500 Proceedings. 



could be the liLstoiy of the tenure of lands they possessed, and with which 

 history those genealogies were associated. The ISIaoris tell us that they came 

 together from Hawaiki, that they rendezvoused at Ahuahu — hence the name of 

 that island — and that they found New Zealand inhabited by the descendants of 

 Tara, of Tuwhenua, and of Toe. Some chiefs of the present day trace their 

 lineage to this ancient race, which, judging from the traces we have of their 

 language, was probably a previous wave of immigration from a not very dis- 

 similar source. The early history of this race comes to us through the 

 Maoris, and is lost in mythology. The "ancient men of the island" were 

 hospitable to the Hawaikians, and the latter intermarried with then?, but 

 when, in the course of some 200 years, the Maori element had become 

 sufficiently strong wars ensued in many parts of the island, and the ancients 

 were annihilated in the Upper Thames, Tauranga, Rangitaiki, and Uriwera 

 districts. Such wars between the races were, however, not universal, and 

 the East Coast, from Poverty Bay to the Bay of Plenty, was free from them. 

 Mr. Wilson did not think that the recent discovery in the Barrack Hill, at 

 Auckland, could be associated with the Maori race any more than the hand 

 found at the Dome of Auvergne could be connected with the present people 

 of that place. 



Mr. Kirk thought Mr. Hood attached too much importance to the discovery 

 of the tree in question. It was quite true that the stump did bear marks as 

 if cut down by some rude implement, and that a rough stone adze was found 

 at some distance from the tree. He had examined it himself. The cuts from 

 opposite sides made into the tree were at slightly different levels, so that a 

 protuberance marked the mass of wood broken through as it fell. The des- 

 criptions of the layers of sand deposited by water, and the volcanic deposits 

 above, were also correct. But until further evidence had been adduced, or a 

 similar discovery made elsewhere, it was rash to decide finally on the 

 subject. He objected to the conclusions that had been drawn, based only on 

 this isolated fact. 



Mr. Hood thought Mr. Kirk's observations most satisfactory and con- 

 vincing. It mattered not with what implement the tree had been felled, as 

 long as it was proved that it had been so by the hand of man, and that its 

 situation left no doubt about its antiquity. Mr. Wilson had pointed out with 

 much force and justice the importance in a discussion regarding the age of the 

 Maori race to be given to the consideration of language — but we could scarcely 

 accept the proposition that the inhabitants of all the various scattered islands 

 of Polynesia have migrated from tlieir original home within the last 500 years. 

 Were it so, there would be some hope of determining even now where that 

 •was situated. The dialects have certainly become in places most remote very 

 little altered. He had heard Bishop Solwyn preach iu Maori to the natives 



