White. — On the Ceremony of Eahui. 35S 



blonde type may be met with, having auburn hair. These 

 last are by tradition said to be of superior dash and 

 bravery in battle, and were called by the distinctive name 

 of " erukehu." The erukchu, or white Maori, would seem 

 to be ihe result of an occasional outcrop of the blood of a 

 pure light-complexioned people who have at one time been 

 absorbed, though not entirely lost, among the multitude of 

 the two darker races of the Polynesian blend. To which of 

 these original peoples we may look as the introducers of the 

 custom of raliui there is as yet no suflficient evidence ; but 

 perhaps by careful research this may be traced or connected 

 with the history of a people yet inhabiting one of the large 

 continents. 



The Moriori of the Chathams have less of the dark blood 

 outcropping, yet are said to have shown occasional specimens 

 of the erukehu type. To my thinking, they originally left 

 New Zealand on the arrival of the " Arawa," " Tainui," 

 and other canoes at this country, bringing the Maori — a 

 fiercer and more turbulent people — a race of cannibals, who 

 subdued or caused the migration of the milder - disposed 

 Moriori. But although the Moriori people had less trace 

 of negrito blood showing in their appearance, yet they give 

 historical evidence of the use of the custom of rahui, as will 

 be presently described in this paper. 



Whether the occasional mention by travellers of albino 

 Polynesians being seen refers to cases of true albinism or ta 

 the type erukehu we may well desire to obtain evidence upon. 

 Sir Joseph Banks, in his diary, in describing the Tahitians, at 

 page 128, says, " During our stay in these islands I saw some 

 — not more than five or six — who were a total exception to all 

 I have said above. They were whiter than we, but of a dead 

 colour, like that of the nose of a white horse. Their eyes, 

 hair, eyebrows, and beards were also white. They were uni- 

 versally short-sighted, and always looked unwholesome — the 

 skin scurfy and scaly, and the eye often full of rheum. As nO' 

 two of them had any connection with one another, I conclude 

 that the difference of colour, &c., was totally accidental, and 

 did not at all run in families." There is certainly no descrip- 

 tion of an erukehu here, but we may notice the evident mistake 

 *dn calling the eyes " white " in colour. 



Dr. Dieffenbach tells us of meeting an albino native in the 

 Eotorua district, and Mr. John Harding, Mount Vernon, Wai- 

 pukurau, tells me of one he saw in the early days of European 

 settlement at Wellmgton. I also remember hearing of an 

 albino native woman coming to Napier with other natives 

 travelling from the north some twenty years ago, and suppose 

 these are something quite distinct from tlie ruddy-haired 

 erukehu, and of an abnormal type or occurrence. 

 23 



