70 
The N.Z., Journal of Science and Technology. [April 
Some writers appear to believe that the ancestors of the Polynesians 
were acquainted with some form of script; but, if so, it must have been 
at a period very far back in the history of the race, otherwise the quijm 
system would not have been employed. There is no evidence to show 
that the apparently symbolic script of Easter Island was known in other 
isles, or even that it was of Polynesian origin. At p. 112 of vol. 23 of the 
Journal of the Polynesian Society may be seen some remarks on what is 
referred to as “ picture writing ” formerly employed by the Maori. The 
specimens given show the term “ picture writing ” to be a misnomer ; they 
are shown to be arbitrary symbols, a certain device representing a phrase. 
This script is said to have been brought from the homeland of the race, 
and to have been incised or otherwise marked on the walls of a cave called 
Te Ana Whakairo, situated in the South Island. We have no other evidence 
to support this statement, and the question must ever remain a doubtful 
one. 
Christian, in his work on the Caroline Islands, tells us that a certain 
Padre Jose informed him that upoli the walls of a cave near the village of 
Ina-rahan, Guam, were inscribed hieroglyphical characters, the work of a 
chieftainess of the island. Such representations, however, often prove on 
examination to be very disappointing. Hale states that the natives of 
Ponape sent messages in the form of leaves of a certain tree, the points of 
which were folded inwards in different ways to express different meanings. 
This seems to imply something more than mnemonics. The rude message- 
sticks of Fijians were probably a mere aid to memory, but the carefully 
prepared ones of the Australian natives may have represented a more 
advanced system. During his second voyage Cook carried a young native 
of the Society Isles to Easter Island, New Zealand, and other places. Of 
this native G. Forster wrote : “At New Zealand he had collected a number 
of little slender twigs, which he carefully tied in a bundle, and made use of 
instead of journals. For every island which he had seen and visited, after 
his departure from the Society Isles, he had selected a little twig, so that 
his collection amounted at present to nine or ten, of which he remembered 
the names perfectly well in the same order as we had seen them. He 
inquired frequently how many other countries we should meet with in our 
way to England, and formed a separate bundle of them, which he studied 
every day with equal care as the first.” At Easter Island, Forster adds, 
“ He added another stick to the bundle which composed his journal, and 
remembered Easter Island with this observation : c Ta’ata maitai, whenua 
ino ’ (Good people, poor land).” Now, surely this accoimt presents to us a 
very simple form of memory aids. Polack mentions a somewhat similar 
incident as having occurred during his sojourn at Uawa in. the “ thirties ’ 
of last century. A native had undertaken to carve for him a canoe stern- 
post for a remuneration of six sticks of tobacco. On the completion of the 
task the native presented his accoimt in the form of six pieces of stick tied 
together with a strip of flax. 
In his Story of New Zealand Thomson states that the Maori occasionally 
conveyed information to distant tribes during war by marks on gourds. 
He may have been referring to modern times, since the acquisition by natives 
of our system of writing ; but why select so cumbrous and unsuitable a 
medium as a gourd ? This statement has not been corroborated, and as 
a pre-European usage we know it not. Of a similar nature is a note I 
have concerning a peculiar recording-stave called rahau whaJcaari, and 
also ahorangi. This was a piece of dressed timber having three sides, and 
so a triangular cross-section. On the longitudinal edges were cut notches 
