LIBRARY OF 1885- IQ56 TEANSACTI0N8 PROC NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE 1897 VOL. XXX. (Thirteenth of New Series) ■^IliiD AND PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OP THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE INSTITUTE SIR JAMES HECTOR, K.C.M.G., M.D., F.R.S. DiBECTOR WELLINGTON JOHN MAGKAY, GOVEENMENT PRINTING OFFICE KEGAN, PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNEK, & CO., PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD, LONDON PROPERTY OF Z. p. ' 'lETCALF < TRANSACTIONS NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE TRANSACTIONS AND PEOCEEDTNGS "OF THE NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE 1897 VOL. XXX. (Thirteenth of New Series) EDITED AND PUBLISHED UNDEK THE AUTHORITY OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE INSTITUTE BY SIE JAMES HECTOR, K.C.M.G., M.D., F.R.S. Director Issued June, 1898 WELLINGTON JOHN MACKAY, GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE KEGAN, PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER, & CO., PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD, LONDON C O N T E N T S. TRANSACTIONS. J.— Miscellaneous. Art. 1. II. III. IV. VI, VII. VIII On Material and Scientific Progress in New Zealand during the Victorian Era. By W. T. L. Travers, F.L.S. On Rock Pictographs A. Hamilton Did the Maori discover the Rutland South Canterbury. By By Joshua Gieensbont Origin, History, Customs, Tuhoe or Urewera Tribe. XII. XIII XV. XVI. Tuhoe Land : Notes on th and Traditions of the By Elsdon Best The Building of Hotunui, Whare Whakairo, W. H. Taipari's Carved House at Thames, 1878. Told by Jlereana ]\Iokomoko, Widow of the late Chief W. H. Taipari, to Gilbert Mair, 12th July, 1897 The Insulaiion of Cold Stores. By Professor P. D. Brown Thoughts on Comparative Mythology. By Edward Tregear . . . . . . . . . . The State Prevention of Consumption. By E. Roberton, M.D. The Tides, Currents, and the Moon. By W. Buchanan Marsh-lights. By R. Coupland Harding .. Under the Southern Cross ; or, Life in the South Seas : Fairy Tales and Folk-lore.* By F. W. Christian, B.A. On the Influence of the Ideal. By E. A. Mackechnie On an Objection to Le Sage's Theory of Gravitation. By C. Coleridge Farr, B.Sc. . . On the Magnetic Force parallel to the Axis in the Interior of Solenoids. [Abstract.] By C. Cole- ridge Farr . . Upon a Common Vital Force. By Coleman Phillips On Maori Stone Implements. By Captain Hutton, F.R.S. PAGES 1- 23 24- 29 29- 32 33- 41 41- 44 44- 49 50- 65 66- 79- 87- 79 87 93 93-109 09-118 118-120 121 122-180 130-134 The title printed at head of the article is " On the Outlying Islands." Contents. II.— Zoology. Art. XVII. The Grasslioppers and Locusts of New Ze«laiid and pages the Kermadec Islands. By Captain F. W. Hutton, F.R.S., Curator of the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch .. .. .. .. 135-150 XVIII. Note on the Ancient Maori Dog. By Captain F. W. Huiton .. .. .. .. .. 151-155 XIX. On a Collection of Insects from the Chatham Islands, with Descriptions of Three New Species. By Cap tain F. W. Hution .. .. .. ..155-160 XX. On the Phasmidcp of New Zealand. By Captain F. W. Button .. .. .. .. 160-166 — — -' XXI. Synopsis of the Hemiptera of New Zealand which have been described previous to 1896. By Cap- tain P. W. Hutton .. .. .. ..167-187 XXII. Notes on New Zealand Starfishes. By H.. Farqubar. Communicated by E. Lukina . . . . . . 187-191 XXIII. A List of Recent and Fossil Bryozoa collected in Various Parts of New Zealand. By A. Hamilton 192-199 XXIV. On the Hydroids of ihe Nei2hbo#rhood of Dunedin. By F. W. Hilgendorf, M.A. .. .. ..200-218 XXV. On thf Occurrence of Pedicelllna in New Zealand. By F. W. Hilgendorf . . . . . . . . 218 XXVI. Further Coccid Notes : with Description of New Species, and Discussion of Points of Interest. By W. M. Maskell, Registrar of the University of New Zealand, Corr. Mem. Roy. Soc. of South Australia .. .. .. .. .. 219-252 XXVII. Notes on Regalccus Sp. By S. H. Drew, F.L.S. . . 253-254 XXVIII. Notes on Occurrence of Hegalecus argenteus on the Taranaki Coast. By F. E. Clarke ' . . . . 254-266 XXIX. Notes on Acclimaiisation in New Zealand. By A. Bathgate .. .. .. .. .. 266-279 XXX. Notes on Bird-life in the West Coast Sounds. By Richard Henry. Communicated by Sir J. Hector .. ' .. .. .. .. 279-298 XXXI. A Romance "f Samoan Natural History ; or, Records relating to the Manu Mea, or Red Bird of Samoa, now nearly, if not quite, extinct. By the Rev. John B. Stair, late Vicar of St. Arnaud, Victoria, formerly of Samoa. Communicated by E. Tregear, F.R.G.S. .. .. .. .. .. 293-303 XXXII On Rats, and their Nesting in Small Branches of Trees. By Taylor White . . . . . . 303-309 XXXIII. Notes on Patellidiv, with reference to Species found on the Rocks at, Island and Lyall's Bays. By W. T. L. Travers, F.L.S. . . . . . . 309-312 XXX IV. Notes on New Zealand Sponges : Fourth Paper. By H. B. Kirk, M.A. .. .. .. ..313-316 XXXV. On the Sponges described in DiefTenbach's " New Zealand." By Arthur Deudv, D.Sc, Professor of Biolcigy in the Cantt^rbury College, University of New Zealand . . , . . . . . 316-320 XXXVI. Notes on a Remarkable Collection of Marine Animals lately found on tiie New Brighton Beach, near Christchurch, New Zealand. By Arthur Dandy 320-326 XXXVII. A Synonymic Lisc of the Lepidoptcra, of New Zea- land. By Richard W. Fereday, F.E.S. .. 326-377 Contents. Art. III.-Botany. ^^^^^ XXXVIir. Description of a New Species of Z)nj)i7/6'. By T. Kirk, F.L.S. .. .. .. .. .. 379-380 XXXIX. Remarks on Gtmnera '' ovata," Petrie, and G. flavida, Colenso, in Reply to Mr. Petrie. By T. Kirk . . 380-381 XL. On New Australian and New Zealand Lichens. By Jamea Stirton, M.D., F.L.S. Communicated by T. W. Naylor Beckett, F.L.S. . . . . . . .382-393 XLL A New Classification of tlie Genus Pyxine. By Dr. James Stirton. Communicated by T. W. Naylor Beckett, F.L.S. .. .. .. .. 393-398 XLII. New Zealand MMSci ; Notes on a New Species of Moss belonging to the Genus Seligera. By R. Brown . . . . . . . . . . 398-399 XLIII. New Zealand ilfMsci.- Notes on the Genus Tortula, with Descriptions of New Species. By R. Brown . . . . . . . . . . 399-409 XLIV. New Zealand Musci : Notes on the Genus Strepto- pogon, Wills, with Description of a New Species. By R. Brown . . . . . . . . 409-410 XLV. New Zealand Musci: Notes on New Genus Dendia. By R. Brown . . . . . . . . 411-412 XLVI. Notes on New Zealand Musci, and Descriptions of Two New Species. By R. Brown . . , . 412-414 XLVII. On the Botany of Hikurangi Mountain. By James Adams, B. A... .. .. .. .. 414-433 XLVIII. Description of a New Native Species of Coprosnia. By D. Petrie, M. A., F.L.S. .. .. ..4-33-434 XLIX. On Curious Forms of New Zealand Fern. By H. C. Field .. .. .. .. .. 434-435 L. On the Freezing of New Zealand Alpine Plants; Notes of an Experiment conducted in the Freez- ing-chamber, Lyttelton. By L. Cockayne . . 435-442 LI. Notes on the Waugapeka Valley, Nelson. By R. I. Kingsley .. ., .. .. .. 442-444 IV. — Geology. LII. Notes on a Specimen of Euryaptenjx from South- land. By A. Hamilton . . . . . . 445-446 LIII. Notes on the Recent Earthquake. By H, C. Field .. .. .. .. .. 447-457 V. — Physics. LIV. On the Screening of Electro-motive Force in the Field's produced by Leyden-jar Discharges. By J. A. Erskine . . . . . . . . 459-462 LV. On the Relative Commercial Values of Pumice and Charcoal for Purposes of Insulation. By W. T. Firth .. .. .. .. .. 463-465 LVI. Notes on the Vertical Component of the Motions of the Earth's Atmosphere. By Major - General Schaw, C.B. (late R.E.) . . . . . . 465-476 LVII. The Histories of the Storms of the 30th January and the 16th April, 1897. By Major - General Schaw . . . . . . . . . . 477-486 1 Contents. VI.— Chemistry. Abt. pages LVIII On the Distillation Products of the Blackball Coal. By Dr. W. P. Evans . . . . . . . . 487-494 LIX. On a Convenient Form of Oil-bath for studying the Influence of Definite Temperatures on Solids. By Dr. W. P. Evans . . . . . . . . 495-496 LX. On the Error introduced by using a Coal-gas Flame while determining the Percentage of Sulphur in Coals, with Especial Reference to the Methods " Eschka " and "Nakamura." By Dr. W. P. Evans .. .. .. •• •• 496-497 LXI. On an Improved Adjustable Drip -proof Bunsen Burner. By Dr. W. P. Evans .. .. 497-498 LXII. On the Electro-deposition of Gold upon the Gold of our Drifts. By William Skey, Analyst to the Department of Mines . . . . . . 498-509 LXIII. On the Decomposition of Water by Tannic Acid in Conjunction with an Alkali. By William Skey. . 509-510 LXIV. On the Liberation of Hydrogen in a certain Vari- ation of the Apparatus used for cyaniding Gold. By William Skey . . . . . . . . 510-512 LXV. On the Rapid Action of Strong Cyanide Solutions on Gold superficially. By William Skey . . ..512-513 VII. — Addenda. LXVI. On the Hawke's Bay Plain: Past and Present. By H. Hill, B.A., F.G.S... .. .. ..515-531 LXVII. On Swallows and Martins at Hicks Bay. By H. Hill 532 LXVIII. On Maori Middens at Wainui, Poverty Bay. By F. Hutchinson, jun. .. .. .. .- 533-536 NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE. Twenty-ninth Annual Report . . . • . . . . 539-541 Accounts for 1896-97 . . . • . . . . . . 542 Contents. PKOCEEDINGS. WELLINGTON PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. PAGES 'Exhibit ol Histiopterus labiosus ; 'iiiew Zea.la.nd Pigeon; &0. .. 546 Kemarks on the Manu Mea (Red Bird of Samoa). By P. W. Christian .. .. .. .. .. .. 548 Demonstration of Pathological Specimens, illustrating Diseases of Domesticated Animals. By G. H. Barker . . . . 550-551 On a Specimen of Xiphias gladms, the Northern Swordfish. By Sir J. Hector .. .. .. .. .. ..551-552 Description of Recent Earthquakes, especially that of 21st Sep- tember. By Sir J. Hector . . . . . . . . 552 Exhibit of New Zealand Quail . . . . . . . . 552 Remark on Earthquake of 21st September. By W. T. L. Travers 552 Nomination of Elector of Governors of the Institute . . . . 553 Remarks on Mr. Harding's Paper on Willo'-the-wisps. By W. T. L. Travers . . . . . . . . . . 553 On the Industries of Animals. By G. Heriot Barker . . . . 553-554 Remarks on a Skeleton of a Sea-leopardess. By Sir J. Hector 555 Remarks on Scorpio afer. By Sir J. Hector . . . . . . 556 Remarks on Parmophorits unguis. By Sir J. Hector . . . . 556 Remarks on a Tooth of Paeudoscariis sp. By Sir J. Hector . . 556 Remarks on Formol. By Mr. Mestayer . . . . . . 556 Election of a Governor of the Institute . . . . . . 557 Remarks on a Skeleton of a Sea-lioness. By Sir J. Hector .. 557 Abstract of Annual Report . . . . . . . . . . 558-559 Election of Officers for 1898.. .. .. .. .. 559 Criticism of Mr. P. Marshall's Paper on Dodonidia heliiisi, in Vol. xxviii. By E. F. Hawthorne .. .. ..559-560 On Solanmn hamiltonii. By T. Kirk, F.L.S.. . .. .. 561 Exhibit of Chitons collected by Miss Mestayer . . . . 561 AUCKLAND INSTITUTE. Remarks on the Museum. Inaugural Address by E. Roberton, M.D., President . . . . . . . . • . 562 " A," a Passage in Archaeology. By Professor Talbot-Tubb.s .. 562 On Ore-deposits. By A. Montgomery .. •• •• 563 On Insect Life in Gardens. By P. Marshall, F.E.S. . . . . 563 On " The Ether." By Professor F. D. Brown . . . . 564 On Corals and Coral Reefs. By Professor A. P. Thomas . . 564 Abstract of Annual Report . . . . . . . . . . 564-567 Election of Officers for 1898 . . . . . . . . 567 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTE OP CANTERBURY. On the Science of History. By Professor E. J. Mathew, M.A., LL.B. On Some New Zealand Seaweeds. By R. M. Laing, M.A. Exhibit of Winter-flowering Iris and Hybrid Hellebore by L Cockayne On the Evolution of Art. Bv S. Hurst Seagar, A.R.I. B. A. Remarks on the Marsupial Mole (Notoryctes typhlopa). By Pro fessor Dendy . . 568 568 569 570 X Contents. Remarks on Palseolithic Implements from Africa. By Captain pages Hutton .. .. •• •• •• •• 571 Remarks on Livmlus polyphenms. By Professor Dendy . . 571 Resolution regarding the late Mr. Thomas Kirk, F.L.S. , , 571 Description of Minerals from West Australia. By C. J. Went- worth Cookeon . . . . • • . . . . 571 Resolution regarding the late Professor T. Jeffery Parker, F.R.S. (in Report) . . . . . . • • . . . . 572 Abstract of Annual Report . . . . . . . . 572-573 Election of Officers for 1898 . . . . . . . . 573 Hypnotism : Presidential Address. By Dr. Thomas . . . . 573 OTAGO INSTITUTE. Resignation of the President . . . . . . . . 574 By-election of Officers . . . . . . . . . . 574 Remarks on a Skeleton of Ear2)aqornis. By Professor Parker . . 574 Some Chapters in the History of Zoology. By Professor Parker 574 Remarks on Eegalecus argenteus. By Professor Parker . . 574-575 Remarks on Eaplodactyhis meandrattis. By Professor Parker . . 