336 Essays. 
inhabited by natives who formed part of Te Rauparaha’s army of filibusters, 
or their relatives. 
From the accounts given by the New Zealanders of their origin, and 
from what we know of the present relationship of the various tribes into 
which they are divided, it appears that the whole native population may be 
classed under six primary divisions, distinguished more or less one from the 
other by peculiarities of dialect, of physiognomy, and of disposition. These 
primary divisions have been traced to the crews of different canoes which 
found their way to the shores of New Zealand. Whether all the canoes 
which may have thus reached these shores proceeded from several different 
islands of Polynesia, or only from the two or three the names of which are 
recorded, we will not pretend to say with anything like certainty. The 
traditions respecting the origin of their ancestors pervading all the tribes in 
New Zealand are very similar; and although many peculiarities of dialect 
are observed to prevail very generally throughout the members of the primary 
divisions of which we have been speaking, yet the actual differences in dialect 
between the inhabitants of the most distant parts of the country are incon- 
siderable, and, in fact, no more than may be accounted for by lapse of time, . 
added to the want of union, and, consequently, of familiar communication 
between each other. 
It is an inquiry of some interest where Hawaiki, the island generally 
given by the New Zealanders as that from which they came, is situated. The 
reply we give is, that it seems most probable that the island referred to is 
either the principal one of the Sandwich Islands group, pronounced Hawaii 
by its present native inhabitants, or one of the Navigators, written Savaii by 
the missionaries who are best acquainted with the language; both of which 
forms are dialectic variations of the New Zealander’s pronunciation written 
Hawaiki. 
That so long a voyage as that from the Sandwich falaid could be safely 
made in open canoes may appear to some almost incredible ; but it is certain 
that, when skilfully managed, the canoe of the Polytidinhs can brave very 
rough seas. Besides, the nearest spot from which the first inhabitants of the 
country could possibly have come is more than one thousand miles distant ; 
and we may fairly presume that a canoe able to make a voyage of that length 
could, under favourable circumstances, have made a voyage three times as 
long. We know from the traditions of the people that when they landed the 
rata was in bloom, which determines the time of the year to have been Feb- 
ruary, a season most favourable for making a voyage in those seas. 
In the Navigator and Society Islands, as well as in the islands of Poly- 
nesia wen further eastward, are found the same race of men as in New 
ealan | and the Sandwich Islands, speaking languages so much alike to each 
