Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xlvi. (1902), No. 1*^. 17 



Ethnology* 

 Although logically, no doubt, the human population 

 should have been dealt with as part of the fauna of the 

 Islands, it is more convenient to follow the usual custom 

 and treat of this portion of our subject under a separate 

 heading. 



There are, perhaps, few more striking examples of the 

 extermination of a primitive native race than that afforded 

 by the rapid disappearance of the Moriori inhabitants of 

 the Chatham Islands during the nineteeth century. At 

 the time of my visit, in January, 1901, there were only 

 about a dozen pure-blooded individuals left ; some of 

 these were of great age, while the youngest was a lad of 

 about 16. Under these circumstances it must be con- 

 sidered extremely fortunate that any reliable record of 

 this interesting people has been preserved, and that such 

 is the case is due largely to the energy and enthusiasm of 

 Mr. Alexander Shand, who for more than thirty years 

 has lived amongst the Morioris, and has made a special 

 study not only of that race, but also of their Maori 

 conquerors. Mr. Shand, whose acquaintance I first had 

 the pleasure of making at Whangamarino, his home on 

 the Island, has published a series of extremely valuable 

 papers on the subject in the journal of the Polynesian 

 Society, from which, as well as from my personal inter- 

 course with the author, much of my information has been 

 derived. I must also refer in this connection to the 

 interesting papers by Mr. Gilbert Mair and Mr. Travers 

 in the Transactions and Proceedings of tJie Nezv Zealand 

 Institute. 



* This portion of the lecture has already been communicated, with little 

 difference beyond the addition of illustrations, to the Philosophical Institute 

 of Canterbury (see Transactions and Proceedings of the Nexu Zealand Institute 

 for 1901) ; it was also made use of for an article in the Christchurch " Press " 

 <New Zealand), December nth, 1901, on the extinction of the Moriori. 