575 On the Armour of the Kingsmill Islanders. By Professor Parker 575 On a Mask from New Britain. By Professor Parker . . . . 575 Notes on a Specimen of the Scaled Tunny {Lepidothynnus Imttoni). By Professor Parker .. .. .. .. 575 Description of Ancient and Modern Gems and Medals, including the Gemma Augusta. By A. Hamilton .. .. .. 575-576 Notes on New Zealand Fisheries. By G. M. Thomson, F.L.S.. . 576 Recent Researches on Anaspides. By G. M. Thomson . . 580 Exhibit and Description of iJtinida suhrugosa . . . . 580 On Cnemiornis calcitrans and C. minor. By A. Hamilton . . 581 On Some New Zealand Fresh-water Algae. By J. S. Tennant, B.A., B.S. .. .. .. .. .. .. 581 On Some Seaweeds from Dunedin. By J. Crosbie Smith . . 581 Resolution regarding the late Professor T. JefTery Parker, F.R.S. 581-582 Notes on the New Zealand Brachyura. By G. M. Thomson . . 582 A Revision of the New Zealand Anovioitra. By G. M. Thomson 582 On a New Marine Alga {Nitophyllum microphylla) . By J. Crosbie Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . 582 Abstract of Annual Report . . . . . . . . . . 582-583 Report of the Committee on the Proposed Marine Fish-hatchery 583-584 Election of Officers for 1898 . . . . . . . . 584 On the Undulations of the Ether. Presidential Address by Pro- fessor Shand . . . . . . . . . . . . 584 HAWKE'S BAY PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTE. Inaugural Address : On the Civilisation of the Saracens, and what we owe to them. By T. C. Moore, M.D., President . . 585 On the Sun as a Star, and its Place in the Heavens. By T. Tanner . . . . . . . . . . . . 585 On Germs and their Relation to Disease. By Dr. J. H. E. Jarvis . . . . . . . . . . . . 585 On the Illustration of Books. By W. Dinwiddie .. .. 586 The Fleeing Maruiwi walk over Glenshea Cliff at night. By Taylor White . . . . . . . . . . . . 586 Have we Remams of a Swimming Swan-like Moa? By Taylor White .. .. .. .. .. .. 586 The Ceremony of Rahui. By Ta} lor White .. .. .. 586 Moa— the Bird and the Tree. By Taylor White . . .. 586 The Customs of the Australian Aborigines. By Dr. Leahy . . 586 Contents. xi A Comparison of New Zealand and Australian Mortality. By pages C. E. Adams, B.Sc, A.I.A. .. .. .. .. 586 A Comparison of the Mortality in New Zealand from 1850-70, and from 1870-90. By 0. E. Adams .. .. .. 586 The Rontgen Rays. By A. Milne-Thompson, M.B., CM. .. 586 Abstract of Annual Report . . .. .. .. ,. 587 Election of Officers for 1898 . . . . . . . . 587 WESTLAND INSTITUTE. Abstract of Annual Report . . . . . . . . . . 588 Election of Officers for 1898 . . . . . . . . 588 NELSON PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. List of Donations .. .. .. .. .. .. 589 Abstract of Annual Report .. .. .. .. .. 589-590 Election of Officers for 1898 .. .. .. .. 590 Proposal to amalgamate with Nelson Institute . . . . 590 APPENDIX. Meteorological Statistics for 1897 Remarks on the Weather for 1897 Earthquakes reported in New Zealand during 1897 Honorary INIembers of the New Zealand Institute Ordinary IMembers of the New Zealand Institute Institutions and Persons to whom this Volume is presented Index 593 594 595 596 597-605 606-610 611-615 Contents .. List of Plates Board of Governors of the New Zealand Institute Abstracts of Rules and Statutes of the New Zealand Institute Roll of Incorporated Societies Officers of Incorporated Societies, and Extracts from th Rules v.-xi. xiii. LIST OF PLATES. [Note.— These are placed at the end of the volume.] Plate I. Hamilton. — Rock-pictographs TI. III. IV. V. VI. VI r. VIII. IX. X. XL P. D. Brown. To illustrate Observations on In- sulation XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. XXI. XXII. XXIII. XXIV. XXV. XXVI. XXVII. XXVIII. XXIX. XXX. XXXI. XXXII. XXXIII. XXXIV. XXXV. XXXVI. XXXVII. XXXVIII. XXXIX. XL. XLI. XLII. XLIII. XLIV. XLV. HuTTON.— Maori Stone Implements Grasshoppers Maori-dog Skulls . . HiLGENDORF.— Hydroids Pedicellina gracilis -Coccids Clarke. — Regalecus argenteios H. B. Kirk.— New Zealand Sponges Dbndy. — New Zealand Sponges R. Brown. — New Zealand Mosses ScHAW. — Diagrams of Storms Wind-vane To illustra Art. 11. II. li. II. 11. II. II. 11. 11. 11. VI. VI. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XXIV. XXIV. XXIV. XXIV. XXIV. XXIV. XXV. XX VI. XXVI. XXVI. XXVI. XXVI .. XXVITI. .. XXVIII. .. XXVIII. . . XXXIV. .. XXXIV. . . XXXV. .. XXXV. XLIII. XLIII. XLIII. XLIII. XLIII. XLIII. XLII., XLIV., XLV., XLVI. LVII. LVII. LVII. LVI. NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE ESTABLISHED UNDER AN ACT OP THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OP NEW ZEALAND INTITULED "THE NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE ACT, 1867." Board of Governoes. (ex opficio.) His Excellency the Governor. The Hon. the Colonial Secretary. (nominated.) W. T. L. Travers,F.L.S. ; Sir James Hector, K.C.M.G., M.D., F.E.S. ; W. M. Maskell; Thomas Mason; E. Tregear, F.R.G.S. ; John Young. (elected.) 1897.— James McKerrow, F.R. A.S. ; S. Percy Smith, F.R.G.S. ; Major-General Schaw, C.B., R.E. Manager : Sir James Hector. Honorary Treasurer: W. T. L. Travers, F.L.S. Secretary : R. B. Gore. ABSTRACTS OF RULES AND STATUTES. Gazetted in the "New Zealand Gazette," 9th March, 1868. Section I. Incorporation of Societies. 1. No society shall be incorporated with the Institute under the provisions of " The New Zealand Institute Act, 1867," unless such society shall consist of not less than twenty-five members, subscribing in the aggregate a sum of not less than fifty pounds sterling annually for the promotion of art, science, or such other branch of knowledge for xvi New Zealand Institute. which it is associated, to be from time to time certified to the satis- faction of the Board of Governors of the Institute by the Chairman for the time being of the society. 2. Any society incorporated as aforesaid shall cease to be incor- porated with the Institute in case the number of the members of the said society shall at any time become less than twenty-five, or the amount of money annually subscribed by such members shall at any time be less than £50. 3. The by-laws of every society to be incorporated as aforesaid shall provide for the expenditure of not less than one-third of the annual revenue in or towards the formation or support of some local public museum or library, or otherwise shall provide for the contribution of not less than one-sixth of its said revenue towards the extension and main- tenance of the Museum and library of the New Zealand Institute. 4. Any society incorporated as aforesaid, which shall in any one year fail to expend the proportion of revenue affixed in manner provided by Rule 3 aforesaid, shall from thenceforth cease to be incorporated with the Institute. 5. All papers read before any society for the time being incorporated with the Institute shall be deemed to be communications to the Insti- tute, and may then be published as Proceedings or Transactions of the Institute, subject to the following regulations of the Board of the Insti- tute regarding publications : — Regulations regarding Publications. {a.) The publications of the Institute shall consist of a current abstract of the proceedings of the societies for the time being incorporated with the Institute, to be intituled " Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute," and of transactions, comprising papers read before the incorporated societies (subject, however, to selection as hereinafter mentioned), to be intituled "Trans- actions of the New Zealand Institute." (h.) The Institute shall have power to reject any papers read before any of the incorporated societies. (c.) Papers so rejected will be returned to the society in which they were read. {d.) A proportional contribution may be required from each society towards the cost of publishing the Proceedings and Transac- tions of the Institute. (e.) Each incorporated society will be entitled to receive a propor- tional number of copies of the Proceedings and Transactions of the Institute, to be from time to time fixed by the Board of Governors. (/.) Extra copies will be issued to any of the members of incorporated societies at the cost-price of publication. 6. All property accumulated by or with funds derived from incor- porated societies, and placed in charge of the Institute, shall be vested in the Institute, and be used and applied at the discretion of the Board of Governors for public advantage, in like manner with any other of the property of the Institute. 7. Subject to "The New Zealand Institute Act, 1867," and to the foregoing rules, all societies incorporated with the Institute shall be entitled to retain or alter their own form of constitution and the by-laws for their own management, and shall conduct their own affairs. 8. Upon application signed by the Chairman and countersigned by the Secretary of any society, accompanied by the certificate required under Rule No. 1, a certificate of incorporation will be granted under the seal of the Institute, and will remain in force as long as the foregoing rules of the Institute are complied with by the society. Abstract of Rules and Statutes. xvii Section II. For the Management of the Property of the Institute. 9. All donations by societies, public departments, or private indi- viduals to the IMuseum of the Institute shall be acknowledged by a printed form of receipt, and shall be duly entered in the books of the Institute provided for that purpose, and shall then be dealt with as the Board of Governors may direct. 10. Deposits of articles for the Museum may be accepted by the Institute, subject to a fortnight's notice of removal, to be given either by the owner of the articles or by the Manager of the Institute, and such deposits shall be duly entered in a separate catalogue. 11. Books relating to natural science may be deposited in the library of the Institute, subject to the following conditions : — {a.) Such books are not to be withdrawn by the owner under six months' notice, if such notice shall be required by the Board of Governors. (b.) Any funds especially expended on binding and preserving such deposited books at the request of the depositor shall be charged against the books, and must be refunded to the Institute before their withdrawal, always subject to special arrangements made with the Board of Governors at the time of deposit. (c.) No books deposited in the library of the Institute shall be removed for temporary use except on the written authority or receipt of the owner, and then only for a period not exceed- ing seven days at any one time. 12. All books in the library of the Institute shall be duly entered in a catalogue, wliich shall be accessible to the public. 13. The public shall be admitted to the use of the Museum and library, subject to bylaws to be framed by the Board. Section III. The laboratory shall for the time being be and remain under the exclusive management of the Manager of the Institute. Section IV. (Of Date 23rd September, 1870.) Honorary Members. Whereas the rules of the societies incorporated under the New Zealand Institute Act provide for the election of honorary members of such societies, but inasmuch as such honorary members would not thereby become members of the New Zealand Institute, and whereas it is expedient to make provision for the election of honorary members of the New Zealand Institute, it is hereby declared, — 1. Each incorporated society may, in the month of November next, nominate for election, as honorary members of the New Zea- land Institute, three persons, and in the month of November in each succeeding year one person, not residing in the colony. 2. The names, descriptions, and addresses of persons so nominated, together with the grounds on which their election as honorary members is recommended, shall be forthwith forwarded to the Manager of the New Zealand Institute, and shall by him be submitted to the Governors at the next-succeeding meeting. 3. From the persons so nominated the Governors may select in the first year not more than nine, and in each succeeding year not more than three, who shall from thenceforth be honorary members of the New Zealand Institute, provided that the total number of honorary members shall not exceed thirty. xviii New Zealand Institute. LIST OF INCORPORATED SOCIETIES. NAME OF SOCIETY. DATE OF INCORPORATION. Wellington Philosophical Society - 10th June, 1868. Auckland Institute . . . . iQth June, 1868. Philosophical Institute of Canterbury 22nd Oct., 1868. Otago Institute 18th Oct., 1869. Westland Institute .... 21st Dec, 1874. Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute - 31st Mar., 1875. Southland Institute . . . . 