502 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



name a plant poroporo ; its fruits are gamboge-yellow : they 

 also call a dog peropcro : and the similar colour of a clog 

 ■which he had seen might be one reason for the coupling-to- 

 gether of peropero and poroporo. And again (another sample), 

 " Some Maori told me the native name of the land known as 

 Glenshee* [sic] was Kuripaka = the home or place of the 

 brown dog." (Paper, p. 555.) Did any one ever hear of such 

 far-fetched absolute nonsense ? — reminding me strongly of 

 that of another writer on Maori things, who (though a scholar, 

 yet not knowing the Maori language thoroughly) made simi- 

 lar blunders in Maori matters re " the flowers " and " the fish 

 of Hades," &c. One might as well speak of the affinity be- 

 tween " dog " and " dock," or " cat " and " cart," because of 

 some of their letters being in both words. 



Mr. White has very much yet to learn concerning our 

 ancient Maori dog; also the Maori rat. I assure him he has 

 never seen either ; and I may also add, he never will. Con- 

 cerning both he says, " Note that after New Zealand had 

 been occupied by Europeans for fifty years or more the More, 

 or native rat (Mus maorium) [sic] , which was said all that 

 time to be extinct, is now proved to exist both in the North 

 and South Islands of New Zealand, and possibly two distinct 

 species. . . . The fact is, a rat is just a rat, and nothing 

 more, to the casual observer. And with the supposed extinct 

 hurt it is probably the same. Having now proved beyond 

 doubt [sic] that we have the original rat living side by side 

 with the imported Norway rat, there is every encouragement 

 to observe and search diligently in expectation of finding in a 

 supposed Maori cur a pure descendant of the original huri." 

 (Paper, p. 554.) 



"Casual observer," forsooth! Surely the many noted 

 men of science who visited New Zealand early in this century 

 (from Captain Duperrey in 1822 to the Antarctic Expedition in 

 1841), and who were all indefatigably on the qui vive as 

 zoological and botanical collectors, were something more than 

 " casual observers," particularly in the matter of the domestic 

 dog and the frugivorous rat, then great desiderata. The offi- 

 cers of the many Government discovery and surveying ships, 

 English, French, and American, sojourning and wintering in 

 our harbours ; the two brothers Cunningham — who resided 



* I take Glenshec to be the new modern name of Mr. White's own 

 place. Now, supposing the Maori mentioned by him had asked the 

 meaning of " Glenshee " (phonetically rendered in Maori " Kenehi"), what 

 satisfactory answer could Mr. White have given? Indeed, following out 

 Mr. White's scheme of etymology, the Maori might, and probably would, 

 have said, "Kenehi ! Why, that is the name in our Maori Bible of the 

 first book of Moses — Kenehi = Genesis. Is such your meaning ? Is this 

 place of yours so named from that ? " &c. 



