THE MAORIS PLACE IN HISTORY. 285 
preceding that of the human race; and that the present inhabitants, 
who by various ways, and by navigation, peopled those islands, made 
use of those animals and plants ready to their hand, and turned 
them to use for sustenance and clothing and the various arts they 
followed. Therefore, I think a great deal of the information that 
Mr. Rutland gives us in this paper as regards the distribution of 
animals and plants, may be probably attributed to the different 
positions of land and sea, and connections of various parts of the 
continent with the islands which have since been submerged. 
The Rev. F. A. Warker, D.D.—The paper we have just listened 
to with great interest is entitled ‘“‘ The Maori’s place in History ”’ ; 
but I think you wili agree with me that its scope extends over a 
great many nations and peoples distinct from the Maoris, and over 
different periods of time and different customs, prejudices, and 
ideas of many parts of the globe. We have heard a great deal 
about Madagascar and about the Malay Archipelago and other 
places. There are so many points of interest here that I have 
written a few notes on them. There are one cor two that I would 
draw your attention to. The author refers to the gravitana, or 
blow-pipe, in use for hanting amongst the eastern and western 
nations, the use of which is widely spread. Any who are 
interested in the mention of the swmpitan, or gravitana, can find a 
detailed account of its construction as well as of the accompanying 
quiver and arrow, on page 236 of Vol. 22 of Bates’s Naturalist 
on the Amazon, and the method of its use, and an account of 
the famous Urari poison on page 238 of the same book. 
[Dr. Walker here read some lengthy notes on the history of the 
sumpitan. | 
Then there is a question from the Rev. William Ellis’s work on 
Madagascar, taken from page 32 of the same work, which 
contains the record of three visits to that island made respectively 
in the years 1853-1854-1856. The date given in the quotation of 
his arrival at Tamatave, 1856, is erroneous, for though he visited 
that place in 1854 and again in 1856, the date when being at 
Tamatave he remarked on the resemblance between the Malagasy 
and the Polynesian languages was, as given in the book itself, 
1853, on his first visit. 
Again, the author says: “The invention of bronze and its. 
application in the manufacture of weapons and mechanical 
implements, must have given an impetus to civilization analogous. 