21st July., 1880. Nelson Philosophical Society - - 20th Dec, 1883. OFFICERS OF INCORPORATED SOCIETIES, AND EXTRACTS FROM THE RULES. WELLINGTON PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. Office-bearers for 1898. — President — E. Tregear, F.R.G.S.; Vice-presidents— ^iv W. L. Buller, F.R.S., G. V. Hudson, F.E.S.; Council— T. Kirk, F.L.S. ; Major-General Schaw, C.B., R.E. ; Sh- J. Hector, F.R.S. ; R. L. Mestayer, M.Inst. C.B.; H. B. Kirk, M.A.; G.Denton; W. M. Maskell; Secretary and Treasurer — R. B. Gore ; Auditor — T. King. Extracts froin the Rules of the Wellington Philosophical Society. 5. Every member shall contribute annually to the funds of the Society the sum of one guinea. 6. The annual contribution shall be due on the first day of January in each year. 7. The sura of ten pounds may be paid at any time as a composition for life of the ordinary annual payment. 14. The time and place of the general meetings of members of the Society shall be fixed by the Council, and duly announced by the Secretary. AUCKLAND INSTITUTE. Office-bearers for 1898. — President — Professor H. A. Talbot Tubbs; Vice-presidents — E. Roberton, M.D., D. Petrie, F.L.S. ; Council — G. Aickin, J. Batger, W. Berry, Professor F. D. Brown, C. Cooper, E. A. Mackechnie, T. L. Murray, T. Peacock, J. Stewart, C.B., Professor A. P. Thomas, F.L.S., J. H. Upton ; Trustees— 'Fi. A. Mackechnie, S. P. Smith, F.R.G.S., T. Peacock; Secretary and Curator — T. F. Cheese- man, F.L.S., F.Z.S. ; Auditor— W. Gorrie. Incorporated Societies. xix Extracts from the Rules of the Auckland Institute. 1. Any person desiring to become a member of the Institute shall be proposed in writing by two members, and shall be balloted for at the next meeting of the Council. 4. New members on election to pay one guinea entrance-fee, in addition to the annual subscription of one guinea, the annual subscrip- tion being payable in advance on the first day of April for the then cur- rent year. 5. Members may at any time become life-members by one payment of ten pounds ten shillings in lieu of future annual subscriptions. 10. Annual general meeting of the society on the third Monday of February in each year. Ordinary business meetings are called by the Council from time to time. PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTE OF CANTERBURY. Office-beakebs for 1898. — President— Dr. W. P. Evans; Vice-presidents — Mr. E. Speight and Mr. L. Cockayne ; Hon. Secretary — Professor Dendy ; Hon. Treasurer — Cap- tain Hutton; Council— Dv. Thomas, Messrs. H. R. Webb, R. M. Laing, T. W. Naylor Beckett, J. B. Mayne, and Dr. Symes. Extracts from the Rules of the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury. 8. Members of the Institute shall pay one guinea annually as a sub- scription to the funds of the Institute.' The subscription shall be due on the 1st November in each year. The Institute may also admit associates, who shall contribute five shillings annually to the funds of the Institute, and shall have all the privileges of members, except that they shall not have the power to vote, or be entitled to the annual volume of the Transactions. 9. Members may compound for all annual subscriptions of the current and future years by paying ten guineas. 15. The ordinary meetings of the Institute shall be held on the first Wednesday in each month during the months of May to October, both inclusive. OTAGO INSTITUTE. Office-bearers for 1898. — President — F. E. Chapman; Vice-presidents— VxoieBBox J. Shand and A. Bathgate ; Hon. Secretary— k. Hamilton ; Hon. Treasurer — J. S. Tennant ; (7o2tMciZ— Professor J. H. Scott, A. Wilson, E. Melland, Dr. T. M. Hocken, G. M. Thomson, J. Crosbie Smith, B. C. Aston ; Auditor — D. Brent. Extracts from the Constitution and Rules of the Otago Institute. 2. Any person desiring to join the society may be elected by ballot, on being proposed in writing at any meeting of the Council or society by two members, and on the payment of the annual subscription of one guinea for the year then current. XX Neio Zealand Institute. 5. Members may at any time become life-members by one payment of ten pounds and ten shillings in lieu of future annual subscriptions. 8. An annual general meeting of the members of the society shall be held in January in each year, at which meeting not less than ten mem- bers must be present, otherwise the meeting shall be adjourned by tlie members present from time to time until the requisite number of mem- bers is present. (5.) The session of the Otago Institute shall be during the winter months, from May to October, both inclusive. WESTLAND INSTITUTE. Office-bearers for 1898. — President — Mr. D. Macfar- lane ; Vice-jnesident — Mr. T. H. Gill; Hon. Treasurer — Mr. G. Sinclair ; Trustees — Messrs. k. H. King, W. Heinz, A. Mahan, J. Chesney, J. J. Clarke, T. W. Beare, H. L. Michel, A. J. Morton, J. S. Dawes, H. E. Lawry, Dr. Macandrew, and Eev. S. Hamilton. E.vtracts from the Rules of the Westland Institute. 3. The Institute shall consist (1) of life-members — i.e., persons who have at any one time made a donation to the Institute of ten pounds ten shillings or upwards, or persons who, in reward of special services ren- dered to the Institute, have been unanimously elected as such by the Committee or at the general half-yearly meeting ; (2) of members who pay two pounds two shillings each year; (3) of members paying smaller sums, not less than ten shillings. 5. The Institute shall hold a half-yearly meeting on the third Mon- day in the months of December and June. HAWKE'S BAY PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTE. Office-bearers for 1898. — President — A. Milne-Thomson, M.B., C.M. ; Vice-president — T. Tanner; Council — W. Din- widdle, H. Hill, B.A., F.G.S., J. Hislop, J. E. H. Jarvis, M.E.C.S., T. C. Moore, M.D., G. White; Hon. Secretary— C. E. Adams, B.Sc, A. I. A. ; Hoji. Treasurer — J. W. Craig; Ho7i. Auditor — J. E. Crerar. Extracts from the Rules of the Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute. 3. The annual subscription for each member shall be one guinea, payable in advance on the first day of January in every year. 4. Members may at any time become life-members by one payment of ten pounds ten shillings in lieu of future annual subscriptions. (4.) The session of the Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute shall be during the winter months from May to October, both inclusive; and general meetings shall be held on the second Monday in each of those six months, at 8 p.m. Incorporated Societies. ' xxi SOUTHLAND INSTITUTE. Office-bearers. — Trustees — Ven. Archdeacon Stocker, Eev. John Ferguson, Dr. James Galbraith. NELSON PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. Office-bearers for 1898. — President — The Bishop of Nelson ; Vice-presidents — Mr. A. S. Atkinson and Dr. Mackie; Council — Dr. Boor, Eev. F. W. Chatterton, Messrs. Gibbs, Lukins, and Bartell ; Hon. Secretary — E. I. Kingsley ; Hon. Treasurer — Dr. Hudson; Hon. Curator — E. I. Kingsley; Assistant Curator — E. Lukins. Extracts from the Rules of the Nelson Philosophical Society. 4. Members shall be elected by ballot 6. The annual subscription shall be one guinea. 7. The sum of ten guineas may be paid in composition of the annual subscription. 16. Meetings shall be held on the second Monday in every month. 23. The papers read before the Society shall be immediately delivered to the Secretary. TRANSACTIONS TEANSACTIONS , OF THE NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE, 1897. I. — MISCELLANEOUS. Art. I. — On Material, and Scientific Progress in Neio Zea- land during the Victorian Era. By W. T. L. Teavbes, F.L.S. [Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 30th June, 1897.] Peesidential Addeess. It is a matter of history that the systematic colonisation of these islands was first proposed by a private association, formed in 1826, under the title of " The New Zealand Com- pany," and that it proceeded so far in the practical initiation of its project as to pm-chase lands for settlement at Hokianga and the Thames. But notwithstanding the influential posi- tion of a large number of its members it was prevented by adverse circumstances, easily understood at the time by those who were acquainted with the then condition of the native population and with the history of the missionary settlements established in the north, from carrying its objects into effect, and it was consequently dissolved. Its project was afterwards taken up by a body of persons of high position in the social and political world, under the title of "The New Zealand Association," which, before attempting any active colonising operations, applied itself diligently in directing the public mind in England to an appreciation of the advantages offered by these islands as a field for emigration, its aim being to induce the Legislature to apply to them a system of colonisa- 1 2 Transactions . — Miscellaneous . tion similar to that which had recently been successfully applied to South Australia under the auspices of " The South Australian Colonisation Society," in the formation and active labours of which Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield had taken a prominent part, as, indeed, he was then doing in connection with the New Zealand Association. It was not, however, until the first year of Her Majesty's reign that the British Government were approached upon the subject by the pro- moters of the movement ; but ultimately, in 1837, after pro- tracted negotiations, it was induced to offer to incorporate the association by royal charter, authorising it to carry out the colonisation of the islands upon the indicated lines, but it insisted, as a condition precedent, that the members of the association should be converted into an ordinary joint-stock company with capital sufficient to insure the success of its project, in which case the Government expressed its willingness to confide to it the settlement and government of the pro- jected colony for a short term of years. This offer, however, was clogged with conditions so completely at variance with the main objects of the association that it was compelled to refuse it, and, no hope being held out of any modification of the obnoxious conditions, the negotiations came to an end. Under these circumstances. Lord Durham, who was one of the most influential members of the association, was in- duced to bring the colonisation of the islands under the con- sideration of a Select Committee of the House of Lords, which, after collecting a large mass of useful information relating to them, and proving the necessity of their being systematically colonised, declined to make any recommendation on the subject, being of opinion that "the extension of the British colonies was a question belonging exclusively to the Crown." Not discouraged by this, the association caused a Bill to be introduced by its chairman, the Hon. Mr. Baring, into the House of Commons, making provision for the objects in view ; but the Bill was rejected on the second reading, to the great disappointment of its promoters, as well as of a large number of influential and enlightened persons who were interested in the matter on pubfic grounds. Still, nothing daunted by the apparently insuperable difficulties in the way, some of the leading members of the association, bearing in mind the suggestion made when a charter was offered by the Govern- ment, formed themselves into a joint-stock company, under the title of "The New Zealand Company," which, on the 2nd May, 1839, issued a prospectus in which the main objects were declared to be the acquisition of territory in New Zealand and its sale to settlers at a uniform and sufficient price, whilst, as an inducement to purchasers, it was proposed to set apart a large proportion of the purchase- Tkaveks. — On Material and Scientific Progress. 