EuTLAND. — History of the Pacific. 37 



when Cook first visited the archipelago were dogs. From 

 tliis, and pigs being generally called puaka throughout eastern 

 Polynesia, it is commonly supposed that their presence was 

 due to European agency ; but there is unmistakable evidence 

 that the Polynesians possessed both pigs and fowls before the 

 European period. Woodford, who was well aware of this, 

 writes: " Captain Cook introduced the pig to New Zealand, 

 but they were pigs that he had bought from the natives at 

 Tahiti, and not that he had brought with him from England, 

 as most people suppose. That the Maoris had no pigs I can 

 account for on two suppositions : First, that at the time 

 they migrated to New Zealand from Hawaiki the pig may not 

 then have been introduced among the Polynesian natives of 

 the Pacific ; but chiefly, I think, on account of the long canoe 

 voyage the Maoris must have had, wherever Hawaiki may 

 have been. Bound all four legs together in the bottom of a wet 

 canoe, as they assuredly would have been, no pig could survive 

 very long, a pig being a most tender animal under such condi- 

 tions. Besides, if they started with any, they would have 

 been doubtless eaten before they got to the end of such a long 

 voyage":''' but before we can finally accept the latter con- 

 clusion it must be reconciled with the presence of pigs and 

 fowls in the equally-isolated Hawaiian Group. 



VI. — -Ancient Monuments and Mariners of Polynesia. 



Scattered over the countless islands of Polynesia are many 

 stone structures concerning which the inhabitants were unable 

 to furnish any intelligible information when Europeans first 

 invaded the territories. Though these structures vary greatly 

 in form and dimensions, all are of the Cyclopean type, con- 

 structed without any cementing material, the stones in some 

 cases being jointed or dovetailed together, a style of building 

 anciently in vogue in the opposite hemisphere as far north as 

 the distant Hebrides. 



On both the Carolines and Easter Island, the north-western 

 and south-eastern extremities of the great island chain, these 

 ancient monuments are especially numerous, but throughout 

 middle Polynesia there is no group and few islands of any 

 extent wherein they are not found. 



When Cook explored Tahiti in 1759 he visited the great 

 marae of Oamo, of which he has left the following description : 

 "It is a long square of stonework built pyramidically ; its 

 base is 267ft. by 87ft. ; at the top it is 250ft. by 8ft. It is 

 built in the same manner as we do steps leading up to a sun- 

 dial or fountain erected in the middle of a square, where there 



*" A Naturalist among the Head-hunters " (Solomon Islands). C. M. 

 Woodford. 



