THE OLD-TIME MAORI.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16941, 16 January 1923, Page 7

THE OLD-TIME MAORI.

HIS GEOGRAPHICAL SENSES. (Pr.n. Press Association.) WELLINGTON, January 3 6. In a paper dealing with the extraordinary geographical sense of the old tame. .Maori delivered before the Science Congress by Mr James Cowan, Arabia, by its strong racial affinities, vas given as the birthplace of the Maori nation, the genius for seamanship and navigation being derived from file ancestry of the Arabian Littoral Arabs. The Ma’ori’s lovo of exploration, Mr Cowan said, found expression liora Indoasia eastward for centuries. Trade winds carried him from Tahiti and Rarotonga to the Kerma-decs, which, with islands since lost, served as steering landmarks and resting l laces. A.s an example of Maori genius as geographers was instanced nomenclature. The South Island is Maui’s crime, Stewart Island is its anchor. Kali k our a. Peninsula its thwart; the North Island Maui’s fish, the bend of hawke’s Bay his fish-hook. The Maori named living and extinct volcanoes and enshrouded them in mythical poetry. Tarn a tea Pokai Wlie?±ua Tamatea, who penetrated the. land, vas a true type of pathfinder. Six centuries ago he traversed the, whole length of the South Island and passed through the heart of the North Island t- v > the East Cape. Te Puoho in 1836 led a war party from Nelson down the West Coast to the Haast River, over the Uaast Pass to Wanoka, thence through Otago. The love of exploration. Mr Cowan concluded, had inspired Maori expedi-