CoLENSO. — On the Maori Baces of Neio Zealand. 395 



(the nearest land to New Zealand) , o£ a face which is allowed by the present 

 New Zealanders to be truly aboriginal, and before them in occupation, (d.) 

 IVom their traditions, and fear of " wild men" in the interior, (e.) From the 

 allusions, and even direct statements, in their traditionary myths, of their 

 having found inhabitants on their arrival in the country, both at "Waitara, 

 on the west coast of the North Island, and at Eotorua, in the interior. But 

 if there were, which appears very probable, they have been destroyed, or 

 become amalgamated with the present race. 



(3.) Did the immigrants come from the nearest land ? — Australia, &c. 

 No : proved by their being a wholly distinct race, in appearance, civilization, 

 manners, customs, habits, and language. 



(4.) Whence, then, came they ? Before entering on this question, it 

 should be carefully noted that could the island be clearly shown whence 

 they came, such would not really answer the question ; it would only remove 

 it a step further off. In reply to this : — 



(i.) Yery little can be gathered from their own traditions worthy of any 

 credit ; save that (a) some arrived hither in canoes ; and (h) that those 

 arrivals were successive. Even these two postulates could scarcely be 

 allowed, were it not for two facts — first, that their only cultivated vegetables 

 were exotics ; and, second, that the principal different tribal or district 

 varieties among the New Zealanders — as seen in physiology, language, and 

 traditions — partly coincide with what at present obtains in some of the 

 Island groups. The use of the nasal sound ng by two-thirds of the New 

 Zealanders agrees with the iisage in the Tonga, Samoan, and Hervey 

 Islands ; the omission of the h, and the substituting instead of a peculiar 

 click (as done by the Cook Strait and West Coast New Zealanders), agree 

 with those of Austral Island and Earotonga ; and the dropping of the nasal 

 sound ng by the natives of the Bay of Plenty, and using n instead, agree 

 with those of Marquesan, Society, and Sandwich Islands ; while the New 

 Zealand use of the Jc agrees with that of the Hervey and the Friendly 

 Islands. 



(ii.) In their traditionary myths, the New Zealanders also say that they 

 came hither from "Hawaiki." The writer was formerly of opinion (in 

 1835-6, which has subsequently been taken up as valid by several others), 

 that this Hawaiki was identical with the Sandwich Islands, or Hawaii, the Tc 

 being dropped according to the rules of their dialect ; but he has long given 

 that up as untenable : (1) from the utter impossibility of their having come 

 that distance (65° of latitude) against the prevailing wiads in their frail 

 open canoes ; and (2) from the irreconcilable differences which exist in 

 their habits, customs, manufactures, traditions, and religion. By way of 

 illustration, the following may be here briefly mentioned, bearing in mind, 



