284 Dv A. Thomson on the Moa Caves of New Zealand. 



I have several of these sticks in my possession (Papatu- 

 puna, as they are called), and the names of the ancestral 

 chiefs of several tribes, written down from the mouth of well- 

 informed people among the natives. It would therefore 

 appear, taking the average of several tribes, that there have 

 been between eighteen and twenty-five generations of men, 

 since the arrival of the first settlers in New Zealand. The 

 tribes appear all to have arrived in the country at the same 

 time, although in different canoes ; and if we allow 22 years 

 as the average reign of each of the chiefs, this will indicate 

 that the present race of natives arrived in New Zealand four 

 or five hundred years ago ; in other words, they arrived about 

 the 15th century. My reason for assuming 22 years as the 

 average duration of the reign of each of the chiefs, is calcu- 

 lated in this way. In England, from William the Conqueror 

 to William the Fourth, thirty -four sovereigns reigned for 

 763 years, which gives 22J years as the average length of 

 each reign, including those who died by violent deaths. 



It is difficult to ascertain what number of generations of 

 New Zealanders have passed away since the time when the 

 first settlers of the present race of natives landed in New 

 Zealand ; because it appears they were often in the habit of 

 recording the names of the brothers of the chiefs, as well as 

 the chiefs themselves, — a practice which is apt to lead to the 

 supposition that more generations of natives have passed 

 away than ever did exist. There are two genealogical trees, 

 however, which relate to the tribes Ngaiterangi and Ngati- 

 wakaue, on which I place much reliance, because these genea- 

 logical trees were carefully investigated before the resident 

 magistrate at Rotorua, in order to ascertain which of these 

 tribes had a right to the island of Motiti in the Bay of Plenty; 

 and as a test of the accuracy of the genealogical evidence, 

 the statements of each party were carefully inquired into by 

 the opposite party. 



It requires a circumstance like this, or some historical in- 

 quiry, to excite the New Zealanders to tax their memories 

 about their ancestors ; otherwise a natural delicacy, or a fear 

 of saying anything that may lead to mischief, makes them 

 avoid the subject, unless specially inquired about. 



