───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── PAGE _Chap. i._—Primitive Religion and Mythology. Aryans and 1 Polynesians _Chap. ii._—Maori Cosmogony and Mythology 10 _Chap. iii._—Religious Rites of the Maori 25 _Chap. iv._ „ „ „ 38 _Chap. v._—The Maori Chief of Olden Time 51 _Chap. vi._—Claiming and Naming Land 68 _Chap. vii._—The Maori Land Tenure 88 ————— APPENDIX. Terms of _Maori_ Relationship 106 Explanation of some _Maori_ words occurring in 107 following pages Karakia Maori 109 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ERRATA ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── p. 8 for “Pendora” read “Pandora.” p. 21 „ “Herekeke” „ “Harakeke.” p. 11 „ “Whananga” „ “Wananga.” p. 24 „ „ „ „ p. 28 „ “manumea” „ “Manumea.” p. 90 „ “and” „ “land.” p. 96 „ “conquerers” „ “conquerors.” ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── PRIMITIVE RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY. CHAPTER I. ARYANS AND POLYNESIANS. Νόμιζε σαυτῷ τοὺς γονεῖς εἶναι Θεούς. The religious feeling may be traced to the natural veneration of the child for the parent, joined to an innate belief in the immortality of the soul. What we know of the primitive religion of Aryans and Polynesians points to this source. They both venerated the spirits of deceased ancestors, believing that these spirits took an interest in their living descendants: moreover, they feared them, and were careful to observe the precepts handed down by tradition, as having been delivered by them while alive. The souls of men deified by death were by the Latins called “Lares” or “Mânes,” by the Greeks “Demons” or “Heroes.” Their tombs were the temples of these divinities, and bore the inscription “Dîs manibus,” “Θεοῖς χθονίοις;” and before the tomb was an altar for sacrifice. The term used by the Greeks and Romans to signify the worship of the dead is significant. The former used the word “πατριάζειν,” the latter “parentare,” showing that the prayers were addressed to forefathers. “I prevail over my enemies,” says the Brahmin, “by the incantations which my ancestors and my father have handed down to me.”¹