1 64 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



plural demonstrative particle. Ai tanga means the begotten, a of, te the, 

 Puhirere (name of the father). With all but the last word, there is no need 

 for further enquiry, as Nc/a cannot be identified in any way with Naga, the 

 great serpent. But what the meaning of Puhirere is, may be open to dis- 

 cussion. Pu has many meanings classed by Williams under headings : — 

 1. Bunch, heap. 2. To blow. 3. Precise. 4. Loathing. 5. Gun. Puhi, 

 one betrothed ; knot on the head ornamented with feathers or flowers. 

 Rere, means to fly. 



The name Nga Puhi is borne by one of the most powerful tribes in the 

 country, and when the chiefs have been asked about the derivation of their 

 tribal designation, they have explained it, as being derived from the Ptihi, 

 or feather-ornaments of the canoe in which their ancestors came from 

 Hawaiki. Puhirere may, I think, be freely rendered: "The streaming 

 feather-ornament of the head." Nga Puhi, or Nga aitanga a te Puhirere 

 will then mean, '■'■the begotten of the streaming feather-ornament ;" the ancestor 

 being probably distinghished by some peculiar head-gear. The South 

 Island Nga Puhi were descendants of Awatopa, and consisted of three 

 sections : Puhi kai ariki, Puhi-manawanaiva, and Matukicherekoti ; and it 

 was their tribe that succeeded the Kahui Tipua. 



In connection with the name Puhi, attention is drawn to the fact, that a 

 kind of eel is known by that name, but tuna, and not puhi, is the generic 

 name. Puhi is merely the distinctive name of a variety, and is descriptive 

 of some peculiarity. 



I do not wish to be understood as criticizing the theory under considera- 

 tion in a hostile spirit — far from it ; but I am reluctantly forced to the 

 conclusion, that the evidence furnished by the legends regarding the Kahui 

 Tipua, does not support it. 



The evidence of the eastern origin of the Maori is daily accumulating, 

 and, at the same time, indications are found of the presence, in past ages, of 

 people in these southern lands, who must have differed in many respects 

 from the present inhabitants. The discovery by Sir George Grey* in 1839, 

 of rock-paintings in Australia, which he said could not have been done by 

 the blacks ; aild the subsequent discovery near Mount Elephant, in Victoria, 

 of circles of stone resembling Druidical remains ; regarded in connection 

 with the gigantic statues in Easter Island, the ancient roadways of masonry 

 in Samoa, and the rock-paintings in our own country, all open up a wide 

 and interesting field for speculation and research, into which it is to be 

 hoped that many like-minded with Mr. Mackenzie Cameron will enter. 



* Vide Travels in Western Australia, by Sir G. Grey, K.C.B., Vol. II., p. 201, 