3 money as a fund for promoting further emigration. It also set forth, as a salient point, that the interests of the native people from whom the requn'ed territories were to be bought, should be safeguarded. In order to carry these objects into practical effect the company at once proceeded to despatch ships and people to the islands, and between the date of the prospectus and the 24th February, 1840, no less than twelve ships were sent out, carrying 1,125 emigrants, of whom 158 were first-class passengers, 58 second-class, and 909 steerage, of the total of whom 658 were males and 467 were females. Negotiations were then again opened with the Government for a charter, but it was not until the 12th February, 1841, after long and tedious correspondence and discussion, that the company succeeded in obtaining from the Crown this neces- sary sanction to its operations ; and it is matter of history that, even after that concession had been made, its opera- tions were systematically thwarted by the Colonial Office, instigated thereto by the missionaries and settlers in the north, and by the undisguisedly hostile reports of Governor Hobson and his immediate successors. In the long run, however, the indomitable pluck of the company's settlers prevailed, and it is certain that the Crown of England is indebted to their energy and perseverance for its possession of a colony of which any Empire might be proud. You are no doubt aware that in the year 1788 a penal settlement was formed by the British Government at Port Jackson (now called Sydney), in New South Wales. The first batch of convicts, numbering 705, was sent out under the charge of Captain Phillip — who, on his arrival, became first Governor of the settlement — and that these were partly preceded and partly accompanied by voluntary emigrants, bringing up the number of its first inhabitants to 1,030. The settlement thus founded rapidly increased in popula- lion, and in the course of a few years after its foundation the vast number of whales which were found to haunt the waters between Australia and New Zealq,nd attracted many ships engaged in the whale-fishery, and the pursuit of this industry, which was highly productive, gave an additional impetus to the progress of the settlement. This also naturally led to intercourse between Sydney and New Zealand, which became largely extended between the years 1815 and 1825, when considerable numbers of whaling and other vessels visited the harbours on the eastern coast of this Island, from the Waitemata northward, partly for the purposes of the trade in timber, flax, and human heads, and partly in order to obtain supplies of pork, potatoes, fish, and other fresh provisions, which were then produced in considerable 4 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. quantities by the natives. The result of this intercourse was that many Europeans settled in the districts north of the Thames, and particularly on the banks of the Hokianga, at the Bay of Islands, and at the Waitemata, introducing at the same time horses, cattle, and poultry, and fruits and vegetables of all kinds, which throve wonderfully. These settlers were the agents through whom the trade with the natives was carried on, and there can be no doubt that they also throve wonderfully. At first all transactions were carried on by barter ; but this gradually gave way to the introduction of British coin and dollars, the natives having speedily become aware that they could procure anything they wanted in exchange for money, whilst the system of barter had subjected them, at the hands of the Europeans, to practices of the most rascally kind, which, however, were after a time met with corresponding knavery on the part of the natives, each party at last striving which should most completely overreach the other in its dealings. But even this change of system did not altogether save the natives from imposture, and spurious silver coin and gilded farthings still helped the European rogue, until at last the natives became so alive to the risks they ran in their dealings that they declined to trade with persons of whose honesty they had not ample proof, or unless a third person were present to vouch for the genuineness of the coin offered to them. But whilst this was the condition of things to the north of the Thames, little had been done to mitigate the barbarous condition of the natives to the south, for until the arrival of the first colonists sent out by the New Zealand Company there were in the south no settlements of the class established at Hokianga and the Bay of Islands. Here and there along the coast between Wellington and Taranaki, and in Queen Charlotte Sound and Cloudy Bay, a few whalers were to be found, who had left their ships and contracted irregular mar- riages with native women ; and some trade in flax had been established, for which muskets and powder were chiefly given in exchange. In all other respects, however, the condition of things was entirely different from that which existed in the northern settlements, where the influence of trade and mis- sionary teaching had, especially between the years 1835 and 1839, greatly modified the habits, customs, prejudices, and superstitions of the native people. Indeed, in the southern parts of this Island and in the South Island the natives were practically in the same condition of barbarism as when they were seen by Cook, in proof of which I may cite a letter to the Company, written on the 13th October, 1839, by Colonel Wakefield, in which he mentioned that "only a week before that date Eauparaha had killed and cooked a man (probably a Tkavers. — On Material and Scientific Progress. 5 slave) to aiford a treat to some chiefs of the Ngatiraukawa who had assembled at Mana upon the occasion of a tangi for his sister's death ; "''' whilst he also mentions that shortly before that occurrence " the Ngatiraukawa had killed six native missionaries who had wandered amongst them, and eaten their bodies, and then offered their heads for sale to his informant." He also mentions that on the 15th October, 1839, the day before his first interview with Eauparaha, a great battle had taken place near Otaki between the Ngatiraukawa and Ngatiawa, in which nearly sixty men had been killed, and a very much larger number seriously wounded. I must not omit, however, to state that about this time the Eev. Octavius Hadfield, late Bishop of Wellington, had been stationed at Waikanae, and that his presence there soon afterwards brought about a great and beneficial change in the feelings and habits of the native people. In a letter written by Colonel Wake- field to the secretary of the New Zealand Company in Feb- ruary, 1842, he thus points to the results of Mr. Hadfield's labours : " Mr. Hadfield, who is a single-minded and a sincere minister of the Gospel, well deserves the estimate in which he is held by all parties in Cook Strait. Instead of jealously asserting the rights of the Church mission to land, or inter- meddling respecting purchases from the natives, he has con- fined himself strictly to the duties of his calling as a mis- sionary. He has brought about a permanent peace between the Ngatiawa Tribe and the fierce Ngatiraukawas, whom he has Christianized, and has devoted himself to the spiritual and medical charge of the native and white population, who occupy a coast-line of fifty miles, besides making occasional and harassing visits across the strait to the Southern Island. His health has suffered much from this service. He has always refrained from, and, it is understood, has declined, any interference in the secular affairs of the natives other- wise than by recommending a peaceful intercourse with their white neighbours upon all occasions." From this it will be seen that the labours of Mr. Hadfield must undoubtedly have had a most beneficial effect upon the progress of the com- pany's settlers during the first three years after their esta- blishment in this district. This short account of the first systematic effort at colo- nisation in the southern districts of this Island will no doubt convey to you some idea of the difficulties which the settlers had to overcome ; but those difficulties were rendered all the * I have reasons for believing that the story as told to Colonel Wake- field v?as not strictly correct, and that it was Rangihaeata vyho had com- mitted the deeds referred to, and that it was a young woman, and not a man, who had been the victim. 6 Transactiovs. — Misccllaneoiis. more serious by the physical character of the country and by the attitude which the first and some of the succeeding Governors of the colony adopted towards them. In an address delivered in this building nearly thirty years ago I pointed out that before the settlement of these islands by the Europeans the native inhabitants were barbarous beyond conception, and practised rites of so foul a kind that the very existence of such rites was often doubted by modern writers. And yet these people possessed characteristics which were calculated to redeem them to a considerable extent, even in the eyes of civilised man. Brave to a fault, having a clear perception of the distinctions of rank, and therefore proud, they also possessed a large amount of intellectual capacity and even of latent moral character. Acute in their under- standing and comprehension, they rapidly fell in with many of the arts and habits of the colonists, but, unaccustomed to the restraints of civilised life, and in the habit of indulging with little check their natural impulses, they found it difficult to adopt, as fully as their own appreciation of them would other- wise lead them to do, the social habits of the Europeans. Unfortunately, also, too little regard was shown to their feelings of pride and nationality, and, by the ridicule with which their habits and manners were treated, they had been driven to adopt, as individuals as well as collectively, a position of isolation, if not of hostile feeling- towards the Europeans. Without having introduced amongst them any form of government more suited to promote and foster our intercourse with them, we broke down the power and in- fluence of the greater chiefs, and induced a consequent dis- organization of their own social condition. It is not, however, mv purpose any farther to pursue this inquiry, which belongs rather to the political economist and the legislator than to the student of geography and natural history, and I will pro- ceed at once to call your attention to the general physical appearance presented by these islands prior to their colonisa- tion, to the character of their fauna and flora, and to the changes which have since been efi'ected and are now m progress. Stretching from the 34th to the 47th degree of south latitude, in a general north-and-south direction, with an average breadth in the South Island not exceeding 120 miles, and in the North Island (except above Auckland) of about 150 miles, the whole extent may be treated as a great mountain-chain divided into two portions by Cook Strait. In the North Island there are, in the west and north-western sides of this chain, several large volcanic cones, some of the mountains of which rise to altitudes varying from 4,000 ft. to 9,000 ft. above sea-level, and of which Tongariro, nearly in the centre of the greater mass of the Island, is still active. Tea VERS. — On Material and Scientific Progress. 7 In the South Island the chain extends from the north (in the form of spurs radiating from the Spencer Mountains on the west side and from the Kaikoura Mountains on the east) to the extreme south, attaining its greatest elevation in Mount Cook, whilst in many places it reaches an altitude of 10,000 ft., and has a general elevation of from 6,000 ft. to 8,000 ft. In the South Island, with the exception of the Canterbury Plains and the undulating country to the north and south of them, stretching on the one side to the Waiau River and on the other to the extreme south of the Island, there was little in the general appearance of the country to induce any high idea of its capacity for sustaining a large agricultural popula- tion ; nor did the North Island present, at first sight, any better field for agricultural occupation, although on the eastern side it also possesses plains — in the Hawke's Bay and Wairarapa districts — and the country, on the west coast, from Otaki to the Manukau, probably contains some of the most fertile land in the world. The eastern sides of both islands, including the slopes of the mountain-chams, con- tained large tracts of grassy country available for pastoral purposes, but, as a rule, the whole of the western sides were clothed with dense forest. It has been found, however, that the slopes of the mountain-chains contain excellent soil, and that when cleared of the forest growth they are capable, under proper cultivation, of being converted into valuable pasture land. The whole country may be said to be well, and in many places profusely, watered, and the native growth usually luxuriant to a degree. It must be manifest that, in islands having so large a range of latitude as these, there must be a corresponding range in climate, and accordingly we find that, whilst in the extreme north the climate is sufficiently warm to ripen freely many of the fruits of the tropics, and that even in the neighbourhood of x\uckland the citron, the orange, and the guava mature their fruit, so as we pass to the south we find it eminently suited to the production of all the varied fruits and vegetables which make the luxury of temperate climates. It would lead me too far (nor, indeed, is it necessary in addressing a New Zealand audience) were I to attempt any detailed description of the physical aspects of the country or its climate, and the general outline I have given will be suffi- cient for my purpose. To the first colonists it undoubtedly presented the appearance of a country in a practically un- touched condition, covered, in its forest-lands, with the growth of untold centuries, and in its open lands with grasses, ferns, and swamp- loving plants to which their eyes were totally unused, and which differed in all important respects from the wild growth of Europe. 