COOK ISLANDS NATIVES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19470, 28 October 1926, Page 10

COOK ISLANDS NATIVES.

1 CULTURE AND HISTORY.' 3 INVESTIGATION BY DR. BUCK. j ' [by telegraph.—OWN correspondent.] WELLINGTON, Wednesday... ■ j Dr. P. .H. Buck,, director .of. Maori . hygiene, returned by the steamer Makura 2 after a.three months' visit, to .the. Cook Islands on behalf of the Maori" Exifhnological Research Board, in order to carry out inquiries into the material culture" i and physical characteristics of the 1 natives of the Lower Cook Islands. ... The system of measurement followed by 3 the Bishop Museum in its work- in Polynesia has been adopted by the . board, with certain modifications. .At Aitutaki, 150 adults of pure Aitutaki blood were . measured, and these will form the- first j set of definite measurements of the i natives of the Cook. Islands . .. ... r Ruatapa, a common ancestor of the > Maoris and the Aitutakians, lived at I Aitntaki, and various incidents in connec-. ; tion with his history were demonstrated by a dance. Many points in. Maori tradition which seemed exaggerated or mythical were also cleared up by a plain-matter-of-fact story which is current at-. I Aitutaki. . , Dr. Buck hopes to produce the results of his investigations of the materialcul- , ture of the natives of the Cook Islands ; as a distinct monograph to be published . by the Board of Maori Ethnological Refsearch. ■ Dr. Buck praises the administration of' the islands, where, he says, great pro- \ gress is being made, and the population is increasing.