5B Transactions, — Mhcdlancous.^ 



to siTpsrnatural beings ; tlie uncertain relate to tliose tribes wliich have 

 perished, and whose only memorial is contained in the fragmentary notices 

 Avhich occur in tJie story of those who superseded and survive them ; the 

 reliable comprise the history of Ngai Tahu during the last 200 years. 



But as the reliability of any oral tradition may fairly be questioned, I 

 will endeavour to show why these may be considered worthy of credit, 

 and also how, in the absence of a written language, the Maoris were 

 enabled accurately to preserve their history. Every tribe was composed of 

 hapus, and every hapu of families. Each family, hapu, and iwi carefully 

 preserved the names of their ancestors, and their ancestors' wives and 

 ofi'spring. In transmitting this knowledge, the greatest care was taken to 

 avoid errors, because, as the Maoris were very punctilious in the matter of 

 precedence, a mistake made on the occasion of any public assembly of the 

 tribes might be construed into an insult, and result in a blood feud. Such 

 mistakes were all the more likely to happen from the custom which pre- 

 vailed, when speaking of a chief, of alluding to hina as a relation— "Brother, 

 uncle, son, grandson, nephew, brother-in-law," etc., etc. A very accurate 

 knowledge of tribal genealogies was therefore required to enable a speaker 

 to apply to any given person that term which exactly described the rank to 

 which he was entitled in the tribe. This knowledge was not confined to a 

 class of learned genealogists, but was possessed by every rangatira or native 

 gentleman. To acquire it, each one from childhood up was obliged to make 

 this subject a constant study; and the public recitals which were held at 

 frequent intervals kept the names and the facts connected with them always 

 fresh in their memories ; for, besides the names of their ancestors 

 it vv'as held to be of equal importance to know the deeds for which they 

 were distinguished. The value attached by the Maoris to land is too 

 well knovai. From the time that the first arrivals from Hawaiki ascended 

 the highest mountains to partition all the country they could see from 

 thence amongst themselves, the title to land has been a fruitful source of 

 strife. Every part of the country was owned and named. Not only were 

 the large mountains, rivers, and plains named, but every hillock, streamlet, 

 and valley. These names frequently contained allusions to persons or 

 events, and thus served to perpetuate the memory of them and to preserve 

 the history of the past. Every Maori was required to know by what title 

 the land claimed by his tribe was held, whether by right of original occupa- 

 tion, conquest, purchase, or gift ; and thus it happened that traditions 

 relating to the same transactions were preserved by tribes whose interests 

 were antagonistic ; and several opportunities have been afforded in recent 

 times of comparing these accounts, which have been transmitted for several 

 generations through separate and independent channels, and they have 



