THE EARLY MAORI.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 January 1923, Page 6

THE EARLY MAORI.

LOVE OF EXPLORATION. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Jan. 16. Tn a paper dealing with the “Extraordinary Geographical Sense of the Old Time Maori,” delivered before the Science Congress by Mr. James Cowan. Arabia, by strong racial affinities, was given as the birthplace of the Maori nation, its genius for seamanship and navigation being derived from the ancestry of Arabian litoral Arabs, The Maoris’ love of exploration found expression from Indonesia eastward. The trade winds carried him from Tahiti to Rarotonga, and to the Kermadoes, which, with islands since lost, served as steering landmarks and resting places. As an example of the Maori genius as geographers was instanced nomenclature. The South Island is Maui’s canoe, Stewart Island its anchor. Kaikoura Peninsula its thwart; North Island, Maui’s fish, the bend of Hawke’s Bay hi«s fish-hook. The Maori named living and extinct volcanoes and enshrouded them in mythical poesy. Tamatea Pokai W-hcnue (Tamatea who penetrates land) was a true type of pathfinder and topographer. Six centuries ago ho traversed the whole length of the South Island and passed through the heart of the North Island to the East Cape. Tepuoho in 1836 led a war party from Nelson down the West Coa.it to the Haast River, over the Haast Pass to Wanaka, thence through Otago.