Best. — Maori Voyagers and their Vessels. 459 



westward from the South American coast seems to coalesce \vith the 

 westward - sweeping equatorial current, the southern branch of which, 

 floAving south of the Tongan Group, passes, under the name of Rossel's 

 Drift, the New Hebrides, on its way to Torres Strait. This helps to 

 explain the arrival of drift canoes at and near the New Hebrides containing 

 waifs from Polynesia. Several such occurrences are on record. 



Even as winds assisted our Polynesian voyager in his navigation of 

 Pacific waters, so also did they, in many cases, cause drift voyages, and 

 send many souls down to Earohenga, the spirit world of the Maori. 

 A few of the many known cases of drift voyages are quoted as illustrat- 

 ing how many islands must have been discovered and settled by their 

 agency. We have already seen that the first and second peopHngs of New 

 Zealand were owing to drift voyages — the first directly so, the second 

 indirectly. 



Ellis held the curious view that the Polynesians must have originally 

 come from the east, as it would be impossible for them to come from the 

 west against the prevailing winds. And 3'et he must have known of the 

 fairly frequent communication between the Society and Paumotu Groups, 

 as also other such movements. The south-east trades are by no means 

 constant the year round, as shown by observers as far back as Cook's time. 

 The strong north-west winds that strike the Samoan Group have carried 

 canoes from there as far as the Austral Isles. At the Society Isles the 

 prevailing wind blows from between east-south-east and east-north-east 

 for the greater part of the year, but in December and January the winds 

 are variable, frequently blowing from north-west and west-north-west. 

 Cook tells us that this is the wind by which the natives of the isles to 

 leeward come to Tahiti. Such a wind is often followed by one from the 

 south-west or west-south-west. We have not space to give much data 

 under these heads, but we do know that Polynesians carefully studied 

 wind-conditions. Barstow writes of several weeks of westerly wind at 

 Tahiti, and mentions the case of some Polynesian voyagers he encountered 

 there. Their canoe, containing men, women, and children, had come from 

 the Paumotu Group, to the eastward, in search of some ocean-waifs from 

 that region. They had visited Huahine and other islands, and were 

 compelled to wait over six months at Tahiti for a fair wind to take them 

 home. The Polynesian voyager, indeed, passed much of his time in 

 waiting for fair winds, though that fact would not disturb his equanimity. 

 Possibly this was why he often took his family with him. If he did 

 not live to reach his destination, why, then, his son or grandson might 

 do so. 



Barstow records a drift voyage from Chain Island, east of Tahiti, away 

 west to Manua, in the Samoan Isles. This occurred in 1844, and the boat 

 contained three natives and one white man, the latter being the sole 

 survivor. 



Colonel Gudgeon informs us that Polpiesians are quite capable of 

 navigating their vessels to any island they may desire to visit, always 

 selecting a favourable season of the year. Also that they had well-known 

 starting-places for each such voyage, and stoppuig-places at intermediate 

 isles in long voyages. Thus voyagers from Tahiti to New Zealand first 

 made the run to Rarotonga, leaving there in December for the run south- 

 west to New Zealand, calling in some cases at Sunday Island. The return 

 voyage was made in June. This is corroborated by Maori tradition, which 

 states that voyagers left Rarotonga for these shores in the month Akaaka- 



