Wellington Philosophical Society. 3G9 



employment of the Maori narrators in reducing these "war songs to writing 

 does not appear to be a reliable course to adopt in their collection, as it must 

 be a process of translation of a most complex kind, and must lead to the loss of 

 accuracy, both in matters of fact and in form of expression. 



A most interesting feature of the Maori language is the minute detail 

 with which natural objects have been discriminated and named. In other 

 savage races, such as the North' American Indians, even those tribes which 

 inhabited the thick forest country and had to obtain a livelihood by the 

 exercise of the most perfect foresight and accurate knowledge of the natural 

 phenomena by which they were surrounded, had only a few general names for 

 objects which were not of immediate and practical utility in their affairs of 

 eveiy-day life. But the Maoris appear to have possessed a pure love of 

 exercising their discriminating faculty. Every tree or shrub, useful or useless ; 

 nearly every fish, of large size or insignificant ; and even many insects and 

 lower forms of life, that would remain unnoticed by most Europeans unless 

 specially trained to the observation of such objects, have all distinctive 

 Maori names. The frequent reference made to natural objects in their 

 songs and traditions invests them with a richness of imageiy adapted 

 for the poetical expression of sentiments and emotions that could only 

 have been feebly, if they were at all, developed in the minds of the original 

 actore and narratore. One of the most important events, therefore, which 

 has to be chronicled for the past year, in connection with literature and science 

 in ISTew Zealand, is the classical embodiment of these ancient Maori traditions 

 and songs in the poem of " Ranolf and Amohia." 



All who love natural history have reason to feel grateful to the gifted 

 author of this work for the abundant allusions which he has made to the 

 characteristic features of the faima and flora of the country, and the care which 

 he has exercised in making his descriptions accurate. When a poet qualifies 

 himself to appreciate the precise relations of the objects that enter into the 

 scenes he depicts, he will find that it is not necessary to sacrifice either facility 

 or grace of expression in order to obtain the impressiveness which arises from 

 strict accuracy. 



From this point of view Mr. Domett's poetical descriptions of the natural 

 history of this new country cannot fail to aid in linking the sympathy of 

 literature and fancy with the study of science, and so do good service to those 

 objects which our Society has most in view. 



While referring to the poetical rendering of Maori legends, I must not 

 omit to mention the briefer, but commendable, poetical effort in the same 

 direction by our fellow-member Mr. G. H. Wilson, whose graceful and 

 vigorous pen has been devoted to the rendering of those legends which relate 

 to events that occurred in past time in our inunediate neighbourhood. 



