REMARKABLE MEMORY
MAORI'S ANCESTRY THOUSAND NAMES INVOLVED In the course of an' address at the Victoria League's At Home in Dunedin last week, Dean Cruickshank stated that the European had taught the Maori to rely upon the written word instead of upon his remarkable memory. As an illustration of the powers of memorising possessed by the Maoris ho told of a native who, in giving evidence before a commission in the North Island, had repeated the names of his ancestors for three days, over 1000 names being involved. No one had been able to contradict him, but if be could have been tripped his claim to certain land would have been disputed. After the Maori's feat bad been completed the commission had taken an early adjournment, and the chairman, passing a near by hotel a few minutes later, had heard the now familiar voice exclaim: "1 have kept going for three good days. Now I think I can have three beers instead of two."
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New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21503, 29 May 1933, Page 11
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164REMARKABLE MEMORY New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21503, 29 May 1933, Page 11
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