is still retained, the god Ndengei, according to some traditions, is represented with the head of a serpent and part of the body of a serpent, the rest of his form being stone."
Of some one of the feline animals they have retained a recollection; whether referring to the tiger of India or the Malayan Peninsula, or to some other animal of that family, is doubtful. In the story of the snaring and killing of Matuku, a man-destroying monster, it is stated that the urine of the animal is very hurtful. This is characteristic of feline animals, but applies to none that the Polynesians could have met in the Pacific.
The alligator has given rise to innumerable stories. The Maoris have probably some hundreds of them, all relating to adventures connected with and the slaying of them; but, as so often happens, the tales have become localized. The name given them is taniwha, or ngarara, or moko-roa, and the description of them is exactly that of the alligator, with fierce jaws, spiny backs, and powerful tails.
It is natural to suppose that if the Polynesians once dwelt in Indonesia, they would retain some recollection of the orang-utan, or other monkeys of those parts. In the story of the voyager Tura (in which occurs the name Wawau, which has been shown to be somewhere in Indonesia), he is said to have married a woman of the Aitanga-a-nuku-mai-tore people, who knew not the art of fire-making, and "lived in trees on the wharawhara (Astelia plant) and kiekie (Freycinetia plant). In form their chests and waists were large, and their heads were small. They were not human beings."[1] The wharawhara here is no doubt the pandanus, the ordinary name for which is fara, fala, hara, ara, according to the dialect. The people whom
- ↑ "Ancient History of the Maori," J. White, Vol. II., p. 9.
