112 Transactions.—Miscellaneous. 
possibly did so to a certain poor extent; but the great facility with which 
they very soon acquired firearms caused them to set those missiles aside. 
What they might have done and perfected, having once been put into the 
way, had they remained isolated and not obtained muskets, is another 
matter. 
I have been led to make all these almost extra remarks through noticing 
what was said by a Mr. Grace at the time of the reading of Mr. Phillips’ 
paper, as reported (I am sorry to find) in the ** Proceedings” (Vol. X., p. 527). 
Mr. Grace might equally as well have said, that because he had always seen 
the Maoris playing at draughts, or growing and eating melons, peaches, and 
potatoes, ergo, such were indigenous! Such observations tend, to mislead 
(being wholly erroneous), and will mislead still more in the future unless 
refuted ; hence, in great measure, I now write to such an extent. It is from 
such superficial remarks that the works of Tylor, Lubbock, and Herbert 
Spencer, and others, become of less value than they would otherwise be, 
through everything being gathered and admitted as of equal authority! 
And just so it is (I regret to say) with some of the remarks made by Mr. 
Philips himself in this very paper; i.e, in my estimation they are 
deceiving, because they assume the very thing we are in search of—‘ the 
whence of the Maori?”—a problem by no means yet proved. Yet Mr. 
Philips says:—* I have often wondered how it is that the aborigines of 
New Zealand should have made so little use of the bow and arrow, this 
being a weapon peculiarly suited to savage tribes, and, moreover, the familiar 
one of their ancestors." (Where did Mr. Phillips get this?) Again, 
speaking of the toy-arrow he had been describing, he says :—'* In itself it is 
& harmless weapon, and how it happens that the Maoris, a section of the 
Polynesian race, should have thus allowed so useful a weapon as the South 
Sea bow and arrow to degenerate into a mere toy,* is to me a curious circum- 
stance." (S. Parkinson's remark on this very point, already quoted by me 
at p. 108, made a hundred years ago, is far more rational every way; but 
then Parkinson, although he had seen more, had no preconception, no pet 
hobby to support!) Further, Mr. Phillips says:—** It is well-known (?) that 
in olden days the Maoris launched their spears against a hostile fort by means 
of a whip, similar to the one above described, and they were even able to 
hurl stones a long distance." (Whence, too, is this derived?) Lastly, Mr. 
Phillips winds up his paper by saying :—“ All these weapons, however, fell 
into disuse after the introduction of fire-arms some sixty jen ago, which 
may account for the disappearance of the bow and arrow." To which 
statement, I trust, this paper will be found a complete answer. 
des one 
* Vide post “ Proceedings H. B. P. Institute, ordinary meeting, September 9, E" j 
for an interesting account of the introduction into New Zealand of this “ toy arrow, bya 
living witness, 
