404 Essays. 



52. Furtlier, it is believed that it will also be satisfactory briefly to 

 consider the first emigrants mentioned in the New Zealand traditionary 

 myths ; — the persons and their doings. The names of several canoes are 

 given, also of their crews or leaders ; their marvellous adventures by the 

 way ; the numerous things they brought to New Zealand ; and the height of 

 the men, " 9 and 11 feet." Also, that some of them had previously discovered 

 New Zealand, in a voyage of exploration purposely made hither, and having 

 coasted and visited different parts of it, had returned to the mother country 

 and had been the means of others coming to New Zealand to settle ; and 

 that many of the canoes, on reaching the land of New Zealand, immediately 

 set about circumnavigating the Northern Island, &c., &c. In all this 

 mythical rhapsody there is scarcely a grain of truth ; and yet some educated 

 Europeans have wholly believed it. The New Zealanders themselves, how- 

 ever, never did so. The names of the canoes and of the leaders are nearly 

 all figurative names suitably coined in the New Zealand tongue, and given 

 after the event ; several of the latter being also the names of ideal beings 

 in their mythology. They are all said to have come from one place ; but it 

 has been shown, and any one may yet see, that they evidently came from 

 several, as their sub-dialects, still partly extant, clearly show. They are also 

 said to have come by several consecutive migrations ; this alone would 

 require a very long time. Their adventures on the way, their enchantments, 

 battles, and charms, excelling those of Munchausen or Grulliver, are suited, 

 perhaps, for the region of romance, but ought to have no place in any 

 reasonable inquiry. Among the numerous things said to have been brought 

 by them to New Zealand, were several of the loild New Zealand birds, such 

 as the swamp ^zf^^-^o, the green parroquet, the woodhen, and many others ; 

 also the New Zealand rat ! and, with the exotic plants, the luircika tree, 

 which last they everywhere planted; but, unfortunately for them, the tree is 

 not found anywhere else ; the canoes Avhich brought them are spoken of 

 as being only ordinary canoes, and some even small, yet to contain 140 

 men ! And, while several kinds of food {iised hy JVeiu Zealanders) are 

 spoken of, no mention whatever is made of any of the peculiar edible pro- 

 ductions of the islands ; or of ivater, none of the Polynesian islanders having 

 any large water-holding vessels. Some of their leaders are described as 

 leaving in great haste and flying for their lives, others as being of monstrous 

 size, and able to accomplish anything — even to run to the top of the mountain 

 Tongariro, or to dive under the island and emerge on the other side, or to 

 tame whales — nevertheless to be subject to all the common infirmities of 

 smaller and ordinary men. 



53. To return — the question put (par. 50, sec. 4) has not yet been 

 answered, — Whence came the Maori — the Polynesian race? It is not, how- 



