TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 285 



the lengthy passages enabhng them to acquire the geogra- 

 phical knowledge with, which they must be accredited at the 

 date of their first intercourse with Europeans. But we are too 

 apt to forget that in former times they had a class of canoe — 

 in most islands called a ^:)fl/n" — which was immensely superior 

 to those of the present day, and capable of containing a large 

 number of people and abundant provisions. The great double 

 canoe, with its platform extending from vessel to vessel, on 

 which was erected a house, was also suitable for performing 

 long voyages. It was in canoes such as these that the Maoris 

 made the long voyage from the Pacific islands to New Zealand, 

 and no doubt, also, the same style of craft conveyed the 

 Moriori across the boisterous five hundred miles of sea between 

 New Zealand and the Chatham Islands. The j\Iaori traditions 

 make special mention of these double canoes, and, further, state 

 that one — the Araiva — had three masts. They have long since 

 disappeared, though in the time of Tasman and of Cook they 

 were plentiful on the coast. The canoe in which Karilca, of 

 Earotonga, made his several voyages of discovery is said to* 

 have had two masts, and to have been able to carry a hun- 

 dred and seventy men — the favourite number for a war-party 

 or other expedition — and it must have been a vessel of fair 

 seagoing qualities if, as the Eev. W. Wyatt Gill" relates, he 

 made eight different voyages betw-een Samoa, Earotonga, and 

 other islands. Mr. Eankenf quotes a voyage made hy Anenga, 

 of Tahiti — an ancestor of Tangiia, the leader of the Tahitian 

 party who finally settled down at Earotonga with Karika — 

 which was related to him by the Eev. James Chalmers, as 

 follows — which I quote to show the length of voyages the 

 Polynesians could in old times undertake: " x\uenga was a 

 chief who sailed amongst other lands. He was from Avaiki 

 [read here Savaii, of the Samoa group, which the Earotongans 

 would pronounce Avaiki] . He sailed first to Tonga, and from 

 Tonga to Vavao. Thence he tried to return to Avaiki, but could 

 not make the land. He was blown about by the winds, and 

 could not make the land; but the god Bongomafane took pity 

 on him, and directed him to Tongarcva. (Penrhyn Island). He 

 next visited Bimatara, Burutu, and Tuhiiai (Austral group), 

 where he got fire. From Tubuai he sailed to Aka-aic and 

 Paumotn, and at last reached Tahiti, where he settled on the 

 lands called Puna-auia." 



Now, this voyage, undertaken, in a measure, unpreparedly, 

 extended over a length of about four thousand miles. Taking 

 the most direct routes, for the greater part of the way Auenga 

 would have to struggle against the trade-winds : indeed, it is 



* Vol. ii., Rep. Aiist. Assoc. Adv. of Science, p. GSi. 

 t " Mahori Migrations," by W. H. L. Ranken, in vol. i., Ncic Zealand 

 Magazine. 