8 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. I had intended to describe in some detail the organic natural productions of the country, but this address would then stretch to an inconvenient length, and I must leave it to your local knowledge on these points to fill up the void. This is, perhaps, the less important, for with the exception of grasses made available in their uncultivated state for depastur- ing purposes, and of timber used for building and other pur- poses, it may be said that little had been done towards utilising them, and still less towards ascertaining their pro- perties and value. It is true that the fibre of the Phormium tenax had been prepared as, and still continues to be, an article of export, and if properly managed would no doubt still yield an excellent return, but I know of no other natural vegetable production of the country (unless we can give that name to kauri-gum) which had before the colonisation been turned to account. , You are all aware that the mineral resources of these islands are very large and very varied, but it is clear that the natives had no knowledge which would enable them to utilise them, for we found them still using stone and v^'ooden weapons similar to those which in Europe characterized the middle epoch of the Neolithic age. Such, in brief, was the condition of the country when the first settlers, acting under the impulses which ordinarily inspire modern colonists, were thrown upon it. x\ndnowhow changed has it all become ! Instead of the miserable pas and kaingas of an utterly barbarous race, we have a number of flourishing cities and towns inhabited by thousands of Euro- peans, and many of them possessing buildings which present all the characteristics of wealth and durability. Instead of the solitary canoe of the native fisherman, or the fleet of a war-party intent upon murder and rapine, our waters teem with ships busily engaged in the peaceful work of commerce, whilst large and valuable works in our various ports give facilities for the carrying-on and development of that com- merce. Instead of our great tracts of native pasture lying idle, and yielding no useful living thing, they are now roamed over by and maintain large herds of cattle and flocks of sheep. Instead of the desolate but luxuriant vegetation of the swampy ground along many parts of our seaboard, and the impenetrable forests of many of our valleys, we have rich fields, producing the grain and other crops of temperate Europe. Instead of the narrow bush-track along which the savage travelled on his mission of revenge, we have railways and ordinary roads penetrating the country in all directions, and facilitating the maintenance of that intercourse which is essential to the progress of the community in wealth and civilisation. Instead of the mineral resources of the country Tbavers. — On Material and Scientific Progress. 9 lying idle, we have thousands of men busily engaged in extract- ing them from the soil, and thus, whilst maintaining themselves, contributing to the general public wealth. We have, indeed, on all sides of us abundant evidence that the energies of our race are rapidly converting a country which in its natural state scarcely afforded means for the sustenance of man into one capable not only of maintaining a contented population, but of affording the materials for keeping alive and extending an already great foreign commerce. The rapidity of such changes, too, strikes the onlooker with astonishment, and is inconceivable to those who have not wit- nessed it for themselves. In 1839 the "Tory" first visited Cook Strait on its colonising mission, and then found the natives engaged in a bloody feud, and exhibiting the most forbidding habits of savage life. All was strange and wild. Barely sixty years have elapsed since then, and already large cities have arisen in many parts of the islands. Everywhere the broad sheets of the Press are engaged in diffusing information, and in discussing the politics and wants of a civilised people. The clearing, the farm, the industrial settlement have dis- placed the scanty cultivation of the Maori and his ephemeral hut. The progress of a single year outspeeds the work of past centuries, and amid the charred stumps of our hill-side forests and the rough clearings of our farms we already see handsome villas surrounded with luxurious plantations and the comfort- able homesteads of a contented and thriving agricultural population, whilst on every side we find the mechanical appliances of a civilised people doing their work and pro- moting the wealth and comfort of the settlers. The extent of these changes is emphasized when we contrast the early and present conditions of our trade and commerce, of which the following extracts from the statistics of the colony will afford some idea. In 1854, when the General Assembly first sat, the popula- tion of the colony (exclusive of Maoris) was 32,554, and its revenue £30,000 a year at most. In April, 1896, the popula- tion (exclusive of Maoris) was 703,360, showing an increase in forty-two years of 670,806 persons ; whilst for 1895 its revenue was £4,610,402, and its public debt (exclusive of the amounts owing by local bodies) reached the modest sum of £43,050,780. In ]854 the number of letters received and despatched was 138,482. In 1894 the number was 52,168,336. In 1866 the number of telegrams despatched was 48,231 ; in 1896 the number was 2,124,211. In 1854 the number of ships inwards was 293, with a tonnage of 74,831, and out- wards 293, with a tonnage of 76,718. In 1895 the number inwards was 611, with a tonnage of 672,951, and outwards 597, with a tonnage of 648,946. In 1854 the export of wool 10 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. was 1,071,3401b., of the value of £70,103; in 1895 it was 116,015,1701b., of the value of £3,662,131; whilst the total value exported up to 1895 amounts to £101,325,079. In 1854 the export of grain was 93,700 bushels, of the value of £41,019 (a creamy time for the agi'iculturist) ; and in 1895 it was 2,381,837 bushels, of the value, unfortunately, of only £215,783. In 1882 the export of frozen sheep was 15,244 cwt., of the value of £19,339 (a creamv time for the sheep-farmer) ; and in 1895 1,134,097 cwt., of the value of £1,262,711. In 1854 we exported 1,660 tons of kauri-gum, of the value of £28,864 ; and in 1895 7,425 tons, of the value of £418,760. In 1857 we exported gold to the value of £40,440, and in 1895 to the value of £1,162,181, whilst the total value exported during the whole period reached £51,127,171. In 1854 we exported provisions, tallow, timber, &c., to the value of £179,341, and in 1895 to the value of £1,162,181. In 1854 our total exports reached £891,201, and in 1895 they reached £8,390,153; whilst our total exports from 1854 to 1895, both vears inclusive — and chiefly to England — reached the sum of £215,000,000— the produce of the colony. When to this we add the consumption of its products by the people of the colony, the total value of its production must have been enormous, and apparently disproportionate to the number of its population. In 1858 the total number of horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs was as follows: Horses, 14,912; cattle, 137,204; sheep, 1,623,324 ; and pigs, 40,734. In 1895 the numbers were : Horses, 237,413; cattle, 1,047,901; sheep, 19,826,604; and pigs, 239,778. In 1857 the area of land in cultivation was 121,648 acres, and in 1895 it reached 10,698,809 acres. The deposits in ordinary banks were as follows : in 1857, £343,316, and in 1895, £13,544,415 ; and in savings-banks— 1858, £7,862, and in 1895, £4,620,696. The number of miles of railway open in 1895, exclusive of 167 miles of private railway (of which eighty-four belong to the Wellington and Mana- watu Eailwav Company), was 2.014, yielding a revenue of £1,183,041. In view of these facts, and of others of like import which might be quoted, the newly-aroused enthusiasm in England in relation to the colonies is not much to be wondered at. Having thus dealt with the material progress of the colony during the past sixty years, I now propose to point out, in a necessarily general way, its progress in science since its founda- tion. At the first meeting of the Eoyal Geographical Society which took place after the commencement of Her Majesty's reign the president, in addressing the Queen, who was pre- sent, mentioned that England had achieved some of her greatest triumphs in geographical discovery under the sove- Travers. — On Material and Scientific Progress. 11 reignty of a Queen, instancing the exploits of Drake and Eaieigh during the reign of Queen EUzaheth, and confidently predicted that Her Majesty's reign would be equally famed for the promotion of geographical knowledge. We all know how fully this prediction has been fulfilled, and how, during the last sixty years, English explorers have given Her Majesty's name to dominant features in every part of the globe. I am pleased at being able to state that we have amongst us one of those who, during that period, took part in a very important v^^ork of this class. I allude to the expedition sent out by the British Government in 1857 to explore and report upon the British possessions in North America which lie to the west of Lake Superior, in which expedition Sir James Hector was a prominent actor. It is probably within the knowledge of some of you that to his exploration of that part of the Eocky Moun- tains range which lies within British Columbia the promoters of the Canadian-Pacific line of railway ovve their knowledge of the pass through which it traverses this stupendous chain, this pass having, in fact, received its name — "The Kicking- horse Pass" — from an adventure which provec? nearly fatal to the exploi-er. The mere fact of Sir James Hector having traversed this pass might not have given it any special import- ance, but the circumstance that he then pointed out its suit- ability over all other known passes through the British por- tion of the chain for railway purposes gives special value and importance to his labours, and marks him as one of those whose capacity and judgment justified his selection for the work. Those who have had the pleasure of reading his admir- able reports of these explorations, published as a parliamentary blue-book, and of examining the accompanying maps and sec- tions, cannot fail to recognise in Sir James one justly entitled to distinction amongst the band of explorers and men of science whose sheaves of discovery have contributed so much, during the last sixty years, to our knowledge of the physical features of the globe. The following extract from a short account of Sir James's work by Mr. Edward Cox will give you some idea of its arduous nature on that occasion : — "Besides the regular summer work, Sir James Hector made arduous winter journeys on foot with snow-shoes and dogs, so as to thoroughly master the features of the country at all seasons of the year. On these journeys he was accom- panied by two of the men, and for months they slept every night in the snow, with the temperature sometimes at 50° Fahr. below zero. Each winter season during the expedition Sir James walked over twelve hundred miles in this fashion, living on pemmican and any chance game that might be caught or shot. During the early summer mouths the expedi- tion traversed the open prairies, and autumn was devoted to 12 Traitsactions. — Miscellaneous. the exploration of the Eocky Mountains. Sir James dis- covered five dilfereut passes, ascertaining their altitudes, and surveying their features. One of these passes, named after an accident that nearly cost him his life, is that which he recommended, and has been chosen, for the great trans- continental Canadian railway, now almost completed. The extent of country traversed by the expedition w^as mapped by Sir James, both topographically and geologically, and described in the parliamentary blue-book. A great part of that region was tiien untrodden, except by Indians, but is now partially settled and traversed by roads and railways. The difficulties which beset its exploration have all disappeared, and elaborate surveys, since made in comparative ease and comfort, testify to the accuracy of the work done by Sir James, and to the justness of his deductions respecting the structure of the country and its availability for settlement. At the close of the expedition, before returning to England, he examined and reported upon the coal-mines of Vancouver Island, and made extensive journeys in order to acquaint him- self with the goldfields of British Columbia and California and with some of the mines of Northern Mexico. He returned by Panama and the West Indies; and, on reaching England, besides giving official reports, he laid the result of his work in the various branches of research before the difi'erent scientific societies, to which they were of high interest. For the geographical discoveries effected by the expedition the gold medal of the Eoyal Geographical Society was awarded in 1861." After Sir James's return to England he received two offers of engagement from Sir Roderick Murchison, then Director- General of the Geological Survey of Great Britain — one to undertake a mission as Political Agent and Geologist to Cash- mere, with large emoluments in prospect, and the other as Geologist to the Provincial Government of Otago. More for- tunately for the colony than for Sir James he chose the latter, and those who know the extent of his labours for the last thirty-three years in all branches of science, and the indomi- table energy w4th which he has explored a large part of the most rugged and difficult regions of the colony, can have no hesitation in classing him as a good and faithful servant, fully entitled to all the honours which have been conferred upon him by the great scientific bodies of Europe and America. Many minor explorations were made during the years preceding and following those made by Sir James, some of them under extraordinary difficulties, of which the chief was that of obtaining food. Of this class were the journeys undertaken by the late Major Heaphy and Sir Julius von Haast from Nelson to the Grey, through the vast mountain- Travers. — On Material and Scientific Progress. 