THE PRE-MAORI RACE

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 111, 11 May 1921, Page 3

THE PRE-MAORI RACE

EVIDENCE ACCUMULATING

OTHER ANCIENT DBAINS.

Widespread interest has been aroused by the publication of particulars of the evidences found in the Awanui Swamp, near Kaitaia, of an ancient civilisation, long anterior to the immigration of the Maori, and the subsequent exhibition at tho Auckland Museum of a curious carving, found ia the swamp, entirely unlike that of Maori artists. The curator of the museum, Mr. T. Oheeseman, has placed the exhibit in question, an old lintel, in close contiguity to a genuine Maori caryng of another lintel, found in the drained land of the Hauraki Plains, and the contrasted curios are daily attracting large numbers of visitors'. The discussion which has been aroused by Professor M'Millan _ Brown's articles commenting upon ancient Polynesian, art (says the New Zealand Herald) has led to the production of further evidence of the existence in long-past eras of an advanced race quite different from the Maori. , Tho writer of the original article upon the ancient drains in the Awanui Swamp has received an interesting letter from Mr. H. E. R. L. Wily, of Mauku, who says:—" I was a good deal interested in the matter, because exactly the same system of draining that you describe was apparent on my own land after 16ft of peat had. disappeared. A heavy forest and that depth of peat had grown since those drains were made. The drains, and a peculiar double-edged weapon of wood, of rapier-like form, which one of my men excavated from below two forests and 10ft of peat, with other presumptive evidence, induced me two or three years ago to write an article indicating my belief that New Zealand had been occupied by a numerous pre-Maori race. . . . I am convinced that there is a good deal of interesting work' ahead of anthropologists. I have never considered it was possible for a race like the Maoris to have executed in half-a-dozen centuries the heavy earthworks that are in evidence all over the country. It is very likely that when the Maoris came here they encountered only the decadent remnant of a once numerous and energetic people, but, of course, this is mere surmise." ' In the same letter Mr. Wily encloses a copy of a note published by Mr. Elsdon Best, of the Dominion Museum, upon the curious statite figure found on the Wily property. Describing it, Mr. Best says:—"The figurine is undoubtedly Oriental in design and workmanship. It reminds one of representations of the Manchus in old works. 'A work on the clay figurines of China contains no illustration resembling it. The object is 2|in in height, and lfin wide at the broadest part; material, a soft, friable soapstone. The figure seems to Ibe in a sitting position. There is no hole for. suspension. It is no rude :Nampa image, but a carefully-executed ■work, though having the grotesque aspect so common in Oriental designs. Some form pf turban-like dress is also depicted, also a loose cloak., or wide-sleeved garment. Tho round face shows a wide,' short nose. The hands clasp some long object of cylindrical form, the upper end of which seems to show something protruding, and the object bears two transverse serrated designs. The headdress sliows a wide pendant flap at the back. Altogether this snub-nosed Tartarlooking figure represents an interesting discovery when the conditions of that ' discovery are noted." ~