T. H. Smith.— Ou Maori Proccrbs. Ill 



membrance of- sucii a scene ^vhen accompanied by a friend, 

 and makes the remark "that probably liis dogs would stand 

 too near the ground to throw a shadow." 



He omits to satisfy me as to whether he could see the 

 shadow of his friend contiguous to his own. 



The place he speaks of was some miles distant from where 

 I locate my position. 



Art. XIII. — On Maori Proverbs. 



By Judge T. H. Smith. 



[Read before the Auckland Institute, 11th November, 1889.] 



At the request of the worthy Secretary of this Institute, I 

 have undertaken to put together a few notes upon a subject 

 which has interested me in years gone by, and which may 

 possess an interest for some of my present audience. I refer 

 to proverbs in use among the Maoris. 



When my promise was given I was not aware that the 

 field over which I purposed to range had been already har- 

 vested, and I might almost say gleaned, by a more able hand 

 than mine. I refer to a paper by Mr. Win. Colenso, of Napier, 

 read before the Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute on the 9th 

 June, 1879, headed " Contributions towards a Better Know- 

 ledge of the Maori Race," and printed in vol. xii. of " Transac- 

 tions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute." 



After reading this carefully-prepared and valuable paper, I 

 felt that I could add very little to the iiifonnatiou it contains. 

 Mr. Colenso gives a list of 235 Maori proverbs, out of a col- 

 lection of some 1,200 or 1,400, with most of wliich I am fami- 

 liar, and he adds renderings into English and explanations of 

 meaning with which (with a few exceptions) I agree. 



It was never my intention, however, to attempt the pre- 

 paration of a list of Maori proverbs — a task which Mr. Colenso 

 has undertaken, and performed so creditably ; but it has 

 occurred to me that a comparison of some of them with those 

 in use among other races would prove an interesting study. 

 To attempt such a comparison within the limits of this paper 

 would, of course, be futile. I merely throw out the sugges- 

 tion. It has struck me, however, as a noteworthy, if not a 

 remarkable, fact that a people like the Maori, separated from 

 the rest of the world for many generations, with life-expe- 

 riences and surroundings differing so widely from those of 

 other nations, should yet have arrived at the same conclu- 

 sions, entertained the same views, and given expression to the 

 same sentiments with reference to human experiences in 



