Tawhiti.

This name, under various forms according to the dialect in which it is found, is also a very ancient one, and like Hawaiki, has been applied to various lands occupied by the race. We have seen (page 47) that under the form Tawhiti-nui (or great Tawhiti) it was given to a mountain in the Paparoa-i-Hawaiki. This is probably the most distant locality in which it is found, so far as Maori history is concerned. I do not know if the name occurs in page 51Indonesia. The next place we find it is as a name for the Fiji group, the proper spelling of which is Viti; under Viti-levu, it is the name for the second in size of the islands of that group. Coming to Samoa we find the name as Tafiti, or Tafiti-a-pa'au (the winged Fiji) a name given to the Fiji group. In the name of Tahiti Island it again occurs. In the Hawaiian traditions it is found as Kahiki (or, as it was originally Tahiti) which appears to be used both for Tahiti Island and for all the parts of central Polynesia known to the Hawaiians, i.e., from Fiji to the Marquesas, and some far more ancient place of that name, as in Kahiki-tu and Kahiki-moe (East and West Kahiki) which Fornander thinks are countries far in the west of Indonesia.

The Maoris of the East Coast have a saying which embodies in a brief form, the stages of their migrations, e.g., they came from Tawhiti-nui, to Tawhiti-roa to Tawhiti-pa-mamao, to Hono-i-wairua, thence to New Zealand. It is difficult to locate these places, but they probably include Fiji and Tahiti, in both of which groups the ancestors of the Maori once dwelt. We next come to the name Tumuaki-o-Whiti (or Hiti) which is an expression used in the sacred chants of the Maoris and Morioris Meaning the "Crown, or summit of Whiti"—Whiti being the same word as Tawhiti, for the ta is but a prefix. This expression is found in the karakias for the dead, where the spirits of the departed are sent off to Timmaki-o-Whiti. It is a kupu nui, or word of great significance, having connection with their most sacred ceremonies; therefore, if Tawhiti-nui is a mountain in Hawaiki as has been said on a previous page, it would seem that this expression has reference to the summit of that mountain, to which the spirits of the dead went, and consequently would refer to some sacred mountain in the page 52original Father-land. In a Moriori karakia, speeding the parting spirit on its way, we find it directed to the Tupuaki-o-Hiti,^* to Hui-te-rangiora,^† and it is well-known that the latter name is an expression for Paradise, the place of departed spirits, and synonymous with Father-land.

Altogether then, it seems reasonable to suppose that Tawhiti-nui, was a name for some part of the ancient Father-land; and that like Hawaiki it has been applied frequently to stages in the migrations of the race.

To those who have the means of following out the course of reasoning herein adopted in the identification of these ancient homes of the Polynesians, I would make the following suggestion as a possible confirmation regarding Tawhiti-nui as a sacred mountain in India. It is well-known to all Polynesian scholars that Miru is the goddess of Hades, or the "Po," the place where departed spirits, all go before arriving at Hui-te-rangiora, or Paradise. Now it may be that Miru = Meru,^‡ or Mount Meru in India "the high Kailasa, the heaven of the Sivaites, the first great mountain (deity) of India * * * According to the Kishnu Puranā, the ocean fell on this Meru, and coursing down it, and four times round it, formed the four rivers of Paradise."^§ It has always been stated that the Maori account of the Deluge is connected with the river Tohinga which is said to be in Hawaiki. Can there be any connection between the Puranā and Maori accounts? and can the name of the goddess have become applied to page 53the mountain? Again, the name Tohinga means the act or time of Baptism or cleansing according to Maori rites. Can this name be connected with the sacred Granges, in which to this day devout Hindus bathe to cleanse them of their sins?