Canterbury and Westland. 425 



canoes in New Zealand, lie adds a footnote to No. 12 Te Rangi ua 

 mutu, which came to Rangatapu " On the arrival at that place they 

 saw stones like English flints and Moa bones. It is there that I also 

 discovered a large quantity of the bones of the Dinornis. The stones 

 were the stone-flakes used as knives which are still there found by the 

 side of the ancient ovens, a proof of their having belonged to a more 

 ancient race than the Polynesian." 



The Rev. "W*. Colenso, P.L.S., in his excellent essay " On the Maori 

 races of New Zealand," Yol. I. Transactions of the New Zealand Insti- 

 tute, on page 394, answers the question, Were there autochthones ? 

 — as follows. " Possibly, or rather, very likely — (a) From the fact 

 that no large island like New Zealand, however, distant from the nearest 

 land, is uninhabited, (b) Prom the fact, that nearly all the numerous 

 islands in the Pacific, though vastly smaller in size, teem with popula- 

 tion, (c) Prom the fact of a remnant, at present existing in the 

 Chatham Islands (the nearest land to New Zealand), of a race which is 

 allowed by the present New Zealander to be truly aboriginal, and 

 before them in occupation, (d) Prom their traditions and fear of 

 " wild men " in the interior, (e) Prom the allusions and even direct 

 statements in their traditionary myths of their having found inhabitants 

 on their arrival in the country, both at Waitara on the west coast of 

 the North Island, and at Eotorua in the interior. But if there were, 

 which appears very probable, they have been destroyed, or become 

 amalgamated with the present race." 



So far for the Northern Island. The traditions of the South Island 

 according to the valuable researches of the Rev. James "W. Stack, 

 published in Vol. X. of the "Transactions of the New Zealand Institute" 

 are not so distinct, but it is nevertheless evident, that before the 

 "Waitaha went to dwell in this Island other tribes of people had been 

 in existence. Mr. Stack calls the traditions concerning the first, 

 fabulous ; and the second, uncertain. He states that the KahuiTipua, 

 or ogre band, a mythical race, are said to have been the first occupants 

 of this land, they are described as giants and sorcerers. They were 

 succeeded by Te Rapuwai or Nga ai tanga a te Puhirire, who have left 

 traces of their occupation in the shell heaps, found both along the 

 coast and far inland. Then follows Waitaha, one of the original 

 immigrants from Hawaiki, the founder of the tribe, who came in the 

 canoe Arawa ; he or his immediate descendants peopled the South 

 Island, they are consequently the first inhabitants claiming to have 

 been immigrants from Hawaiki. 



