IV.— MISCELLANEOUS. 



Art. XLV. — Ancient Alphabets in Polynesia. 



By E. Tregear, F.R.G.S. 

 [Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 10th August, 1887.] 



Plate XX. 



New Zealand possesses few relics of archaeological interest, and 

 fewer still remains of what may be considered as inscriptions. 

 The pictures in the cave of the Weka Pass," and other cave- 

 paintings, are mere rude pictures, in which, apparently, there 

 has been no effort to produce anything beyond mere represen- 

 tation, and not rising even to the rank of picture-writing. 

 Further investigation and study of these drawings may evolve 

 hidden meanings in some of the smaller marks, but at present 

 there is no light on the subject. In other parts of the Pacific 

 inhabited by the fair Polynesians there are many localities 

 worthy of the study of the archaeologist. The " Stonehenge " 

 remains in the Tonga Islands ; the pyramids of Tahiti ; the 

 wide paved platforms of the Marquesas ; the great carved 

 images of Easter Island ; the stone temples of the Sandwich 

 Islands : all these are full of interest. But the inscriptions 

 are as yet undiscovered, or they have not as yet been brought to 

 the knowledge of inquirers. Easter Island, with its well-known 

 carved tablets of wood, marked with the incised forms of curious 

 hieroglyphics, which have taxed the learning and ingenuity of 

 many wise men fruitlessly, is the only place where anything like 

 an alphabetical or hieroglyphical system of writing has come to 

 light. 



On Pitcairn Island is a rock-inscription in picture-writing. 

 A copy can be found in " Te Ika a Maui."f To its faithfulness 

 I can testify, having received an original drawing of the inscrip- 

 tion, similar in every way to that in " Te Ika;" and I was 

 furnished with additional particulars not mentioned by Mr. 

 Taylor. The incisions are deeply cut into a very hard rock, of 

 the kind generally known as the "French whin," situated near 

 the base of a steep cliff, the foot of which is beaten by the sea, 



* " Trans. N.Z. Inst.," vol. x., p. 52. 

 t By the Rev. R. Taylor, edit. 1870, p. 702. 

 23 



