d invisible world. If fire burns, it is
because latent flame was hidden in wood by the god Mauike in Hades. If
the axe cleaves, it is because the fairy of the axe is present unseen in
the blade. If the ironwood club kills its man, it is because a fierce
demon from Tonga lives in the weapon.[61]

[61] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p.
154.

The old high-road to the spirit-land used to start from a place called
Aremauku, on a cliff overhanging the western ocean. By this road a
regular communication was formerly kept up with the infernal regions. It
was by this route, for example, that the hero Maui descended in ancient
days to the home of the fire-god Mauike and brought up fire for the use
of men. However, the denizens of spirit-land in time grew very
troublesome by constantly coming up and afflicting mankind with disease
and death; they also created a dearth by stealing people's food, and
they even ravished their wives. To put an end to these perpetual
annoyances a brave and beautiful woman, Tiki by name, rolled herself
alive down into the gloomy chasm which led to the infernal world. The
yawning abyss closed on her, and there has been no thoroughfare ever
since. The spirits have not been able to come up from Avaiki by that
road, and the souls of the dead have been equally unable to go down by
it; they are now obliged to descend by a different route.[62]

[62] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp.
154 _sq._

After their departure from the body the spirits of the dead wandered
disconsolately along the seashore, picking their steps painfully among
the sharp spikes of the coral and stumbling over the bindweed and thick
vines which caught their feet. The fragrant smell of the heliotrope,
which grows luxuriantly among these barren and rugged rocks, afforded
them a little relief, and they wore a red creeper, like a turban, round
their heads; the rest of their costume was a miscellaneous collection of
weeds which they had picked up in the course of their wanderings. Twice
a year, at the summer and winter solstices, they mustered to follow the
setting sun down into the under world. They gathered at the two points
of the island which face towards the rising of the sun at these two
seasons of the year. At the summer solstice, in January, he seems to
rise out of the sea opposite to Ana-Kura, that is, the Red Cave, so
called because it receives the red rays of the mornin