164 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 
plural demonstrative particle. Ai tanga means the begotten, a of, te the, 
Puhirere (name of the father). With all but the last word, there is no need 
for further enquiry, as Nga cannot be identified in any way with Naga, the 
great serpent. But what the meaning of Puhirere is, may be open to dis- 
cussion. Pu has many meanings classed by Williams under headings :— 
1. Bunch, heap. 2. To blow. 8. Precise. 4. Loathing. 5. Gun. Puhi, 
one betrothed; knot on the head ornamented with feathers or flowers. 
Rere, means to fly. 
The name Nga Puhi is borne by one of the most powerful tribes in the 
country, and when the chiefs have been asked about the derivation of their 
tribal designation, they have explained it, as being derived from the Puhi, 
or feather-ornaments of the canoe in which their ancestors came from 
Hawaiki. Puhirere may, I think, be freely rendered: ‘‘ The streaming 
feather-ornament of the head." Nga Puhi, or Nga aitanga a te Puhirere 
will then mean, “the begotten of the streaming feather-ornament ;" the ancestor 
being probably distinghished by some peculiar head-gear. The South 
Island Nga Puhi were descendants of Awatopa, and consisted of three 
sections: Puhi kai ariki, Puhi-manawanawa, and Matukuherekoti ; and it 
was their tribe that succeeded the Kahui Tipua. 
In connection with the name Puhi, attention is drawn to the fact, that a 
kind of eel is known by that name, but tuna, and not puhi, is the generic 
name. Puhi is merely the distinctive name of a variety, and is descriptive 
of some peculiarity. 
I do not wish to be understood as criticizing the theory under considera- 
tion in a hostile spirit—far from it; but I am reluctantly forced to the 
conclusion, that the evidence furnished by the legends regarding the Kahui 
Tipua, does not support it. 
The evidence of the eastern origin of the Maori is daily pnma de 
and, at the same time, indications are found of the presence, in past ages, of 
people in these southern lands, who must have differed in many respects 
from the present inhabitants. The discovery by Sir George Grey* in 1839, 
of rock-paintings in Australia, which he said could not have been done by 
the blacks ; and the subsequent discovery near Mount Elephant, in Victoria, 
of circles of stone resembling Druidical remains; regarded in connection 
with the gigantie statues in Easter Island, the ancient roadways of masonry 
in Samoa, and the rock-paintings in our own country, all open up a wide 
and interesting field for speculation and research, into which it is to be 
hoped that many like-minded with Mr. Mackenzie Cameron will enter. 
* Vide Travels in Western Australia, by Sir G. Grey, K.C.B., Vol. Il., p. 201. 
