Vaux.—On the Probable Origin of the Maori Races. 5 
stranded, is just the sort of incident which would be remembered by an 
unlettered but observant people, while the further statement that one of 
the chiefs was so pleased with the beauty of the raia, then im full bloom, 
that he cast aside the red feathers he was wearing in his head-dress, to don, 
instead, a circlet of its flowers, is a perfectly natural act, but one, too, which 
would hardly have been thought of, for the purpose of record, had it not 
actually oceurred. This legend has this further value, that it shows that 
the arrival of the Maoris must have been in the middle of summer, when 
the rata is in flower. I confess I don’t see any reason why this story — 
should not be accepted in favour of the Maori immigrants, just as readily 
as the notice, in the ‘“‘ Antiquitates Americane,’’ of the number of hours 
the sun was above the horizon on the shortest day in ‘“ Vinland” (i. e. 
Narraganset) proving as this observation does, the. latitude of the country 
discovered by the old Icelandic voyagers to the West.” 
Indeed the long persistency of the Maori traditions and their striking 
similarity, naturally gives much support to our belief in their general 
truth ; while, unless the conviction of their solid foundation had been fully 
present to the native mind, we could have hardly conceived the possibility 
of what is nevertheless literally true, that, only about twenty-five years 
ago, a family at Tauranga fitted out and provisioned a canoe for the 
purpose of visiting the homes of their ancestors ;+ and, more than this, 
that this is not the only instance in which similar schemes have been 
entertained and in part carried out. To have thought of such a thing at 
all, especially as they could have had no definite idea of the direction in 
which they ought to steer their vessel, proves the vitality of their belief in 
their traditions, and shows withal no little daring and love of adventure ; 
for the smaller canoes, now or recently in use in New Zealand, could 
hardly have withstood the billows of the ocean, as did the great double 
canoes described by Tasman in 1642. 
It is a popular idea that ignorance of writing tells with fatal effect 
against the preservation of early traditions: yet it is certain that there 
is scarcely any limit to the power of memory when exercised on one or a 
* « Antiquitates Americane”’’ (Rain) Copenh. 1837, p. 32. 
+ Old traditions brought by the few Maoris who first landed in. New Zealand would 
be preserved, and, perhaps, also, accounts of some of their early wars, but the daily 
incidents of the expanding population in the new country would not be preserved. Asa 
rule, the histories we learn at school are better impressed on our memories, than the 
historical incidents during our own lifetime. Incidents occurring in savage or un- 
civilized states of society, must be surrounded by romance, and elaborated by a 
generalizing mind, before they pass into tradition or literature. 