13 ranges, densely covered with forest, which lie between the valley of the Buller and the mouth of the Grey ; the explora- tions of the great tract of mountain country which forms the western part of tlie Provincial Districts of Otago and South- land ; the explorations of the various passes between the Nelson District and the Canterbury Plains by the late Sir Frederick Weld and myself ; the exploration by myself of the country on the eastern side of the Spencer Mountains, during which I examined the Cannibal's Gorge, famous in the history of the South Island natives ; and explorations undertaken for the discovery of practicable routes through the central portion of the Southern Alps, between Canterbury and Westland. Many of these various explorations were carried out by sur- veyors engaged in laying off and mapping the districts re- quired for settlement, and the reports of all these explorations, have, in efi'ect, given us a very detailed knowledge of the geography of the colony. In dealmg with the progress of geographical discovery in the east, Mr. Hugh Robert Mill pointed out that the opera- tions of the State Survey Department in India constituted a most remarkable portion of the geographical advance in Asia during the last sixty years. I wish I could say that the work of the Survey Department in this colony deserved to be characterized in the same manner, but my experience during the last twenty years has in no degree tended to modify the opinions which I expressed in reference to the surveys of New Zealand when I wrote and read a paper on that subject before this society in February, 1877. I then called attention to a report made by Major Palmer, a surveyor of great eminence, who happened to be in New Zealand in 1874 in connection with the observation of the transit of Venus. He had been requested by the General Government to examine and report upon the existing surveys of the colony, and as to the best means of getting rid of serious difficulties then known to exist in connection with them. Having undertaken the duty, he sent in his report in April, 1875. In this report he pointed out, in full detail, the causes and extent of the errors which had been committed, and which had necessarily in- volved, as he showed, an enormous waste of money, and recommended a course for the future which would, had it been adopted, not only have remedied the errors already committed, but would also have provided, at a moderate cost, for the completion of such trigonometrical surveys as would have insured the requisite degree of accuracy in the ordinary sectional surveys. Unfortunately for the interests of the colony, however, the general direction of the surveys shortly afterwards fell into the hands of a gentleman who was dis- posed to pay less regard to the necessary and proper require- 14 Transactions. — Misceilaueoiis. ments of the colony than to a " fad " of his own, and for the sevei-al years during which he held control a system was adopted which only increased the confusion and inaccuracies pointed out by Major Palmer, and for remedying which I regret to say that no sufficient effort has yet been made. The Land Transfer system adopted by this colony necessitates the utmost accuracy in the definition of the boundaries and relative positions of all parcels of land dealt wdth under it, but I have no hesitation in saying that now, as in 1877, but for forbearance on the part of neighbouring proprietors and the natural unwillingness which exists to embark in litiga- tion, the Courts of the colony might be much employed in deahng with cases of disputed boundaries. I can only hope, in the public interest, that the enlightened views propounded by Major Palmer will one day prevail, and that the surveys •of the colony will once for all be placed upon an effectual and scientific basis. I may add that the use of the system re- ferred to is the more to be regretted, inasmuch as it still necessitates far greater outlay than would be incurred if that which was recommended by Major Palmer, and is practised in Europe and Asia, had been adopted. It is satisfactory to turn from this to the geological sur- veys of these islands. These have been conducted upon the principles laid down by Murchison, Lyell, De la Beche, Eamsay, Geikie, and the host of other great men whose names have been associated with the geological survey of Great Britain. We owe this to Sir James Hector, who, as I have already mentioned, accepted the position of Geologist to the Provincial Government of Otago in the year 1861, and commenced his duties in that year. As you are aware, the chief business of the geologist is to place in clear chronological order the complicated history of the successive changes which have taken place in the organic and inorganic kingdoms in any given area of the globe, the result being to present, in respect of each geological epoch, a nearly perfect description of its physical geography at that time. It is one of the glories of the Victorian era (a term applied in 1887 by Mr. "Punch" to the then fifty years of Her Majesty's reign, but which is now extended to the present time) that geological investigations have been placed upon a sound basis, and that geologists have learnt that it is necessary to study the changes for the time being in progress as a clue to those which have taken place in the past. It has also long been plain to observation that past changes in the physical geography of our globe have been accompanied by corresponding changes in the organic kingdom, and, therefore, that any classification of the stratified rocks must necessarily be unsatisfactory wdiich does not depend upon the observed changes and successions Traveks. — Oil Material and Scientific Progress. 15 of life during their deposition. As Mr. Page has put it, the palaeontological and lithological aspects of a geological system are two different things, and are the same as if we spoke of the stratigraphical order of its rocks on the one hand and the zoological or botanical characters of its fossils on the other ; and that to fully describe any system or suite of strata two things are necessary, — first, to ascertain their mineral com- position and physical relations, so as to determine the condi- tions under which they were deposited and the changes they may have subsequently undergone ; and, second, to examine the character of their fossils, so as to arrive at some knowledge of the biological conditions of the region at the time of their formation. Fully appreciating the necessity of observing these canons, and with the varied experience he had gained amongst the mountain-chains of North America and in Mexico, Sir James Hector brought his great energies to bear upon the work in this colony, and succeeded in obtaining a mass of knowledge and material which has enabled him not only to formulate a general view of the geological structure of both islands, but also to lay down, m considerable detail, many of the most important formations. It has, of course, been impossible, in more than a general way, to ascertain the proportions which the existing fauna and flora bear to the extinct forms in the various strata examined, aiid it must be left to future palseon- tologists to determine this point after classifying the immense number of fossils obtained in the prosecution of the survey. But there can be little doubt that the main lines have been satisfactorily determined, and that the more detailed local sur- veys to be made in the future will be comparatively simple when the requisite classification of the fossils has been made. Whilst actively engaged in the direction of the survey Sir James had many able assistants in the field, an:iongst whom I may mention Captain Hutton, late professor of biology in the University College of Canterbury, and now curator of the Canterbur)' Museum ; and Messrs. Cox, Park, Binns, and McKay, whose reports have been of the highest value ; whilst he owed much also to the skill as a draughtsman of the late Mr. John Buchanan, whose beautiful and faithful drawings were so largely used in illustrating these reports. In connec- tion with his main duties Sir James also gave full attention to mining, especially in the branches relating to gold and coal. The enormous value of these mines will appear when I repeat what I have already mentioned, that the former had pro- duced upwards of fifty-one million pounds' worth of gold since 1857, when the first mining for that metal was undertaken in this colony ; and that the latter, though even yet in its infancy, has produced several millions of tons of coal, of a 16 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. minimum value of 17s. 6d. per ton. Both these industries are still in full swing, and tiiere is every reason for believing that, with simplified means of separating the gold from its matrix, not only will occupation be found for the employment of a considerable addition to the number of miners, but that the yield of the precious metal will be largely increased. It must not be supposed that I have overlooked the valu- able geological work done by Professor Von Hochstetter, who accompanied the Austrian Scientific Expedition in the " Novara," in 1860 ; or by Sir Julius von Haast, who for several years occupied the position of Provincial Geologist in Canterbury ; or by Professors Hutton and Ulrich in Otago, in the years from 1873 to 1875, the first of whom then occupied the position of Provincial Geologist and the latter that of a consulting Mining Engineer and Geologist, and the result of whose labours is recorded in a report to the then Super- intendent of Otago, made in June, 1875. Von Hochstetter's work in the field was, however, practically confined to the volcanic area in the North Island, although he also paid a short visit to Nelson and Massacre Bay ; and those who have had the pleasure of perusing his published record of his travels and investigations in these islands cannot but have been struck by the extent and variety of the knowledge he obtained whilst pursuing those travels. I think it unnecessary, how- ever, to dwell upon these practically local investigations, be- cause Sir James himself personally examined the whole of the districts referred to in them, and has embodied those portions of the work done by these several gentlemen which fitted in with his own researches and observations, as recorded in the general reports of the Geological Survey. Now, when we reflect how vast and valuable are the sub- stances derived from the crust of the earth, and how varied are their applications in the industry of civihsed nations, we must be satisfied of the expediency that every educated mind should possess some knowledge of the leading facts of geological science, for, wdiether it be for the purpose of engi- neering, architectural, or agricultural work, there can be no question as to the necessity of knowing all that relates to the application of its industrial and commercial details. Geological work in the field has practically ceased since 1893, since which date Sir James Hector has not been pro- vided with the necessary staff for pursuing it. For what reason this has been done I am not aware, but this interrup- tion in the work of one of the most important scientific de- partments in the colony is much to be regretted. The progress of chemistry in England during the reign of Her Majesty has been extraordinarily rapid, the foundation for its advance not only there, but in Europe generally, having Tkavers. — On Material and Scientific Progress. 