o 



526 Proceedings. 



the matter were put to him in the proper way. With regard to the cTouhts 

 which had been tlirown on the value of Maori traditions, a study of the 

 language and history of the race extending over a period of thirty years 

 had convinced the speaker that, with some allowances, they were very 

 reliable, a fact which was proved by the slight divergences in the same 

 traditions as gathered from tribes inhabiting the extreme ends of the 

 islands, and which had been separated from one another for many 

 generations without any communication. He thought that it required 

 an intimate knowledge of the language and people to be able to decide on 

 this question. Korotangi was one of the three peculiar articles in the pos- 

 session of the Maoris which, if their origin could be cleared up, would 

 also throw a flood of light on Maori history. The other two were the 

 Tamil bell,* in ilr. Golenso's possession, and the stone " kumara god," 

 in the Auckland Art Gallery. He hoped the Council would take steps to 

 clear up the doubts which at present seemed to exist with regard to this 

 matter before it was too late. 



Jlr. Travers said, if the bird was meant to reTpycscnt Prion vittatKS, as 

 had been suggested, then the image must have been made south of the line, 

 and not lower in latitude than about 40^ south, because that bird was very 

 rarely found north of that parallel, and therefore the carver of the bird 

 could not have seen it if he lived either north of the line or within tro- 

 pical areas. ]\Ir. Walker was not likely to admit anything now, if he was 

 guilty of misrepi'esentation in the first instance. He thought, with IMajor 

 Gudgeon, that the proper course was to uiake inquiries of the natives and 

 others as to how the image was lost sight of, and so forth. Major 

 Gudgeon would no doubt, assist in this. It was easy to make Maori 

 stories fit in with what it was desired to prove, especially in regard to old 

 traditions. 



The President said that if the Korotangi was genuine there should be 

 no difficulty in tracing the persons who found it. Referring to Major 

 Gudgeon's remarks on the translation of luaiatas. Mr. Brandon called 

 attention to the two translations of tiie same song, by Mr. C. 0. Davis 

 and Archdeacon ]Maunscll respectively, which were in ^lajor Wilson's 

 paper. 



Sir J. Hector thought this discussion proved that the Governors 

 had acted prudently in deferring the publication of the Korotangi paper 

 until reliable information could be obtained concerning it. 



"Sir. Tregear, in reply, said that he considered Sir. IMaskell's sugges- 

 tion, in regard to communications being opened with the Governments of 

 Holland and Portugal, was a very valuable one. Now that the jealousy 

 had passed away which a few centuries ago was rife concerning dis- 

 coveries and explorations of new countries, it was very possible that 

 information of a valuable character in a geographical sense might be 

 brought to light if access could be obtained to national archives. He 

 did not think much good would result from the other inquiries pro- 

 posed. Mr. Albert Walker was, he believed, roaming somewhere in the 

 South Seas, and, even if applied to, would be scarcely likely to acknow- 

 ledge having perpetrated a fraud. Rewi had already expressed his belief 

 in the relic ; and !Mrs. Wilson (whose death had been imputed to witch- 

 craft from the possession of the bird) was Rewi's niece. He disagreed 

 with Mr. !Maskell (as he always did on this particular point) as to the 

 worth of the native traditions, and would go further than Mr. Percy Smith 

 in his evidence as to the legends being common from the northernmost 

 to the southernmost points of New Zealand, by saying that the Maori 

 traditions were known from the most eastern island of Polynesia to the 

 most western, although language, customs, worship, &c., had infinitely 

 changed. Thus, any tradition in which the Korotangi was mentioned 



Transactions," vol. iv., p. 40, pi. iia. 



