CauERON.—On Rock Paintings in Weka Pass. 155 
clear philological testimony that the serpeni-race of India in early times 
obtained a foothold in New Zealand. This will be further brought out 
below. Again, as to the Buddhist missionaries, they were noted for their 
enterprise and travels for their faith. They carried their faith, doctrines, 
aud symbols to the extreme east, north, and south of the great continent of 
Asia; over seas, deserts, and extended barriers of eternal snow, and all 
through to the extreme west of Europe. Is it improbable that, whether 
with the serpent-race from India, or in Phoenician vessels, they arrived in 
New Zealand? The association of the Buddhist cross with Phoenician 
letters on inscriptions in the west is a fact. 
** These observations will serve to clear up the following remarks on the 
figures transmitted by you :—First, I may say that the figures strike me as 
divisible into pre-Christian, Indian, symbolie, and later native. The pre- 
Christian are generally the hieroglyphies, while most of the drawings of 
men with marine monsters appear to be later native. This may be a mere 
supposition, but you have other cireumstances to decide this point. Secondly, 
figures 2, 6, 13, 21, 21a, and, perhaps, 24, constitute, along with, very 
probably, 15, 16, 18, one group—the Trinity symbol—and are pre-Christian. 
I can only briefly explain here this symbol. It may suffice to state that 
spirit, matter, and organised life, as the result of the action of the first on the 
second, are supposed to form the pan-theo-cosmical (if I may coin such a word) 
nature or universe of the ancient religious ereed of India, and which was 
carried by the Buddhist missionaries over the world. The symbol of this 
cardinal and esoterie doctrine of religion was three circles near each other, 
and, in my opinion, also two joined circles, crossed with the zig-zag figure 
(supposed by some to be also a Masonic symbol) usually called the ‘spectacle 
ornament, the crossing zig-zag figure representing probably spirit. We 
find these symbols alike on great Buddhist temples in India, on the Bhilsa 
*topes, on the standing stone in Aberdeen, and on the Dingwall stone in 
North Britain. The figures composing the symbol are either plain or 
ornamented, and disposed in various ways. The variations are remarkable, 
and give a clue, as I believe, to the true signification of figures 2, 6, 13, 15, 
16, 18, 21, and 214. In all these, the three parts are distinctly made out, 
especially in figures of 2, 6, 21, 214. In my opinion, figures 18, 15, 16, 18 
are similar to the ‘spectacle ornament’ of North Britain. Figure 14 may 
be a representation of the same symbol, or of a Buddhist temple, the form 
of which figures in North Britain, explaining unmistakably the zig-zag line, 
and the sacred nature of the Trinity symbol. : 
** I make no observations on fig. 17, of which there are several similar 
representations in other parts of the world. Figs. 4, 9, 22, and perhaps 24, 
also have counterparts elsewhere. The Buddhist cross (and Phenician 
