islands together while fishing them out of the sea. When they had pulled
up the island of Kauai they looked back and were frightened. They
evidently tried to rush away from the new monster and thus broke the
line. Maui tore a side out of the small crater Kaula when trying to draw
it to one of the other islands. Three aumakuas, three fishes supposed to
be spirit-gods, guarded Kaula and defeated his purpose. At Hawaii
Cocoanut Island broke off because Maui pulled too hard. Another place
near Hilo on the large island of Hawaii where the hook was said to have
caught is in the Wailuku river below Rainbow Falls.
Maui went out from his home at Kauiki, fishing with his brothers. After
they had caught some fine fish the brothers desired to return, but Maui
persuaded them to go out farther. Then when they became tired and
determined to go back, he made the seas stretch out and the shores
recede until they could see no land. Then drawing the magic hook, he
baited it with the Alae or sacred mud hen belonging to his Mother Hina.
Queen Liliuokalani's family chant has the following reference to this
myth:
"Maui longed for fish for Hina-akeahi (Hina of the fire, his mother),
Go hence to your father,
There you will find line and hook.
Manaiakalani is the hook.
Where the islands are caught,
The ancient seas are connected.
The great bird Alae is taken,
The sister bird,
Of that one of the hidden fire of Maui."
Maui evidently had no scruples against using anything which would help
him carry out his schemes. He indiscriminately robbed his friends and
the gods alike.
Down in the deep sea sank the hook with its struggling bait, until it
was seized by "the land under the water."
But Hina the mother saw the struggle of her sacred bird and hastened to
the rescue. She caught a wing of the bird, but could not pull the Alae
from the sacred hook. The wing was torn off. Then the fish gathered
around the bait and tore it in pieces. If the bait could have been kept
entire, then the land would have come up in a continent rather than as
an island. Then the Hawaiian group would have been unbroken. But the
bait broke--and the islands came as fragments from the under world.
Maui's hook and canoe are frequently mentioned in the legends. The
Hawaiians have a long rock in the Wailuku river at Hilo which they call
Maui's canoe. Different names were given to Maui's canoe by the Maoris
of New Zealand. "Vine of Heaven," "Prepare for the North," "Land of the
Receding Sea." His fish hook bore the name "Plume of Beauty."
On the southern end of Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, there is a curved ledge
of rocks extending out from the coast. This is still called by the
Maoris "Maui's fish-hook," as if the magic hook had been so firmly
caught in the jaws of the island that Maui could not disentangle it, but
had been compelled to cut it off from his line.
There is a large stone on the sea coast of North Kohala on the island of
Hawaii which the Hawaiians point out as the place where Maui's magic
hook caught the island and pulled it through the sea.
In the Tonga Islands, a place known as Hounga is pointed out by the
natives as the spot where the magic hook caught in the rocks. The hook
itself was said to have been in the possession of a chief-family for
many generations.
[Illustration: Here are the Canoes.]
Another group of Hawaiian legends, very incomplete, probably referring
to Maui, but ascribed to other names, relates that a fisherman caught a
large block of coral. He took it to his priest. After sacrificing, and
consulting the gods, the priest advised the fisherman to throw the coral
back into the sea with incantations. While so doing this block became
Hawaii-loa. The fishing continued and blocks of coral were caught and
thrown back into the sea until all the islands appeared. Hints of this
legend cling to other island groups as well as to the Hawaiian Islands.
Fornander credits a fisherman from foreign lands as thus bringing forth
the Hawaiian Islands from the deep seas. The reference occurs in part of
a chant known as that of a friend of Paao--the priest who is supposed to
have come from Samoa to Hawaii in the eleventh century. This priest
calls for his companions:
"Here are the canoes. Get aboard.
Come along, and dwell on Hawaii with the green back.
A land which was found in the ocean,
A land thrown up from the sea--
From the very depths of Kanaloa,
The white coral, in the watery caves,
That was caught on the hook of the fisherman."
The god Kanaloa is sometimes known as a ruler of the under-world, whose
land was caught by Maui's hook and brought up in islands. Thus in the
legends the thought has been perpetuated that some one of the ancestors
of the Polynesians made voyages and discovered islands.
