Page:Maori Division of Time.djvu/15

Rh When an uncultured folk adopted agriculture it would be found that a more careful division of time than that pertaining to savagery was necessary—that the recurring seasons must be noted more closely. In order to effect this, barbaric man has ever turned to the heavenly bodies for assistance, hence their connection with the art of agriculture. S. Baring Gould has written as follows: "The march of the sun in its annual revolution, and the phases of the moon, formed the rough distribution of time to a rude people. But those observations were incomplete and truncated, and resulted in the creation of a year of ten lunar months, of which five were summer and five were winter months. The number was increased to twelve when it was seen that certain groups of stars appeared and disappeared in fixed succession, and returned to the same situation above the horizon at the same periods." It may be added that the moon always seems to have been the first time-measurer with regard to the periods of the year and month, hence its great importance in the eyes of barbaric folk.

The tenth month of the Maori year would be represented by March, or March-April. It was often alluded to as the ngahuru—i.e., the tenth—and this term has come to be employed in a wider sense, as denoting the autumn season. It is quite possible that in remote times the Polynesian folk had the institution of the ten-months year. In White's Ancient History of the Maori, vol. 3, occurs mention of a singular tradition concerning one Wharepatari, who seems to have made known the twelve-months year. He produced a staff or stave on which were twelve marks to denote the twelve months. Clearly the tradition, as preserved by Mr. White, is but a fragment; equally as clear is the fact that it is an old astronomical myth.

This Whare-patari went to visit a people named Ruaroa, who were famous for their knowledge. They asked him, "How many months are there in the year, according to your knowledge?" He then showed them the rod having the twelve marks on it. Quoth the Ruaroa folk, "We are in error. We have but ten months. Are we wrong in lifting our crops of kumara (sweet potato) in the eighth month?" Said Whare-patari, "You are wrong. Leave them until the tenth month. Know you not that there are two odd feathers in a bird's tail; likewise are there two odd months of the year" (i.e., over and above ten). After that the crops of the Ruaroa folk were not lifted until the tenth month, when they found that the product was much superior in quality.

The above tradition, evidently much older than the Maori occupation of New Zealand, looks very much like a dim remembrance of a former ten-months year. As to the remark concerning twelve feathers in a bird's tail, the Maori maintains that there are twelve feathers in the tail of the huia, and twelve in the bunch of white feathers of a parson-bird, his "choker." As to the Ruaroa, or offspring of Ruaroa, can this name be connected with the name of the December solstice, ruaroa, as given by Fornander?

This latter writer, in The Polynesian Race, states that "There is evidence that the Marquesans at one time counted the year by ten lunar months, and called it Puni, a circle, a round, a revolution;