g against the sacred law of taboo and
incurring the wrath of the ancestral spirits, who for such a
transgression might punish the sinner with sickness or death.[82]

[82] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New
Zealanders_, pp. 82 _sq._; _id._, _The Southern Districts of New
Zealand_, pp. 296 _sq._

In addition to their deified ancestors, who had lived as men of flesh
and blood on earth, the Maoris believed in certain great primaeval
deities, who had existed before the human race came into being, and
whose doings were the theme of many mythical stories. These mighty
beings appear to have been personifications of the various forces or
elements of nature, such as the sky and the earth. But though fancy wove
round them a glistering web of myth and fable, they were apparently
believed to stand aloof in cold abstraction from human affairs and to
take no interest in the present race of men. The practical religion of
the Maori was concentrated on the souls of his deceased kinsfolk and
forefathers: "neither in any existing superstition nor tradition, purely
such, is there to be found internal evidence that an idea of God existed
more exalted than that of the spirit of a dead ancestor."[83]

[83] E. Shortland, _Traditions and Superstitions of the New
Zealanders_, p. 80. Compare _id._, _Traditions and Superstitions
of the New Zealanders_, p. 81; _id._, _The Southern Districts of
New Zealand_, p. 294; _id._, _Maori Religion and Mythology_, pp.
10 _sq._ In Maori mythology Rangi is the personification of the
sky, and Papa of earth. They were the primal parents, and the
other great gods were their offspring. See Elsdon Best, "The
Maori Genius for Personification," _Transactions of the New
Zealand Institute_, liii. (1921) p. 2. Among the great
primordial deities who were worshipped by all tribes of New
Zealand may be mentioned Tane, Tu, Tangaroa, and Rongo. Of the
four, Tane was the origin and tutelary deity of forests and
birds: no tree might be felled and no bird caught till certain
rites had been performed to placate him. Tu was the god of war.
Tangaroa was the god of the ocean, the origin and tutelary deity
of fish. Rongo was the god of peace, and presided over
agriculture. See Elsdon Best, "Maori Religion," _Report of the
Twelfth Meeting of the Australasian Association for the
Advancement of Science, held at Brisbane, 1909_,