72 The N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology. [April 
In Williams’s Missionary Enterprises is an entertaining account of the 
effect of written language on a Cook Islands native. Williams wrote a 
message to his wife on a piece of wood, asking her to send him a certain 
implement by the native bearer. The latter refused to believe that a chip 
of wood could convey a message, and, when convinced of it, he tied a cord to 
the marvellous chip and carried it suspended from his neck, possibly to serve 
as a talisman. Mariner, in his account of the Tonga Islands, relates a yet 
more amusing story of the effect of written language on the native mind. 
A chief named Finau told Mr. Mariner to write his name on a piece of paper. 
Mariner did so, in the form “ Feenow,” when another European was asked 
what the markings meant. On the name being read, Finau was greatly 
astonished. He examined the writing, and said : “ This is neither like 
myself nor anybody else. Where are my eyes ? Where is my head ? 
Where are my legs ? How can you possibly know it to be I ? ” When 
writing was first made known at Maunga-pohatu, inland of the Bay of 
Plenty, many precautions were taken by the natives to prevent collusion 
between the visitors who had brought with them the knowledge of writing. 
In the final test one of the visitors was taken to a hamlet a mile away, and 
the two were induced to send written messages, &c., back and forth for 
some time. Conviction at length came, and the bashmen of Tuhoe mar¬ 
velled at the amazing powers of the fair-skinned “ sea-demons.” George 
Forster, in his narrative of Cook’s second voyage, sp'eaks of the effect of 
written language on natives of the New Hebrides, and of how puzzled they 
were in finding that it was possible to preserve sounds by such means as 
pencil and paper. 
The Maori employs the word tuhituhi to denote our writing, tuhi meaning 
to delineate, to mark as with a pattern. Occasionally the term whakairo 
is used, which means to adorn or mark with a design. Thus this word is 
applied to tattooing, to wood-carving, and to woven and painted designs, 
as well as to writing, this latter being, of course, a very modern application. 
As already observed, the Maori displayed eagerness to acquire the know¬ 
ledge of reading and writing. Many, including aged persons, flocked to 
the schools instituted by the missionaries, and a much greater number 
learned from those who had attended such schools. Thus the knowledge 
of writing spread rapidly, and in 1842 it was reported that three-fourths of 
the native folk of New Zealand could read and write. Speaking of visiting 
a village in the Hauraki district in the “ thirties ” of last century, the Bev. 
Mr. Wade wrote : “ On learning that I was a missionary they inquired for 
books, and completely teased me for instruction. One of them planed some 
pieces of board for me to write lessons on, and they were highly delighted 
with what I wrote. .. . . The New-Zealanders who learn to write are 
very fond of exercising their newly acquired power. Paper, slates, pieces 
of board, and korari [Phormium ] leaves are all in turn put in requisition 
to convey their thoughts one to another. Their love-letters are handed 
along the line of conveyance for public inspection.” Angas, who traversed 
the North Island some years after Wade’s journey, wrote : “ One of our 
natives constantly carries a slate in his hand, and whenever we halt to rest 
he amuses himself by working sums in arithmetic. . . . They are very 
fond of teaching others, and many individuals in the interior who had no 
instruction whatever from the missionaries' have acquired the arts of read¬ 
ing and writing merely by aid of these native instructors, who have a pride 
in communicating their new acquirements.” 
In those days a much-favoured substitute for writing-paper was the 
smooth leaf of our native flax, so called—the Phormium tenax of the 
