54 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



the Eev. Eobert Pargiter, wlio for many years has been living in Ceylon, 

 and who is thoronghly conversant with the Tamil and some other oriental 

 languages ; and although that gentleman was not able to pronounce the 

 figures in question to have the exact form of any single Tamil character, he 

 thinks that there is some resemblance between No. 6 of Waikari rock 

 paintings and the sixth character, T H E of the inscription upon the 

 ancient Tamil bell, and of No. 21a, with the tenth letter, K U, of the 

 same inscription, counting both from the left. Mr. Pargiter makes, 

 however, another important suggestion, that the mscriptions, Nos. 6, 

 21, and 21a, may be the signatures of the artist, as, according to his 

 experience, the Tamil natives have a peculiar way of combining two or 

 more letters in one character, which is very difficult to decipher except by 

 the writer himself and those best acquainted with him. Thus, for instance, 

 in then- signatures, the natives combine generally the initials of their names, 

 and in this case. No. 21a, for instance, might be taken for M and S 

 combined, being, in fact, a monogram. 



Mr. Pargiter also informs me that No, 21 has some resemblance to one 

 of the Cingalese characters, which are generally formed by the combination 

 of circles. 



Note. — During the discussion as to the probable ages of the rock paintings 

 in the Weka Pass Eanges, I observed that the expression applied to them 

 by me, as being of great antiquity, gave rise to misunderstandings. In 

 using such expression I never dreamt to do so in the sense it is used in 

 the northern hemisphere, but only in reference to the short space of time 

 of which we have reliable traditional evidence in New Zealand. 



Appendix No. 1. 



Extract from a paper on the History of the South Island Natives. 



By the Eev. James W. Stack. 



Maori traditions trace the first occupation of this island back to Te Kahui 



TipUa (the monster herd or ogre band), a purely mythical race. They are 



described as giants, who could stride from mountain range to mountain 



range, swallow rivers, and transform themselves into anything animate or 



inanimate that they chose. They were succeeded by Te Eapuwai or 



Ngapuhi, who spread themselves over the greater part of the South Is,la;iid, 



and who have left traces of their occupation in the shell-heaps both along 



the coast and far inland. It was in their time that the country around 



Invercargill is said to have been submerged, the forests of Canterbury and 



Otago destroyed by fire, and the moa exterminated. The traditions relating 



to these people are so vague and fragmentary that very little rehance 



can be placed upon them. It is with the Waitaha that the first reliable 



