THE CHATHAM ISLANDERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18174, 21 August 1922, Page 9

THE CHATHAM ISLANDERS.

Sir,—No, I cannot recall ever having heard the Moriori use the word "morehu. ' Their word for what " rnorehu" mean% is " tchong." I may further explain that the Moriori vocabulary was restricted to purely common everyday matters. Their sentiment, poetry, and romance were childishly simple and crude. It may not always have been so in their earlier ages, before isolation to an absolute non-inter-couree with strangers degraded their intellectu.il status to the low standard that astonished even the Maori, who in tho main was a tolerant master to slaves, even to the extent of admiring and manumitting a slave of extra ability. Neither can I detect a community of meaning in " morehu," " Moriori/' and " Maori." Still the idea is interesting. 1 hone this will satisfy the inquiry of M.J.G. W.B. Otorohanga.

Sir, —I have read W.B.'s letter in the Herald of August 14, in which he endeavours to justify the odiums in the arfc*tle, 'An Extinct Race,'' by explaining that such referred only to an aboriginal race. Wonderful logic! If, then, a race is an aboriginal one bordering on the verge of extinction, an invidious article ia the most suitable form of recording their history. Why not leave them alone? W.B.'s expressed friendship with Paranihi and Horomona is difficult to reconcile with his article, since they could scarcely feel flattered with his disparaging "prattle" concerning their departed ancestors. He scoffs at the idea of the Moriori reaching the Chathams by canoe, yet offers no explanation as to their presence on the island. He would impress his readers —want of space prevented him doing full justice to his subject; after writing four columns in the Herald supplement, he fails to elucidate any intelligence worth recording as Polynesian history. Fair Play.

Sir, —May- I be permitted to suggest that your correspondent M.J.G. would endeavour to deduce too much from the possible existence of the word " morehu" in the vocabulary of the Moriori? lam no authority on" the people of the Chathams, but I believe I was right in inferring from W.B.'s interesting articles, that these people did not speak a Polynesian language. Hence if the word in question did happen to be in use among them, it would be proof of nothing other than' Maori influence. According to W.B. the Moriori looked on the Maori as a superior being whom it would be well to imitate, and it. would seem that both his language and his mythology became tainted with Maori introductions. What then would be more natural than that this Maori custom of referring to one's raoe as " the fragments," should be adopted by the Morioris, to whom the description would be more applicable even than to the Maoris? Leaving aside the question of " inorehu," I should like to point out that even if the Morioria had spoken a pure Polynesian language, this would be no j proof that they belonged to the Polynesian race. Language is almost entirely valueless as a test of race; tho Polynesians themselves are probably now speaking a language that was utterly unknown to them when they commenced the great migration that has brought them thus far from the ultimate " Hawaiki" —that great " whence?" of Mdori and Samoan and Tongan alike, which may have been Japan, or India, or Central Europe, or even, as some have deemed, judging by the cheerful pugnacity shown by two widely separated races, the Emerald Island itself! Nevertheless, the custom referred to by M.J.G. ia interesting to one who ooncerns himseH with tho prehistoric history of th# Maori. The question naturally arises, " Why morehu? —" Why fragments—survivors?" Does this refer to losses on the great migration ? Does it imply a time when the Maori waa more numerous in New Zealand than at the advent of the pakeha? Or is the term merely a recent usage, springing up after the white man's firearms (and firewater?) had begun to make their mark on the Maori race? Or again, is the usage found not merely in Now Zealand, but throughout the whole of Polynesia? If so it may indicate the possible cause of the original exodus from the first " Hawaiki." I should be glad indeed if some of your correspondents could venture an answer to some of these questions. Angus Macsporran.