17 undoubtedly been first laid by Dalton, who propounded the atomic theory. Later on pi-ecision was given to his views by Davy, who was also the pioneer in the field of electro- chemistry. But to Faraday has been long and generally awarded the full glory .of solving those important problems in electro-chemical science which have led the way to the present application of electrical energy to electrolytic decom- position, the production of light, and as a source of mechanical power. It was almost impossible for the ordinary mind to have conceived that out of the simple experiments made by Faraday, with apparatus constructed by himself — small copper discs, bits of soft iron wound round with calico and twine — would have arisen the mighty machines which are now con- verting the previously-wasted energies of Niagara, and will soon be converting the mighty powers of the Nile, into chemical action, supplying power to whole nations. It has been well observed that the development of chemistry during the last sixty years has changed the social and economic con- dition of every country which has had the intelligence to parti- cipate in it, or the sagacity to avail itself of its fruits, and there is indeed nothing more remarkable than the fact that, until very recently, the great manufacturing people of England should have ignored that science in connection with public education. This, however, is now being rapidly changed. It has been doubted whether in 1837 there were more than a couple of dozen persons altogether in the British Isles re- ceiving systematic instruction in practical chemistry. Liebig visited England in that year, and in a letter to Berzelius, dated the 26th November, he tells the great Swedish chemist that he had been for some months in England, had seen a great deal, and learnt little. "England," he said, "is not the land of science ; her chemists are ashamed to call them- selves chemists, because the apothecaries have appropriated the title." He was greatly pleased with the English as a people, and delighted with the hospitality and welcome he met with ; but as regards the chemists — well, Graham was the only exception, and he was precious. He evidently thought that Faraday had ceased to be reckoned among the chemists. Liebig's example in establishing schools of chemistry in Germany soon led, however, to a great change in England, for in 1841 the Chemical Society was established, and now numbers upwards of two thousand members. In 1845 the Eoyal College of Chemistry was founded, and the spirit of its founders has since been carried into a large number of places in which chemical instruction and research are carried on. As regards chemical education, the change has been enormous, and Faraday's reproach to the Public School Commissioners " that the natural knowledge which had been given to the 18 Transactions. — Miscellaneous . world in such abundance remained untouched, and that no sufficient attempt was being made to convey it to the young mind, growing up and obtaining its first views of these things," is being wiped away, and chemistry is being taught in nearly all the great public schools, including the universities, whilst well-equipped chemical laboratories are to be found in almost every town in Great Britain, and those who will take the trouble to consult the pages of the " Philosophical Trans- actions" and of the '"Journal of the Chemical Society" will be able to appreciate the enormous advance in chemical inquiry and discovery during the last fifty years. It is to be regretted that little is being done in this con- nection by those who have the control of the general public education of this colony, the great majority of the people of which appear to attach more importance to strumming on a piano or daubing a canvas than they do to instruction in sciences whose applications concern them at every turn, and have important relations, either proximate or remote, with every individual pursuit in which they are engaged. Let us hope for better things. In connection with the geological survey and with mining in tliis colony, the laboratory established in 1862, under the management of Mr. Skey, has done an enormous amount of accurate work ; and, although no very recondite problems have been solved or startling discoveries made, the economic value of that gentleman's labours during the past thirty-five years has been very great. This will fully appear to those who take the trouble to examine the series of Laboratory Eeports issued under the direction of the Geological Survey Department, which unquestionably present a record of patient and dihgent research, reflecting the greatest credit upon Mr. Skey. Hundreds of careful analyses have been made of rocks, ores, and soils from all parts of the colony, which, I am afraid, have not produced due fruit, for it appears to me, generally speaking, that the records of the scientific depart- ments of the colony excite far less interest than the contests between teams of cricketers and footballers, with which a very large portion of the columns of the daily Press are filled. In meteorology, too, a vast amount of useful information has been collected under the general direction of Sir James Hector. From 1868 to 1895 reports were issued on this subject by the Geological Department, but since the latter date these reports have been transmitted to the Eegistrar- General and published in the Official Year-book of the colony. Our secretary, Mr. Gore, has throughout been connected with the practical work of this department, and the neces- sary observations are still collected through him from 144 stations distributed throughout the colony. Weather fore- Tkavers. — 0)1 Material and Scientific Progress. 19 casting has long been under the direction of Captain Edwin, R.N., whose work has proved of great vahie to those " who go down to the sea in ships." But, however great the strides made in Europe and in this colony in other branches of science during the last sixty years, there can be no question that biology has fully kept pace with them. You will remember that in 1859 Darwin propounded the hypothesis involved in the title of his work "The Origin of Species," a work which speedily revolutionised the views previously held as to the origin and succession of life on the globe. It has lately been contended that he v^as anticipated in the principal lines of that hypo- thesis by Herbert Spencer, and that he could not have been ignorant of this fact when he published his work, assuming, of course, that the statements contained in Mr. Clodd's recent publication — in which the accusation has been made — are true. It must, however, be remembered that Darwin had practically arrived at his main conclusions nearly thirty years before the publication of his work, and that it was from a careful consideration of the observations he had made (during his voyage in the "Beagle") on the distribution of the in- habitants of South America, and the relations between its then present and past inhabitants, that he was induced to review the generally-accepted doctrines as to the origin and progress of life. His own account of the matter is, that after he returned home from his voyage it occurred to him, in 1837, that something might perhaps be made out of this question by patiently accumulating and reflecting on all sorts of facts which could possibly have any bearing upon it, that after five years' work of this nature he allowed himself to speculate on the subject, and drew up some short notes, which he enlarged in 1844 into a sketch of the conclusions which seemed to him to be probable, from which period until the publication of his work he steadily pursued the same ob- ject. This sketch he submitted to Sir James Hooker, who, as well as Sir Charles Lyell (to whom Hooker had communi- cated the main lines of the sketch), thought it advisable that Darwin should publish some extracts from his manuscripts, to be submitted to the Royal Society, in company with a memoir in relation to the inhabitants of the Malay Archi- pelago, which had been sent him by Mr. Wallace, who had, independently, from the investigations detailed in his memoir, arrived at much the same general conclusions as Darwin him- self, and this he accordingly did. Whatever may be the result of the statements published by Mr. Clodd, to which particular attention has lately been drawn by a recent article in one of the scientific serials, there can be no doubt that the enormous mass of facts illustrative of his hypothesis, 20 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. which are contained in his work, entitle Darwin to the honour of having first put forward the points involved in a manner which forced conviction upon his readers. At the end of his book he thus summarised the laws which he be- lieved to have governed the production of the varied forms of life on the globe. " These laws," he says, " taken in their larger sense, are growth with reproduction; inheritance, which is almost implied by reproduction ; variability from the direct and indirect action of the external conditions of life and from use and disuse ; a ratio of increase so high as to lead to a struggle for existence, and, as a consequence, to natural selec- tion, entailing divergence of character and the extinction of less-improved forms." "Thus," he adds, "from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object we are capable of conceiving — namely, the production of the higher animals- — directly follows. There is a grandeur in this view of life with its several powers having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one, and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forn:s most beautiful have been and are being evolved." But, whilst Darwin's name is undoubtedly more intimately connected with the doctrine of evolution than that of any other man, he himself, with the simple honesty which characterized his whole life, readily admitted that Wallace had independently arrived at much the same general conclusions from his study of the natural history of the Malay Archi- pelago, and that most careful observer and naturalist has never changed his views on the subject. . From the new start- ing-point thus given to biological science all recent investiga- tions have proceeded, and, when we compare the present literature in every branch of natural science Vv^ith the limited number of books that existed up to the date of the publication of Darwin's work, we are able to estimate the extent of inter- est excited by the new doctrines, and the influence they have exercised in its development. It is from this standpoint that the greater number of those who have engaged in biological researches in New Zealand have proceeded, and I think that the people of this colony may well be proud of the results achieved. Some years ago I pointed out to this society that the islands of New Zealand occupy a unique position in connection with natural history, there being not less than twelve hundred miles of ocean inter- vening between them and the nearest continental land. This physical position, coupled with the peculiar forms of its fauna and flora, and the large proportion of endemic species belonging to each, has entitled it to be treated by writers on the distribution of animals and plants as constituting a Tkavers.— 0;t Material and Scientific Progress. 