Specimens of Nalice Proverbs and Poems. ii'j 



with the Maori race, by the publication of a grammar and 

 dictionary of the Maori language, as also many valuable 

 works upon the natural history of the New Zealand Islands.* 



To this most honourable and widely-diffused activity, 

 science is indebted for a specimen of literature which 

 furnishes an excellent sample of the high cultivation of the 

 native race, and makes us acquainted with moral axioms 

 and pieces of poetry which would do honour even to a poet 

 of Caucasian descent. 



We subjoin a few adages and short poems of Sir George 

 Grey's valuable collections, which more especially indicate 

 the dignified character and originality of thought of this 

 singular people, and are taken from a larger number em- 

 braced in Sir George Grey's collection of "Proverbial and 

 Popular Sayings " already mentioned. 



Canst thou still the surf that breaks on the Shoal of Rongo-mai-takupe ? (Al- 

 luding to the difficulty of allaying a revolt.) 



* New Zealand : being a Narrative of Travels and Adventures during a Residence in 

 that Country, between the years 1831 and 1837. By J. S. Polack, Esq., member of 

 the Colonial Society of London. In two volumes, London, Rich. Bentley, 1838. — ■ 

 Travels in New Zealand, with contributions to the Geography, Geology, and Natural 

 History of that Country. By Ernest DiefFenbach, M.D., late Naturalist to the New 

 Zealand Company. 2 vols. London, J. Murray, 1843. — The Southern Districts of 

 New Zealand ; a Journal with passing Notices of the Customs of the Aborigines. — 

 By Edward Shortland, M.A. London, Longman and Co. 1851. — A Dictionary of the 

 New Zealand Language and a concise Grammar ; to which is added a Collection of 

 Colloquial Sentences. By W. Williams, D.C.L., Archdeacon of Waiapu. London, 

 1852. — The Ika-a-Maui, or New Zealand and its Inhabitants. By R. Taylor. Lon- 

 don, 1855. — A Leaf from the Natural History of New Zealand. By R. Taylor. 

 Wellington, New Zealand, 1848.— New Zealand, the " Britain of the South." By 

 Charles Hursthouse. London, E. Stanford, 1861. Of purely scientific works relat- 

 ing to botany, Dr. Hooker's " Flora of New Zealand " may be mentioned as the most 

 comprehensive. 



