120 Transactions. 



occasionally heard from the lips of the old people of the Ngaitahu 

 Tribe. The notion that it was from the South Island that Maui 

 fished up the North (" Te Ika-a-Maui," " the fish of Maui ") 

 is, however, a purely southern concept. It would be hard to con- 

 vince a northern Maori of the superior antiquity of the greenstone 

 land. " Te Taumanu-o-te-Waka-a-Maui " (" the thwart of the 

 canoe of Maui ") — on which Maui stood when hauling up his land- 

 fish — is said by the Ngaitahu to be the name of a place in the 

 neighbourhood of Kaikoura. 



An ancient mythological honorific title of Stewart Island 

 (or Kakiura) is " Te Puka-o-te-waka-a-Maui," which means " the 

 anchor of Maui's canoe." 



But the subject of these place-names is one that cannot be 

 dealt with in one paper. I have a very long list of South Island 

 names not yet recorded in print, or, if recorded, only inaccu- 

 rately. I believe that Mr. Justice Chapman has during the 

 course of many years acquired a very considerable list of South 

 Island place-names from the old Maoris, particularly from the 

 late chief Rawiri te Maire, of South Canterbury. I hope that 

 he will some day publish them. Another matter in connection 

 with Maori place-names that should have attention is the 

 pronunciation. New-Zealanders at any rate should have no 

 excuse for mispronunciation of the names of their own homes, 

 for the language is phonetic, and simple in the extreme ; yet 

 how often one hears such mispronunciation as " Tarangger " 

 for " Tauranga," " Narranger " for " Ngauranga," " Mew-ree- 

 ty " for the beautiful name " Muritai " (" the sea-breeze "). 

 The only remedy, I suppose, is to teach our school-teachers 

 at least the Maori alphabet and some of the rudiments of the 

 language, for it is no doubt in the schools that colonial children 

 first hear many of these names so mispronounced. 



Art. XIX. — Some Historic Maori Personages. 



By Thomas W. Downes. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 1st November, 1905.] 



Plates XIV-XVII. 



Students will agree that all facts that can possibly he obtained 

 regarding the Maoris should be placed on record, for it seems 

 only too true that the day is quickly coming when this inter- 

 esting race will be but a memory. Their history has been 

 largely supplied by the late Mr. John White. Messrs. Taylor. 

 Best, Colenso, Smith, and Treeear deal largely with their 

 manner of life; Archdeacon Williams lias rendered great 



