Best. — Maori and Maruiwi. 



437 



folk at one time lived at Te Waimana, in their territory. Another tradition 

 of much interest has been preserved by the Ngati-Awa people of the Bay 

 of Plenty, to the efiect that about five hundred or more years ago a 

 canoe reached Whakatane with a number of black-skinned people on board. 

 Presumably these were waifs from some island of Melanesia — possibly 

 Fiji or the New Hebrides, or even New Caledonia, where the natives used 

 double canoes. Forster's description of the natives of Malekula, as seen 

 during Cook's second voyage, reminds us of the Maruiwi of Maori tradition. 

 He remarks, " They were all remarkably slender, and in general did 

 not exceed 5 ft. 4 in. in height. Their limbs were often indifferently 

 proportioned, their legs and arms long and slim, their colour a blackish- 

 brown, and their hair black, frizzled, and woolly. . . . They had the 

 flat broad nose and projecting cheek-bones of a negro, and a very short 

 forehead. ... All went stark naked. . . . Their ugly features and 

 their black colour often provoked us to make an ill-natured comparison 

 between them and monkeys." 



Forster remarks on the superiority of the natives of the adjacent isles 

 of Tana, &c. One of these, Futuna, we know to be inhabited by people 

 speaking a dialect of the far-spread Maori tongue. 



The evidence of language has now to be considered, as also that of a less 

 direct nature regarding the culture of the aborigines. Of the language of 

 the aborigines we know very little. We have some place, tribal, and 

 personal names preserved in tradition which are said to have pertained to 

 the aborigines. These names are undoubtedly Maori, or, at least, Poly- 

 nesian; and if preserved in their correct form, then these Maruiwi must 

 have spoken a tongue closely allied to the Maori dialect of the Polynesian 

 language. Among these names are the following : — 



Te Tini o Tai-tawaro 



Te Pananehu 



Te Tini o Rua-tamore 



Te Tini o Te Wiwini 



Maruiwi 



Pohokura 



Matakana 



Reretua 



Orotu 



Poa-tau-tahanga / 



It is plainly seen that these names are Maori in form and sound; and 

 if original personal names, then the bearers thereof must have been a 

 Maori-speaking people. Here we have something approaching a paradox, 

 for if the physical appearance and culture of Maruiwi were such as de- 

 scribed in tradition it is most improbable that they spoke a purely 

 Polynesian tongue, no Polynesians answering to such a description. 



In addition to the names given above we have a few words of the 

 Maruiwi tongue also preserved : — 



Names of tribes. 



"Names of persons. 



