Page:Hawaiki The Original Home of the Maori.djvu/51

Rh universality of this name points to the fact that it is extremely ancient and that it was under that form the Fatherland was originally known. With many branches, it has now become synonymous with "Spirit-land:" the place to which the spirits of the dead pass as their final resting-place. In some parts it is said to be the "under world;" that is, beneath the present world of life. But here, I think, a confusion of terms has arisen in the use of the word raro, lalo, 'a'o which means below, but also means the west with all Central Polynesians. The very nature of the beliefs of the race as to the path of the spirit to its final home, encourages this confusion between the two meanings of the word. In all cases the spirit, whilst always passing to the westward, is said to go downwards, i.e., to dive into the sea, and then pass along to the sunset. It is in this manner that Hawaiki has come to be used for the place of departed spirits located underneath the earth. This latter meaning has been so firmly established in the minds of some collectors of traditions, that its original meaning has been by them overlooked; notably in the case of the late Rev. W. Wyatt Gill, to whom all Polynesian scholars owe a great debt of gratitude for his exertions in preserving the traditions of the race.

The universal belief in the passing of the spirits of the dead to the west, is to my mind a complete answer to those who hold that the Polynesian migrations were from the east. It is an essential part of Polynesian belief that the spirits rejoin those of the ancient dead and there dwell in a land of beauty and plenty, where the gods supply every want, and with whom communication is constant. The Polynesians would not locate this Paradise in the west, if their ancestral home was in the east. Whilst this appears to me unquestionable, it is undeniable that apparent traces of Polynesian influences are to be found on the coasts of