Wellington PJiilosojjhicaJ Societi/. 427 



This was the last of a series of five papers devoted to an inquiry on the "Whence of 

 the Maori." The author explained the various steps he had taken in his investigations — 

 (1) ethnological, (2) philological, and latterly, glossarial. He by this means originally 

 traced the connections between the various tribes of Polynesia, Malaya, and Madagascar, 

 and latterly the affinities between them and the primitive races of Hindostan. During 

 his enquiries his attention had wide scope, he having had to scrutinize about 150 vocabu- 

 laries of Asia, 200 of Africa, 25 of Australia, and 50 of America, in none of which, 

 outside of the area occupied by the Malagas-Malayo-Polynesian races, had he detected 

 root or fossil words, excepting in Hindostan and borders, and exceptionally on the east 

 coast of Africa, near to Madagascar. All the evidence adduced, including that of fossil 

 words, pointed to archaic Hindostan as the original seat of the Malagas-Malayo-Poly- 

 nesian race. That country was therefore the " whence of the Maori," a fact particularly 

 interesting to New Zealand settlers. To get rid of a long name for one race, he had 

 taken the liberty to call them Barata, ancient Hindostan having been termed the land of 

 Barat by the Malays, as expressed by their poetry — to wit : Angin Barat galombang 

 suhssei, ahioh nona, etc. ; as by the Hindoos, Bharata, and as by the Malagasi, Avaratra, 

 all one word, according to the phonology of each language. This interference with the 

 dogmas of old New Zealand writers and historians was no doubt very obnoxious, yet he 

 would hold to the designation till he saw some facts brought forward to overturn his theory. 

 The author next alluded to subsequent glossarial though pre-historic influences in the lan- 

 guages of the Malay Archipelago, particularly of the Aryan or Sanscritic, which, though 

 imposing many words, these, in no case were radicals. Later again, and within historic 

 times, Arabic, Persian, and even Portuguese, had affected the languages, but only in a simi- 

 lar manner. None of these languages had imposed a single word on Polynesia, the Arabic 

 alone having had slight influence on Malagasi as regarded tertiary terms. The whole 

 inquiry indicated a very remote or archaic connection between the insular tropical tribes 

 extending from Madagascar to Easter Island and the Land of Barat, i.e., — ancient 

 Hindostan. 



In the discussion that succeeded, Dr. Buller made remarks on the Moriori of the 

 Chatham Islands ; Mr. Knorpp, on the Todas of the Nilgherries iu India ; the Hon. Mr. 

 Waterhouse, on Sanscrit in Polynesia ; Mr. Chapman, on the physical geography of the 

 area occupied, on the Tamil Bell,* on the navigation between Sumatra and Madagascar, 

 and on the ideal continent once occupying the site of the Pacific Ocean ; — to all of which 

 the author shortly replied. 



3. "Moriori Connection," by J. TunibuU Thomson, F.E.G.S., etc. 

 {Transactions, p. 237.) 



Fifth Meeting. Idth September, 1879. 

 Martin Chapman, Vice-president, in the chair. 



1. " On the Medical Aspects of Education " (Part II.), by W. G. Kemp, 

 L.E.C.P.Lond., M.E.C.S.Eng. {Appendix.) 



Mr. Woodward thanked the author for having drawn attention to this subject in such 

 a carefully thought out paper. He stated that the questions of lighting and seats would 

 in future receive more consideration. 



* Vide Trans. N.Z, Inst., Vol. IV., p. 40, and plate, 



