532 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1889. ' 



corners with stones. A lanyard was fastened to the center, and the net 

 was thrown over an antagonist, who was beaten to death while en- 

 tangled in its meshes. It is worthy of remark that nothing of this sort 

 has been discovered among the Polynesians or their contemporaries on 

 the coast of America. 



The suddenness with which the tradition jumps into the warfare be- 

 tween the descendants of the tirst king and the "long-eared race" is 

 startling, because no previous reference has been made to such a race on 

 the island. It is hardly possible that the "long-ears" were descended 

 from people who landed with them on the island, for those that came 

 with Hotu-Matua were of the same clan, and it is fair to presume that 

 the same customs obtained among them all. Besides, the legends all 

 make a distinction between the "long-eared" race and the descendants 

 of the first king. The "long-ears" appear to have been a power in the 

 land at au early period in the history of the island, though they were 

 eventually defeated and exterminated by the others. 



It is possible that there has been more than one migration of people 

 to the island, and that their traditions have been mingled together, but 

 there can be no reasonable doubt about the progenitors of the pres- 

 ent islanders being of the Malayo-Polynesian stock. It is difficult to 

 account for the statement, so frequently repeated throughout the legends, 

 that Hotu-Matua came from the eastward and discovered the land by 

 steering towards the setting sun, because the chart shows no islands in 

 that direction which would answer the description of "Marae-toe-hau." 



TRADITION REGARDING OBSIDIAN SPEAR-POINTS. 



The implements of warfare brought to the island by King Hotu- 

 Matua and his followers were few in number, and in the course of time 

 became brokeu, lost, or destroyed. The clans were continually at war 

 with each other, but from the want of proper weapons the most desper- 

 ate encounters resulted in little loss of life. Spears were improvised 

 with heads made of the sharp edges of the calabash, but they proved in- 

 efficient weapons and did little execution. During the reign of Atura- 

 ugi, the sixth king, a man living near the crater of the Raua Kau, while 

 returning to his home after sundown from Temanevai, where he and his 

 companions had been engaged in a useless struggle, stepped in the 

 darkness upon a sharp stone that cut his foot like a knife. He carried 

 the stone home with him, and in the morning found it to be black vol- 

 canic glass, which upon being broken showed vitreous edges such as 

 had cut his foot. Believing he had discovered an effective material for 

 the manufacture of spear-heads, he substituted the obsidian for the 

 calabash points and went forth to meet his enemies. The new weapon 

 proved more puissant than he had hoped for, and havoc was created in 

 the ranks of his opponents. Armed with spear heads obtained from 

 the obsidian mountain Orito, the discoverer and his clan swept every- 

 thing before them until the new material became known to all the 