In the time of Umi, King of Hawaii, there is the following record of an
immense bone fish-hook, which was called the "fish-hook of Maui:"
"In the night of Muku (the last night of the month), a priest and his
servants took a man, killed him, and fastened his body to the hook,
which bore the name Manai-a-ka-lani, and dragged it to the heiau
(temple) as a 'fish,' and placed it on the altar."
This hook was kept until the time of Kamehameha I. From time to time he
tried to break it, and pulled until he perspired.
Peapea, a brother of Kaahumanu, took the hook and broke it. He was
afraid that Kamehameha would kill him. Kaahumanu, however, soothed the
King, and he passed the matter over. The broken bone was probably thrown
away.
III.
MAUI LIFTING THE SKY.
Maui's home was for a long time enveloped by darkness. The heavens had
fallen down, or, rather, had not been separated from the earth.
According to some legends, the skies pressed so closely and so heavily
upon the earth that when the plants began to grow, all the leaves were
necessarily flat. According to other legends, the plants had to push up
the clouds a little, and thus caused the leaves to flatten out into
larger surface, so that they could better drive the skies back and hold
them in place. Thus the leaves became flat at first, and have so
remained through all the days of mankind. The plants lifted the sky inch
by inch until men were able to crawl about between the heavens and the
earth, and thus pass from place to place and visit one another.
After a long time, according to the Hawaiian legends, a man, supposed to
be Maui, came to a woman and said: "Give me a drink from your gourd
calabash, and I will push the heavens higher." The woman handed the
gourd to him. When he had taken a deep draught, he braced himself
against the clouds and lifted them to the height of the trees. Again he
hoisted the sky and carried it to the tops of the mountains; then with
great exertion he thrust it upwards once more, and pressed it to the
place it now occupies. Nevertheless dark clouds many times hang low
along the eastern slope of Maui's great mountain--Haleakala--and descend
in heavy rains upon the hill Kauwiki; but they dare not stay, lest Maui
the strong come and hurl them so far away that they cannot come back
again.
A man who had been watching the process of lifting the sky ridiculed
Maui for attempting such a difficult task. When the clouds rested on the
tops of the mountains, Maui turned to punish his critic. The man had
fled to the other side of the island. Maui rapidly pursued and finally
caught him on the sea coast, not many miles north of the town now known
as Lahaina. After a brief struggle the man was changed, according to the
story, into a great black rock, which can be seen by any traveler who
desires to localize the legends of Hawaii.
In Samoa Tiitii, the latter part of the full name of Mauikiikii, is used
as the name of the one who braced his feet against the rocks and pushed
the sky up. The foot-prints, some six feet long, are said to be shown
by the natives.
Another Samoan story is almost like the Hawaiian legend. The heavens had
fallen, people crawled, but the leaves pushed up a little; but the sky
was uneven. Men tried to walk, but hit their heads, and in this confined
space it was very hot. A woman rewarded a man who lifted the sky to its
proper place by giving him a drink of water from her cocoanut shell.
A number of small groups of islands in the Pacific have legends of their
skies being lifted, but they attribute the labor to the great eels and
serpents of the sea.
One of the Ellice group, Niu Island, says that as the serpent began to
lift the sky the people clapped their hands and shouted "Lift up!"
"High!" "Higher!" But the body of the serpent finally broke into pieces
which became islands, and the blood sprinkled its drops on the sky and
became stars.
One of the Samoan legends says that a plant called daiga, which had one
large umbrella-like leaf, pushed up the sky and gave it its shape.
The Vatupu, or Tracey Islanders, said at one time the sky and rocks were
united. Then steam or clouds of smoke rose from the rocks, and, pouring
out in volumes, forced the sky away from the earth. Man appeared in
these clouds of steam or smoke. Perspiration burst forth as this man
forced his way through the heated atmosphere. From this perspiration
woman was formed. Then were born three sons, two of whom pushed up the
sky. One, in the north, pushed as far as his arms would reach. The one
in the south was short and climbed a hill, pushing as he went up, until
the sky was in its proper place.