Purrutps.—On the Use of Projectile Weapons by the Maoris. 51 
explicit sentences, coming from so great an authority, sufficiently excuse 
me for having thought and written in a similar strain. 
Moreover, I do not think Mr. Colenso justified in treating so severely 
my modest enquiry. It appears to me that in opening this very question 
of the use of the bow and arrow by the Maori, I am likely to be of more 
service in settling the vexed question of the original habitat than the pages 
of speculative theory before now given tous. One ounce of fact is worth 
more than a pound of theory. Following out such particular questions as 
the use of the bow or other warlike implement, the construction of language, 
the mode of sepulture, or other habits and customs of any savage race, are 
the ounces of fact, and Mr. Colenso himself admits the incompleteness of his 
own essay, to which I referred in my first paper, upon the particular ounce, 
the use of the bow and arrow. In causing him to explain his rather loose 
sentence, touching the manner in which the Maoris projected their fiery- 
headed darts when attacking a pa (a similar custom prevails in Fiji), I 
think I have been of service. 
I am sorry also to point out that Mr. Colenso has much disappointed 
me by the use of the word ** ancient" in the heading of his paper. While 
respecting him as one of the chief authorities in New Zealand upon Maori 
manners and customs, I still think that he has not been sufficiently par- 
ticular in his use of terms. What does he mean by the word ancient? 
Surely not the New Zealander referred to by Professor Owen, who ** upon 
landing found only huge kinds of birds incapable of flight." The whole 
line of his argument tends to observations made by Captain Cook and later 
authorities. For all any commentator can say or prove, the true ancient 
New Zealander might have brought the bow and arrow with him, but finding 
it of little service, and having little inclination to use it in play, soon aban- 
doned its use and manufacture. (This is not the only thing the modern 
Maori has forgotten. He appears also to have forgotten the existence of 
the Moa, and thought its bones those belonging to a great eagle, while we 
are pretty well assured that the ancient Maori feasted upon it.) Yet this 
reasonable supposition could never be entertained, for its mere consideration 
would cut the ground from beneath the feet of the speculators. They would 
have to admit the likelihood of the truth of the traditions of the various 
migrations and disembarkations from the different canoes, together with 
the similarity of language to that of Tahiti, and other habits and customs 
similar to those of the South Sea Island people, and that the Maori actually 
did come to New Zealand from some one of these islands. The fashion has 
become not to admit this sensible deduction, but to surround the origin of 
the Maori in mystery, if not almost to exalt him into the position of a 
separate and distinct race. Unfortunately for such reasoners, argu- 
