BhYTR.—On ''The Whenct of the Maori." 616 



illustration by Mr. Frankland and others will serve to show this. 

 That illustration is as follows : — Vertical lines on the earth's 

 surface were once thought to be parallel ; they are now almost 

 universally considered to be inclined to one another. This is a 

 purely physical question, not in pari materia with the present. 

 Geometry, as a science of concepts, gives standards to which we 

 may refer physical facts ; among its standards are the plane and 

 the sphere ; formerly, it was thouglat that the surface of the 

 earth was nearly a plane ; it is now known that it more nearly 

 approaches the sphere, and still more nearly the spheroid. But 

 no standard, no concept of geometry, has been altered by this 

 correction of our physical ideas. 



One word more. If the concepts of Euclidian geometry were 

 useless as standards to which to refer actual physical facts, 

 Euclidian geometry would have to go ; or if any other geometry 

 gave equally valuable standards, it would have to be admitted 

 by the side of the Euclidian. Otherwise, it must be rejected, 

 however pretty it may be as a playground of the imagination. 



Art. LXIX.— Ou '* The Whence of the Maori:' 

 By W. H. Blyth. 



[Read before the Auckland Institute, lith November, 1886.] 



It is with considerable diffidence I venture to bring the following 

 results of an inquiry into the interesting subject of " The 

 Whence of the Maori " before the Institute. In the first place, 

 because several scientific men, far more capable of dealing with 

 the question than I, have discussed it ; and their researches have 

 been embodied from time to time in the " Transactions " of the 

 Institute : a fact that in itself endorses their value. In the second 

 place, not being an expert in Maori lore, I shall doubtless merit, 

 by my temerity, the critical displeasure of such authorities as 

 Mr. Colenso, who, more than once, has shown in the pages of the 

 " Transactions" some impatience at what he terms the "never- 

 resting spirit of conjecture" in matters Maori. Yet, why this 

 impatience? Why should conjecture rest? Conjecture, if it 

 lead to nothing, cures itself. Conjecture is a symptom that the 

 imagination is not stagnant ; and the imagination, when scien- 

 tifically controlled, is the great desideratum that has led to the 

 most brilliant discoveries. It may be that the imagination of 

 the specialist will be found just too much loaded with techni- 

 calities to render that kind of service ou this question ; though 



