GEOGRAPHICAL KNGWLELGE OF THE POLYNESIANS, 807 
it is possible that the Maori name of Tahiti—Tawhiti-nui-a-Rua*— 
is derived from him. In the traditions concerning Turi, as pre- 
served by the Maoris, we find that his daughter Tane-roroa 
married Uengapuanake, a son of Uenga-ariki, and it is just 
possible that this latter individual is the Uenga whose other 
name was T'angiia, and who lived at Hiva in Raiatea.t There is 
a difference in the length of the genealogies as derived from the 
New Zealand, Rarotongan, and Tahitian traditions of about three 
generations, however; so this point must be left in abeyance 
until further information is to hand. The history of Turi, as 
related briefly above, seems to show the reliability of Polynesian 
traditions as handed down thr ough more than twenty generations, 
and proves the knowledge both peoples had of common ancestors. 
In the following brief summary of some of the traditions 
obtained by Mr. Elsden Best from the natives of the Bay of 
Plenty, New Zealand, may be found, I think, another corrobora- 
tion of the Maori knowledge of Tahiti in the fourteenth century. 
Some years—how many we know not—prior to the starting of 
the fleet for New Zealand, there arrived at Whakatane, in the 
Bay of Plenty, a canoe from Hawaiki, which was wrecked on the 
coast. At this time there resided in Kapu-te-rangi pa, just inside 
the Whakatane River, some people who were descendants of Toi, 
the great ancestor of the aboriginal tribes of New Zealand. The 
chief of the pa at that time was Tama-ki-hikurangi, who was 
seventh in descent from Toi. Early one morning Tama’s daughter 
went down to the beach to bathe, where she found two men miser- 
ably cold and wet, who were the only survivors of the wrecked 
canoe. These men were taken up to the pa and hospitably enter- 
tained by the people of the place, and in return for this kindness 
they gave to the aborigines some preserved kuwmaras—kao (sweet 
potatoes), which they had preserved in their belts. This new food 
so pleased the aborigines that an expedition was decided on, to 
proceed to Hawaiki to procure some of the seed of this valuable 
root. The chief himself—Tama-ki-hikurangi—led the expedition ; 
whilst Hoake, one of the shipwrecked men, went as pilot. The 
canoe was named “ Te-Ara-tawhao.” They safely reached their 
destination, and were welcomed by a chief of the land named Maru- 
tai-rangaranga, whose song of welcome has been preserved. It 
was some time after their arrival that a number of the people of 
* The island of Oahu, in the Hawaiian Archipelago, has also this suffix of ‘‘ Rua,” but in 
this case the Rua (or Lua), from whom the name is derived, is much more ancient, as will 
‘be seen from the following quotation from ‘“‘ Na mele ai Moku,” a collection of Hawaiian 
Chants, p. 123 :—‘‘ Hi mai o Papa mail oko mai o Kahiki-ku, ku inaina lilii ka punalna, hae 
manawa ino i ke kane o Wakea, moe ia Lua he kane hou ia, hanau o Oahu-a-Lua.” 
7 See ‘‘Journal of the Polynesian Soc‘ety,” vol. iv, p. 122, et seg. In this paper the 
Rev. J. B. Stair has recorded several voyages between Samoa, Tahiti, Rarotonga, and _o 
Groups, proving conclusively the extent of the geographical knowledge of the i 
in the thirteentin and fourteenth centuries. 
