48 THE SWEET POTATO. [PART I. 



What a tale of heroism may lie hidden under this 

 simple tradition ! Is it a tale connected with the 

 Polynesian race itself, or does it not rather refer to 

 the arrival in New Zealand of the early Spanish 

 navigators, who may have brought this valuable 

 product from the island of Tawai, one of the Sand- 

 wich Islands, where the plant is still most exten- 

 sively cultivated ? There can be scarcely any doubt 

 but that New Zealand was visited by some people 

 antecedent to Tasman. Kaipuke is the name for 

 ship in New Zealand. Buque is a Spanish word. 

 Kai means, to eat, live, men. No other Polynesian 

 nation has this word to designate a ship. Pero (dog) 

 and poaca (pig) are also Spanish. Tawai, whence 

 E Pani brought the kumara, is situated to the east 

 of New Zealand according to tradition ; and the 

 first discoverers in the great ocean, Alvaro Mendana 

 (1595), Quiros (1608), Lemaire, and others, arrived 

 from the eastward, as they did at Tahiti, according 

 to the tradition of the inhabitants. Tasman did 

 not come to New Zealand until 164*2. 



However this may be, the fields of kumara are 

 strictly " tapu," and any theft from them is severely 

 punished. The women who are engaged in their 

 cultivation are also " tapu," They must pray, to- 

 gether with the priests, for the success of the harvest. 

 These women are never allowed to join the cannibal 

 feasts ; and it is only after the kumara is dug up 

 that they are released from the strict observances of 

 the " tapu." They believe that kumara is the food 



