Yet the word Atua denotes gods who are recognised as ghosts of chiefs, no less than it denotes the supreme existence.
In practice, the conception of Atua (or a kind of extra-natural power or powers) possesses much influence in New Zealand.
Any novel object, any object beyond the intelligence of the Maories, they convert into an Atua.
The word which the Maoris applied to a god, whether a personification of nature or the spirit of a dead ancestor, was atua.
