hence their secondary names of Whakamau-tai. When Hina-uri (the darkened moon) crossed the ocean to a far land she was taken to wife by Tinirau, son of Tangaroa.
A quaint old myth shows how Raumati (summer) mated with Raro, the lower world, their offspring being Puanga, Takurua, and Matariki (Rigel, Sirius, and the Pleiades).
Not only did certain stars mark the seasons, they were also believed to control them and to foretell the coming conditions of seasons. Hence, by noting the appearance of stars the Maori believed that he could foresee good and bad seasons. Ruaumoko of the underworld is said to bring about the change in the seasons, often marking such change with an earthquake. As one old sage remarked concerning the latter phenomenon: "It is the Earth Mother shaking her breasts, and a sign of the change of seasons." Fine calm summer weather is termed the Paki o Ruhi. When Raumati (summer) issues her commands to Rehua (Antares) he appears in hazy form, and heats and dries up the earth and vegetation, and renders man languid. Then man is heard to say, "Kua tau a Rehua kai raro" ("Rehua has alighted"), also "Kua tahu a Rehua" ("Rehua has kindled"). Rehua also directs the migration of whitebait, while Whanui (Vega) tells the Maori folk when to lift their crops.
Another old myth tells us that Day and Night begat Whakaahu and Oipiri (Pipiri), summer and winter, who were born in the vast realm of Watea (space). Both were females, and both were taken to wife by Rehua.
The following terms applied to seasons have been collected in divers quarters:—
| Tau kai | A good season, bounteous and fruitful. | |
| Tau horahora | ||
| Tau ruru | ||
| Tau wheunu | ||
| Tau hua | ||
| Tau hawere | ||
| Tau tukuroa | A lean, cold, or backward season. | |
| Tau kutao | ||
| Tau hiroki | ||
| Tau makato | ||
| Tau waiika | ||
| Tau wehe | ||
| Tau maro |
When a native was giving me a number of these season-names he commenced with the remark: "Ko nga ingoa o nga tau," &c.—the names of the seasons. Here he clearly employed the term tau as denoting a season, not a year, thus following the old Polynesian usage. The Paumotu Vocabulary gives the meaning of tau as "a period."
The word "Matiti," apparently a star-name, seems to have been employed to denote summer, much as Rehua and Whakaahu were. Whakaahu is probably Castor or Pollux. Williams states that "Five subdivisions of the season were indicated by the addition of certain terms: Matiti-tau; Matiti-hana; Matitikaiwai; Matiti-kai-paenga; Matiti-ruwai.
Matiti-tau commences some time in November, and Matiti-ruwai ends in April. In the narrative of Bligh's voyage to the
