Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, 1875. I.—Miscellaneous.

Art. I.—On the probable origin of the Maori Races.* This paper is the substance of one read before the British Association at Bristol Aug. 31, 1875, with considerable additions. By W. S. W. Vaux, M.A., Baliol College, Oxford, and F.R.S. [Communicated to the Wellington Philosophical Society by James Hector, M.D., C.M.G., F.R.S.] The question of the origin of the Maori or native race of New Zealand may, it appears to me, be conveniently considered under the three following heads. I.Their own Traditions; which must, however, be accepted with some reservation, not that we have any right to suppose on their part, an intention to deceive, but because the reports given and published as unquestionable, especially by the Missionaries, are likely, in many instances, to represent rather the ideas of the individual persons who have been specially examined, than the assured judgment of the whole nation. II. The Ethnological Connexion and Affinities, real or imaginary, between them and other peoples, as inferred on scientific principles, or from peculiar existing customs, by European scholars. III. The relation, if any, between the Maori language, as traceable during the last hundred years, and those of the inhabitants of other islands in the Pacific Ocean, indicating, as such a connexion if proved, might be