THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE MAORI.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 3330, 12 January 1898, Page 2

THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE MAORI.

A CHAT WITH MR S. PERCY SMITH. Mr S. Percy Smith, Surveyor • General, returned to Wellington by the Takapuna yesterday afternoon after an absence of six months pleasantly and instructively spent in the South Sea Islands, notably Samoa, Tahiti, Rarotonga, Tonga and Honolulu. Mr Smith explained to a representative of The Tidies who called upon him at his residence last night that the result of Lis researches has been of a rc/ist satisfactory character, and that he has gle\ncd a quantity of most interesting information,which will be detailed all in good time in the Polynesian Journal, of which lie is a co-editor. Mr Smith’s theory is that the Maoris originally came from India, whence they were driven by tbo Aryan invasion, and that the race has gradually worked to the eastward, travelling from group to group of the islands, but, owing to the entire absence of authentic records, he has not been able to establish the earlier connecting links, though ho ia certain, from tho investigations he has made, that there was a time in the history of tho Polynesian race when large numbers of them occupied the Fiji group at the same time that Tonga and Samoa were also occupied by them ; that through ’.causes which are not very clear these occupiers of the Fiji group abandoned that locality, and made a descent upon Samoa. Tbo invaders remained at the latter place for several generations, but stiifo arose, and they were ejected by the Samoans, and camo on to Eastern Polynesia, occupying iu turn Raiatea, Tahiti, Paumotu. the Marquesas and Rarotonga. After alternating amongst these groups for sonic generations—and apparently giving full evidence of a combative disposition meanwhile • they wore eventually ejected 21 generations ago (25 years be*ng a generation for the purposes of thia computation , and came in a fleet of canoes to settle in what ia now known as New Zealand. On their way along they called at Rarotonga, where their arrival and departure were found to be on record. The name of the five celebrated Maori canoes arc well known to Rarocongans, and tho place whence they took their departure —Arorangi—is still tho name of a largo settlement at Rarotonga. It appears from tho evidence available that those canoes were of Icolossal construction, and joined together by moans of substantial platforms, ui.ou which | shelter houses were erected Anyhow, they must have been thoroughly seaworthy, for it was no uncommon thing, after New Zealand became a Maori settlement, for the inhabitants to travel to and fro to the tropical islands in those craft, which apparently were propolled principally by sail. The fleet of which we have spoken appears to have been guided in tbe direction in which they were to steer to reach New Zealand by a man named Nga-ue, who bad previously made a voyage of discovery on his own account, and brougbtbaok the tokamatie, tbe translation of which ia “ greenstone,” and also some potted remains of a large bird which he called the moa. Those who remember Maori traditions will recognise that this is identical with the Mam story. The Earotongan stories also confirm those of the Maoris in regard to tho Takitumu canoe which formed part of tho fleet, but returned to Rarotonga and never went back to New Zealand. It was jnst about the time of the expulsion of the Maoris from Samoa that tho celebrated voyages, referred to in Fornauder’a history, between tbe Tahiti group and tho Sandwich Islands took place, and hence it ia that the Maoris, tho Tahitians, the Karotongans, and the Hawaiians have ancestors incommon, the descent of the ancestors being handed down to. the present day in all the groups mentioned. It is certain that these migrations must have entailed tremendous hardships upon those who voyaged to and fro under such crude, rough-and-ready conditions, and it would have gone hard indeed with the original settlers of thee© islands if they had not brought with them the yam and other root plants from the places whence they came, and found nourishment here dso in the indigenous fern roots, &o. In addition to the data from the Islands, Mr Smith has brought from Honolulu a number of documents relating to the history and traditions of the Marquesas, formerly belonging to an old-time trader named Lawson. The details of his researches will be eagerly looked for by a large circle of stndonta.