We now come to the second grade of Maori gods, such as presided over certain industries, arts, natural productions, &c., which gods occupy a very important position in the Maori pantheon. These departmental gods were really the highest deities known to the ordinary people. A fact that must be borne in mind is that these superior beings were viewed by the Maori in a peculiar light. They were not ordinary atua, but partook of the character of tutelary beings, or originating powers, and of personifications. They occupy a different plane to that of the gods of the third and fourth classes. Each of these beings presided over his own department, but other page 162and inferior beings also entered into the activities of such department. This curious aspect has already been referred to. The superior being is the controller of his special field, but may not be an active agent or participant in any function or enterprise that is being carried on. His mana (prestige, power) and tapu affect and pervade all such activities; they are necessary, effective, and, above all, must be respected, and yet the ritual formulae employed may not be directed to that chief being, but to some atua of inferior status.

Winwood Reade tells us that savage man believed in a multiplicity of supernatural beings—"gods," as most writers glibly term them, though the name is often a misleading one. He states that as they become more and more capable of general ideas, of classing facts into systems, and of arranging phenomena into groups, they instituted departmental gods. The passages referred to read as though other minor gods were abandoned when the concept of departmental deities was evolved. This, however, is not so. The institution of such major gods does not mean the abolishment of minor supernatural beings. Thus we see, among the Maori folk, such beings as our classes C and D represent, not only co-existent with departmental gods, but also taking part in the affairs of such department. Moreover, besides these minor atua, we must also admit the existence of innumerable evil spirits, and beneficent, or, rather, harmless spirits—spirits indwelling in natural objects, personifications, a teeming host of sentient, invisible beings. It is assuredly an axiomatic truth that the lower we descend in the scale of subnormal beings the more numerous do they become.

Our departmental gods under discussion are anthropomorphic beings, endowed with certain human qualities. This may be viewed as a natural sequence, a fact that often we do not recognize. Writers, in dealing with the gods of peoples of the lower culture stages often speak disparagingly of their anthropomorphic concepts; but in what other form do we, or can we, conceive a supernormal being? The God of Christianity is unquestionably viewed as a being in human form, and, in the Old Testament, Jehovah is endowed with human passions and vindictiveness. No mind can continually think of God as a pure abstraction; to really conceive such a concept, even for a brief period, calls for the exercise of intense introspective thought.

In his work New Zealand and its Aborigines William Brown writes concerning the gods of the Maori: "Their atua are all evil disposed, and the natives have no good deity." Now, this is all very well from one point of view, but we should recognize the fact that such gods are 'evil disposed' or, rather, hostile to man when he has page 163merited such hostility, and that at other times the being was by no means evilly disposed towards man, but protected and assisted him. Certainly another condition might arise, as in warfare, or the exercise of black magic, wherein the services of an atua might be employed in order to slay enemies who had not transgressed any rules, or offended such being. But then enemies would be outside the commune, and no laws, rules, or codes of ethics extend outside the tribal bounds.

In many lands and in many ways has man sought to account for the existence of evil. Why should God, or the gods, countenance evil? This has been a vexed question for many centuries, and still is to many people. We have seen how the Maori accounts for the origin of evil; it is represented by one of the three baskets of knowledge obtained by Tane from the Supreme Being. In this case evil is deliberately given to man by a Being who is said to have no connection with evil—a creative, moral God, who will assist or countenance no evil acts. One can only suppose that man was deliberately placed in the position of choosing for himself good or evil: each person must decide for himself. Even so did the scholars in the old school of learning of the Maori choose the subjects they desired to learn, whether the contents of the basket of good or that of evil.

I feel strongly inclined to question the correctness of Lubbock's statement concerning the gods of the lower savages—that they are evil, not good; that they neither reward the good nor punish the evil. Inasmuch, however, as the Maori is not a "lower savage," and I do not pretend to know any other native race, I will hold my peace.

In his little work on Animism Clodd has a passage to the effect that the good gods of savages abide in their own place and take no heed of mankind, "while the malevolent deities are in a constant state of jealous and mischievous activity." There is much truth in this, but not all the truth. For instance, with the Maori, Io was certainly invoked, and his help was considered the most important, though such appeals were made only by a limited class. The lower gods, again, are not always hostile, but only when they have been offended by neglect or by transgression of tapu. Doubtless other native races will be found to resemble the Maori in these respects, but we have not searched deep enough in most cases to enable us to give precise information.

The really evil god of the Maori pantheon is Whiro, for he is the god—or, rather, personification—of evil. In this case we have a god who is always active for evil—in fact, a malevolent being page 164is called an atua whiro (evil god), so that the word has come to be used as an adjective, meaning "evil," in vernacular speech. Here the origin of the evil of the world is concentrated in Whiro; but such evil pertains to sickness, death, &c., more than to moral evil, though the latter seems to be included, for an immoral person is described as a whiro. Tylor tells us that "It is certain that even among rude savage hordes native thought has already turned toward the deep problem of good and evil. Their crude though earnest speculation has already tried to solve the great mystery which still resists the efforts of moralists and theologians." This thoughtful and able writer calls for information concerning any evidence collected from native races as to their anticipation of the doctrines of higher nations in the matter of the conduct of the universe by personified forms of good and evil. He seems to have believed that such unelaborated beliefs are found among the lower races, such beliefs as produced Zoroastrianism. Had he but known the half-evolved concepts of the Maori he would have recognized their great interest and the important evidence they supply in regard to the evolution of that religious system. Such dualistic conceptions are of the highest interest.

It must be admitted that Whiro, the personified form of evil, was frequently propitiated by the natives, by means of small gifts, usually of foodstuffs, whereas no offerings were made to Io. But Whiro was known to all, and was more active than the Supreme Being; while the latter was known to a few only, and was far too tapu and important to receive offerings. There was no necessity for any offerings to Io, for he worked no harm to any person, he punished no one—there was no need to propitiate him.

In his work Te Ika a Maui the Rev. R. Taylor remarks: "The Maori gods were demons whose evil designs could only be counteracted by powerful spells and charms; these proving effectual, sacrifices and offerings were made to soothe the vanquished spirits and appease their wrath." This statement leaves a false impression—that these gods were always endeavouring to injure man whether he deserved punishment or not. This is error. In most cases such formulae were recited in order to placate the gods and obtain their assistance in regard to some coming enterprise. Offerings, again, were made to the gods more to prevent wrath than to appease it.