360 Transactions. 



The presumption is that the names are some of those which the Maoris 

 brought with them. 



Yet another class is that of names which are found in many different 

 localities in New Zealand. Many of these will be names to which a meaning 

 can be assigned which does not in every case seem to be appropriate — such 

 names as Rangitoto, of which I know at least six instances in the North 

 Island ; Titirangi, another favourite hill-name ; Wairoa, which is by no 

 means confined, as would seem appropriate, to long rivers ; Awanui, which 

 is generally supposed to mean " large river," but more probably refers, as 

 a rule, to a channel in the rocks used as a landing-place for canoes. Another 

 interesting example is Rangihoua, which was the name of the place in the 

 Bay of Islands where the first missionaries settled : a pa of the same name 

 stood on a hill at the south end of Poverty Bay, and another at Wairoa, 

 in Hawke's Bay. Interchange was possible in the case of the last two, but 

 most highly improbable between either of these districts and the members 

 of the Ngapuhi Tribe in the north. Takapau is another very favourite 

 name ; but in a great number of cases the name was dift'erentiated by the 

 addition of another word, as, for example, Takapau-arero, in the Poverty 

 Bay district. The most reasonable explanation of the frequent occurrence 

 of these names is that they have been given by the different tribes in re- 

 membrance of some common prototype in far of! Hawaiki. 



The last group of these imported names is that which is illustrated by 

 such names as Maketu, Ntihaka, and Mohaka. These names have quite a 

 foreign ring about them when compared with indigenous names, and do 

 not lend themselves to any interpretation, as do most of the more modem 

 names. It may therefore be conjectured with some degree of certainty 

 that they too have been imported. 



This branch of the inquiry into Maori names is, if not the most interest- 

 ing, certainly the most important'. It is much to be desired that no time 

 should be lost in placing on record as many of the Maori names as possible, 

 that residents in the other Polynesian islands should be urged to do the 

 same for their respective localities, and that all the lists should be carefully 

 collated. Something of this sort has been done in the matter of genealogies, 

 but, as far as I know, little or nothing has been done to extend the process, 

 with any degree of thoroughness, to place-names. 



We now come to the names which are, or appear to be, of local origin. 

 A considerable number of these are taken from trees, as Te Kowhai, Te 

 Karaka, Puriri, Totara-roa, Te Rimu-roa, and so on — names of this class 

 supplying another group of repeated names, which does not, however, seem 

 to point to the importation of the name. Then, an exceedingly large number 

 are drawn from physical features in the landscape. To this group belong 

 all those beginning with Pi(ke (hill). Manga or Ma (stream), Maunga (moun- 

 tain), Roto (lake), and the very large group with Wai as the leading syllable. 

 The last-named would seem to monopolize more than its share of the Native 

 nomenclature. The Post Office Guide may be taken as a fair indication 

 of the proportion in which names occur, and I find there 150 names begin- 

 ning with Wai. These names, of course, apply to both streams and lakes. 

 Another very frequent initial factor in names is Pa; this would certainly 

 be a feature in the landscape, as the pa was almost invariably well placed 

 to command the surrounding country, but was not, of course, a natural 

 feature. 



Some of the names carried their meaning clearly in their form, as Pohatu- 

 roa (the tall rock), a conspicuous hill near Atiamuri ; Waerenga-a-Hika 



