S. p. Smith. — Tongare^va, or Penrhyn Island. 89 



has hero again found a local habitation, mixed up with the 

 relation of what, no doubt, is the true history of the first j^pu- 

 lation of the island of Manihiki. This is, no doubt, evidence of 

 the antiquity of the myth, and shows that it was common to 

 all the Polynesians before the great dispersion of the race 

 which appears to have taken place from twenty-two to 

 twenty-eight generations ago. It will be noticed that Iku — 

 or Hiku, as it would be with our Maoris — returned to Earo- 

 tonga after his struggle with Maui— a voyage of over six 

 hundred miles — reminding us of the voyages of Kupe and of 

 Ngahue to New Zealand when they r<3discovered this country, 

 and who on their return informed the subsequent immigrants 

 of its existence and suitability as a home for them. To those 

 who have not given much consideration to the question it 

 would almost seem impossible that the Polynesians should 

 have been able to make such extensive voyages as they evi- 

 dently were in the habit of doing. But the double canoe, or 

 amatiatia, which was conmionly used, was a craft capable of 

 withstanding very rough weather, and with a considerable 

 capacity of stowage for provisions.* The number of voyages 

 of over a thousand miles in length, now on record, are so 

 numerous and so well authenticated that there is no room left 

 for doubt as to the sea-going qualities of their canoes. Want of 

 w^ater would be one of the great difiiculties they would have to 

 contend with on these extended voyages; but with a large sup- 

 ply of cocoanuts they would be able to overcome this difficulty 

 and traverse a considerable breadth of ocean. I believe there 

 was a time in the history of the race when they constantly tra- 

 versed the central parts of the Pacific Ocean, guiding themselves 

 by the regular roll of the waves driven before the trade-winds 

 in the day-time, and by the stars at night. Judging by the 

 traditions of the race in various islands, the active period of 

 these voyages closed some twenty-two to twenty-eight genera- 

 tions ago, at which time there appears to have been some 

 cause at work tending to a general dispersion of the people ; 

 but what this cause was we have not the means of knowing, 

 beyond the traditionary accounts which assign wars as the 

 origin of the movement. We can only account for the fact of 

 nearly every little island in the Pacific either having, or having 

 had, a population, by the ability of the people to traverse great 

 breadths of sea. The knowledge that the Maori has of so 

 many of the islands scattered far and wide across the wide 

 expanse of the Pacific can only be understood in this manner. 

 It is generally known that the Maori traces his origin to 

 Hawaiki, which has been identified with various groups of 



* See the Eev. W. Wyatt Gill's " Savage Life in Polynesia," chap, 

 xviii., for a description of the starting of an expedition of this nature. 



