MAORI ANTHROPOLOGY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14246, 22 June 1908, Page 5

MAORI ANTHROPOLOGY

LECrURE BY DR BUCK-. 3?boi£ Oua Own CoaaEsjoi'fliUJi.) AUCKLAND, Juno 20. Lecturing on the Maori last night Dr Buck (Te Rangi Hiroa), Native Health Ollicer, Kiid it was not until the arrival of t tho Europeans that tho laihca attacked the Maori. Even at preswii. , time lie took religion very earnestly, "in. . 1814," ho said, " Marsden freaciisd hif first sermon to tha Maori pagan," and, if v/s are to acecpt Bishop Neligan's 6taieni&rc, ia ... 1914 tha Maori clergyman will' prciu'h. w tho European pagan." Summing up, hu said, civilisation, has done mo goad lor theMaori. "I do not hlamo tha pukoha. 1 blame civilisation. At the present timo it ■" is only a theory they do not ctrry out. There would not bs tie deaths of poverty tJiare are if it wero oarried out. There w®s too much for the Maori to assimilate in tho beginning, I am. afraid, but r.ow we uvo beginning to rally against tho dentis Juo to ignorance in the treatment .of disease." Going further hx-k into remote antiquity, tho Polynesians at oho timo formed part of a very ancient g.iugei;" race. Later tlioy had oome into contact with a Semitio or Jowish rare. Then, .-. between 500 and 400 8.C., the Aryans (according to Smith) pushed tho Polyncwuas into the .many island sea. " Now, 1 oral tradition, though marvellous in the' oase of tho Polynesians," said the lecturer, "cannot toll us of tho infancy of tha race any more than any of us' can recount our . own history from the moment we entered . the world, but language, customs, and. bodily conformation, are records more enduring tlhat tablets' of brass." The hmguago phase of the questions was dealt with first . in an intorsting manner, showing the oontact of the Polynesians with other races, and to confirm the theory advanced as to his origin. The science of anthropology, :: added Dr Buck, found race differences most clearly in stature and proportions of the limbs, conformation of tho skull and brain within, character of the foa.lares, etc., mental and moral temperament. Tho Eastern Polynesians were tho second tallest race in the world, and they could not, therefore, bo derived from tho Malay or Negritto raocs, both of whom woro short* , Their skulls in 'shape woro long-headed, /, liko' the northern division of the Caucasians. Tho braui was large, and in the first data as rogards size as in tho Caucasian and Mongol division. 'I'lie lecturer drew other. similar comparisons, adding that the uoso was somewhat flattened, probably from the habit of rubbing noses., "Tho well-made figures of the Polynesians, with woll-developed calvca and oval, pleasing faces, reminded tho early European explorers of tlioir own people," said Dr Buck. "The Caucasio theory is now accepted by most authorities, and, that being so, tho Polynesians are Caucasians of tho same division as yourselves, the A,nglo- ' , Saxons, who enjoy the honour of beinjj the highest developed branch of that division. Tho Polynesians woro tho forerunners of tho Aryan-speaking people. They broke the bounds of their ancient homes, and, overcoming all obstacles in. field, forest, and flood, plunged through mountain passes to tho ocean to carry the type, of tho Caucasian over the islands of the sea coast-, and south till no more islands lay empty before thorn and tliey had no more lands to conquer, though they sought them in tho Antarctic Ocean. Whether my ancestors came through the north-west passes into India or down through the ancient Empire of Irania, it little -matters. In one of these countries they came into contact with an Egyptian, Semitic, and Aryan influenco, all of which factors operated in the evolution of tho Maori. In Sumatra or Java they came into contact with another type of Cnucasic influence. They met with tho Indianosims, who had been more in contact. with the Mongols, and in the subsequent mixture of tho Caucasian races gave to the Polynesian the cult of the greenstone and tattooing."