DowNES. — New Light on Period of Extinction of the Moa. 431 



Table III. 



Toi 



I 

 Oho 



I 

 Tipua-ki-rua-rangi 



I 

 Puhi 



I 

 Rere 



Tata 



Maika 



Ira-manawa-piko 



Tamatea-nui 



Tamatea-roa 



Tamatea-mai-tawhiti 



I 

 Muri-wlienua 



Tamatea-pokai-whenua 

 (ot " Takitimu " canoe — 1350). 



Owing to tribal variations in many of these ancient genealogies it is 

 somewhat difficult to arrive at a satisfactory solution of Tulioto-ariki's 

 period. In Table I this well-known (to the Maori) tokunga is situated 

 about one generation after Tamatea, or the period usually spoken of as 

 " the time of the fleet " (a.d. 1350). It is now generally agreed that 

 Wliatonga and Tara flourished some considerable time before the " coming 

 of the fleet " ; and, if that is so, Tuhoto-ariki may have been earlier, but he 

 could not well have been later. 



In Table II we have Tuhoto-ariki placed about four generations before 

 the " fleet " period, but in considering this we have the difficulty of Tama- 

 tea being mentioned in the song. Now, it is Tamatea-pokai-whenua, the 

 navigator, who is usually credited with the destruction of the moa by his 

 sacred fire, but if we accept this table we must look to one of the other 

 Tamateas of that period (of which there were many) as the hero. In the 

 life of Tamatea of the " Takitimu " canoe, as received by myself, and 

 recorded in the history of Ngati-Kahungunu ("Journal of the Polynesian 

 Society"), and also in the exploits of this man as recounted in Kauwae-raro, 

 not a word about the fire myth is mentioned; consequently it is possible 

 that an earlier Tamatea was the hero. 



Table III gives an idea of the frequency with which the name can be 

 met with, but in this particular genealogy it is probable that there was 

 originally only one man bearing several names, which later came to be 

 recognized as different men. However, as these Tamateas could scarcely 

 have been aborigines, it is improbable that they could have been associated 

 with the sacred fire. 



Whatever way we accept the evidence of genealogy, it is clear to my 

 mind that Tuhoto-ariki lived about the time of the fleet, and, on the evi- 

 dence of the song, that the moa was destroyed by those who came hither 

 with the migrations prior to the time of the fleet ; and, further, that myth 

 surrounded the memory of the bird as early as Tuhoto-ariki's time. 



