352 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



Tara-dale. Previous to learning this I supposed Tara of the 

 dale had some relation to " the harp which hung in Tara's 

 halls." Can any of the members of our Institute explain the 

 origin of the place-name Tara-dale ? 



Kaweka, a word meaning " a mountain-range." Poranga- 

 hau, the name of an ancient pa, belonging to Tawheta, in 

 Hawaiki. 



Kuri-pa-pango, which you all have heard of, would seem a 

 very singular name. I suppose it " the dog with the litter of 

 black pups," the word " pa," in one sense, being " a litter of 

 pups." Marae-kakaho, " a court (or yard) fenced round with 

 toe reeds."* Tutae-kuri, Tutae-nui, Tutae-kara, are names 

 having an unsavoury meaning ; but at the same time let not 

 such words be exchanged for inexpressive names of European 

 origin, as has been the case elsewhere, for the original names 

 of places aid us in following the history and the thoughts of 

 the Maori people, whom we, in a measure, have robbed of 

 their right of occupation. Why alter them ? It is only the 

 student who is likely to consider their original meaning. 



Akt. XLII. — The Ceremony of Eahui : Part II. 

 By Taylor White. 



[Read before the Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute.] 



This paper is a further contribution to the study of the 

 custom of rahui as practised among the Polynesian and 

 other races of mankind so far as I am at present able to 

 follow it. My first essay on this subject is published in the 

 " Transactions of the New Zealand Institute," vol. xxviii., 

 p. 54. 



It is allowed by eminent ethnologists that the Polynesian 

 peoples are a race composed of the blending of two or more 

 types of mankind. We can trace the evidence of this even in 

 the general appearance of Maori people taken as a whole. 

 Some are of a fairly light complexion, tall, and having aquiline 

 features; others, of a dark skin, and hair inclined to curl, are 

 shorter in stature, but equally massive in build, and go to 

 prove a blending with a negrito people ; and occasionally a 



* This whaka-tauki, or proverb, partly illustrates the name : He ta- 

 kakaho ka kitea, tena-he ta no te ngakau e kore e kitea (" A crooked part 

 of a stem of toetoe can be seen, but a crooked part in the heart cannot be 

 seen "). Toetoe is a large grass, Arundo conspicua. 



