404, Essays. 
52. Further, it is believed that it will also be satisfactory briefly to 
consider the first emigrants mentioned in the New Zealand traditionary 
myths ;—the persons and their doings. The names of several canoes are 
given, also of their crews or leaders; their marvellous adventures by the 
way ; the numerous things they brought to New Zealand ; and the height of 
the men, ^9 and 11 feet.” Also, that some of them had previously discovered 
New Zealand, in a voyage of exploration purposely made hither, and having 
coasted and visited different parts of it, had returned to the mother country 
and had been the means of others coming to New Zealand to settle; and 
that many of the canoes, on reaching the land of New Zealand, immediately 
set about circumnavigating the Northern Island, &c., &c. In all this 
mythical rhapsody there is scarcely a grain of truth; and yet some educated 
Europeans have wholly believed it. The New Zealanders themselves, how- 
ever, never did so. The names of the canoes and of the leaders are nearly 
all figurative names suitably coined in the New Zealand tongue, and given 
after the event; several of the latter being also the names of ideal beings 
in their mythology. They are all said to have come from one place; but it 
has been shown, and any one may yet see, that they evidently came from 
several, as their sub-dialects, still partly extant, clearly show. They are also 
said to have come by several consecutive migrations; this alone would 
require a very long time. Their adventures on the way, their enchantments, 
battles, and charms, excelling those of Munchausen or Gulliver, are suited, 
perhaps, for the region of romance, but ought to have no place in any 
reasonable inquiry. Among the numerous things said to have been brought 
by them to New Zealand, were several of the wild New Zealand birds, such 
as the swamp pukeko, the green parroquet, the woodhen, and many others ; 
also the New Zealand rat! and, with the exotic plants, the karaka tree, 
which last they everywhere planted ; but, unfortunately for them, the tree is 
not found anywhere else; the canoes which brought them are spoken of 
as being only ordinary canoes, and some even small, yet to contain 140 
men! And, while several kinds of food (used by New Zealanders) are 
spoken of, no mention whatever is made of any of the peculiar edible pro- 
ductions of the islands; or of water, none of the Polynesian islanders having 
any large water-holding vessels. Some of their leaders are described as 
leaving in great haste and flying for their lives, others as being of monstrous 
size, and able to accomplish anything—even to run to the top of the mountain 
Tongariro, or to dive under the island and emerge on the other side, or to 
tame whales—nevertheless to be subject to all the common infirmities of 
smaller and ordinary men. : 
53. To return—the question put (par. 50, sec. 4) has not yet been 
answered,— Whence came the Maori—the Polynesian race? It is not, how- 