21 separate zoological sub-province, a circumstance which has created great interest in the investigation of its natural his- tory, more especially as both islands are characterized by the almost total absence of land animals, except birds and the comparatively lower forms of animal life. It was natural that the birds, as being the most conspicuous objects, should have received the greatest attention, and I am inclined to believe that, except one form, of which only two specimens, a male and a female, were ever obtained, we are now well acquainted with the avifauna, both fossil and living, of these islands. The greater part of the results obtained by the large number of naturalists who have collected and recorded their observa- tions upon the birds of New Zealand have been embodied in a fine work published by Sir Walter Buller, whose labours have received well-merited recognition at the hands of naturalists in all parts of the world, and I may add that it is matter of gratificatioii to those who have contributed to our present knowledge on this subject that their contributions have been fairly recognised in Sir Walter's book. Amongst the more remarkable forms of our existing birds are the several known species of AiHcryx, which were dealt with in an elaborate memoir by the late Sir Eichard Owen, who pointed out their affinities with the huge extinct struthious birds known under the general name of vioa, specimens of which are to be found in the larger museums of the colony. We owe these to the re- searches of Sir James Hector, of the late Sir Julius von Haast, and of Professor Hutton specially, whilst many others not claiming to rank so high in the domain of natural history have also contributed largely to them. As you are aware, steps have lately been taken, under the auspices of the Gosernment, to preserve the remnant of our birds from the extinction to which they have been exposed, and which is, indeed, imminent, owing to the introduction into these islands, under a total mistake as to their utility, of several of the greatest known enemies of bird-life, and we may hope that the effort will be successful. The reptilian life found in these islands is very limited in extent, but contains two forms of the most remarkable cha- racter— namely, the tuatara lizard and a frog known as Leio- pelma hochstetteri, found chiefly in the Coromandel district. The lizard is only now found in some of the outlying islands, where its continued existence is threatened by the introduc- tion of the pig and the cat. The affinities and structure of this reptile have been the subject of many memoirs, both by New Zealand and foreign naturalists, who have shown that it is evidently connected with some of the most ancient fossil forms. The frog is remarkable chiefly as occurring m an oceanic island. 22 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. In the other famihes of our fauna we have had, and still have, a host of collectors and investigators, the results of whose w'ork have been embodied either in separate volumes or manuals published by the Government under the editorship of Sir James Hector, or in the shape of memoirs in the "Transactions of the New Zealand Institute," and in various English and foreign scientific serials. Amongst these the I'esearches and works of Sir James Hector, Professor Parker, of Dunedin, and Professor Hutton in relation to the marine and fresh- water fishes of the colony ; of Professor Hutton, now supplemented by the labours of Mr. Suter, into its land and marine Mollusca ; of Mr. Dendy, into what he has termed, its " Cryptozoic fauna " ; of Powell and Urquhart, into the forms and life-history of its ArachnidcE ; of Captain Sroun, whose fine work, in two volumes, on the Coleoptei\i deserves particular mention ; and of Mr.-^ Fereday, Mr. Hudson, and Mr. Percy Buller, in relation to its Lepidojjtera, are highly valuable and interesting. I am tempted here to mention one insect which, though not peculiar to New Zealand, is of singu- lar interest to naturalists, and has accordingly been the sub- ject of many special memoirs. I allude to the Peripatus. This insect presents itself to us in the form of an oviparous larva, never passing beyond that stage, a circumstance which characterizes it as perhaps the most peculiar form of insect now extant. I was the first person to observe this insect in New Zealand, and, being much struck by its remarkable ex- ternal characters and habits, I referred it to Captain Hutton, who at once recognised it as a Peripatus. I afterwards gave speciinens of it to Professor Moseley, one of the naturalists of tlae " Challenger," who had obtained specimens of the same insect at the Cape of Good Hope, in Australia, and in Chili, and was greatly interested in the fact of its occurrence also in New Zealand, its existence here being one of the circum- stances which lend a peculiar character to our fauna. The presence of this insect in these localities also lends coun- tenance to the hypothesis that a land connection formerly existed between them, a circumstance now much discussed by physical geographers, geologists, botanists, &c. Amongst the biological work done by our local naturahsts, however, there is none which deserves more recognition than the patient, laborious, and valuable investigations made by Mr. Maskell into the life-history, habits, and natural charac- ters of the Coccidce. Indeed, none but those who have fol- lowed the progress of his work, and studied the beautiful microscopic draw^ings which form such conspicuous portions of his publications in the Transactions for several years past, can form any conception of the time and trouble given to these investigations, and it is no small tribute to their value Tkavers. — On Material and Scientific Progress. 23 and accuracy that Mr. Maskell is now recognised as the leading authority on the subject of these insects, and is con- sulted in reference to them by naturalists in all parts of the world. With I'egard to botanical research much also has been done, the great workers having been Sir Joseph Hooker, the Eev. Mr. Colenso, Sir James Hector, Mr. T. Kirk, Mr. John Buchanan, Mr. Cheeseman, of Auckland, and many others. I also took a leading part in this work as a collector, espe- cially of alpine and sub-alpine forms, some years ago, and made large collections from the mountain districts of Nelson and Marlborough, which I sent to the museum at Kew. Mr. Kirk is now engaged in preparing a new edition of the "Handbook of the New Zealand Flora," in substitution for that issued by Sir Joseph Hooker m 1864, in order to bring our knowledge of the botany of the colony up to date ; and we may rest assured, from our experience of Mr. Kirk's capacity and diligence, that the work he has undertaken will be done in a manner which will reflect credit upon himself and the colony. This general sketch of the progress of the colony in physical and natural science would not be complete without mention of the fact that fine collections, illustrative of every branch, are contained in each of the museums in its principal cities. In conclusion, I refer those who desire to obtain a com- pleter knowledge of the nature and extent of the scientific work which has been done in Nev»' Zealand than could pos- sibly be given in such an address as this to the works pub- lished under the direction of the Geological Department, and I have no hesitation in saying that until these have been examined no proper estimate can be made of the extent and value of that work ; whilst the statistics of the colony, now so admirably formulated under the care of Mr. Von Dadelszen, and to which I am indebted for the evidence brought before you to-night in relation to the economic condition of the colony, afford the most convincing proofs of its progress in wealth, and of the certainty of its future prosperity, under wise ad- ministration . I trust you will pardon me if I have failed to carry out as successfully as could be wished the somewhat ambitious de- sign involved in the title of this address, and many of you will, I hope, be willing to admit that my self-imposed task was by no means an easy one. 24 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. Art. II. — On Bock Pictographs'^ in South Canterbury. By A. Hamilton. [Read before the Otago Institute, 12th October, 1897.] Plates I.-X. Knowing that a number of painted rocks existed in the Hme- stone district about Albury and the Opihi River, I was very pleased to accept the invitation of Mr. W. W. Smith; who knows the whole district thoroughly, and who offered to point out to me the chief localities in which the pictographs are found. Leaving Albury early in the morning, we drove about four miles to the homestead of the Albury Estate, over fine rolling downs, which have recently been acquired by the Government and cut up for the benefit of small farmers and settlers. Round the homestead are some well-grown planta- tions of Conifers and deciduous trees, which much improve the somewhat bleak look of the downs. At the homestead we enter the valley of the Tengawai, and pass under a bold limestone scarp, which gradually narrows in the valley until it enters the hills at the Tengawai Gorge, a piece of wild and picturesque scenery, with a little native bush still remaining in the gorge. The first cave we visited was about 100ft. up the limestone face of the cliff, and was entirely concealed by the native shrubs growing on the table slope below and in front of it. The cave was very small, not the size of an ordinary room, but it faced the sun, and no doubt was a favourite rest- ing-place. Mr. Smith had seen the cave about ten years ago, and was, in fact, its discoverer, as, although so close to the homestead, it was not known to any one there. He says that at that time the figures covered the walls, and were particu- larly brilliant, mostly in red, some in black. At the present time the figures are not distinct, the walls having an appear- ance as if they had been smoked or blackened, possibly from the growth of fungus from the bushes in front, or from an Alga. I copied three of the figures still to be made out. The floor of this cave did not seeai to promise any result, so we went on up the valley. The huge masses of limestone which have become detached from the cliffs by denudation have rolled to the base of the cliff, and assume all sorts of fantastic shapes. About a quarter of a mile from the first cave is a very large shelter-cave capable of holding sixty or seventy people. The floor and the roof have a downward * Probably " petroglyphs " would be a belter word. Hamilton. — Boch PictograpJis in South Canterbtiry. 25 slope, but the situation is warm and dry. The roof of this cave is covered with a number of pictographs, some of which were copied. The cave is close to a hut, and has been used by station hands for many purposes. The floor consisted of a very fine reddish clay in a state of fine dust. On putting a section trench through it a layer of cut tussock-grass largely intermixed with birds' feathers (as at the Takiroa Cave, on the Waitaki) was exposed. The birds represented were New Zealand quail (for many years quite extinct), weka {Ocydromus), paroquet, and pigeon. No quail-bones were obtained, but several fragments of moa-bone, and a great quantity of moa-egg shell. The layer was about Sin. thick, and about 3 in. or 4 in. from the surface ; underneath was limestone-sand, in the upper part of which was a quantity of moa-egg shell. Owing to the difficulty of working the very dusty material, and the disturbed state of the rest of the floor, we did not finish the whole area. The talus slope in front of the cave was also very stony, and we did not examine it. At the head of the valley, about half a mile furthet, just at the entrance to the gorge, is a hu2;e mass of limestone which has rolled some little distance on to the flat. A small portion of this, on the sunny side, forms an overhanging shelter, which, with a few manuka screens, might be made habitable. There was evidence that this had been the case, as when the loose sand and stones had been removed from the floor a thin layer of black burnt earth was seen. A trench 1 ft. wide was cut from the rock outwards for about 20 ft., and then all traces of the burnt earth were lost. The depth of the black layer was only a few inches ; close to the rock, and scarcely traceable for any distance beneath, was the untouched limestone. Many places in the shelter itself were painted, and one group in particular was very vivid. At the ground- level there was a long red snake-like figure, resembling one at the Waitaki, apparently entering into or issuing from the furthest angle of the cave. Many of the smaller cavities weathered out in the limestone had small paintings in them, and numbers were almost entirely perished. I photographed and sketched all that were visible. Just at the entrance to the gorge, a few hundred yards beyond the rock, ploughing operations disclosed the sites of several cooking-places. From the trench across the floor of the shelter were taken two bird- bones sharpened to a fine point, a flake of quartzite, several pieces of moa-bone {Pachyornis ?), shells of the river-mussel, fragments of Haliotis shell, some small smooth beach-pebbles, part of the jaw of a dog cut into a hooked shape, and several stones burnt with fire. Eeturning to Albury, we left early the next morning for the Opihi Eiver, crossing the range of hills known as " The 26 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. Brothers." On reaching the watershed we followed down the Totara Creek until we again struck the limestone near its junction with the Opihi. The first place examined was by the side of the road, and was a good specimen of a long shelter- cave, the limestone projecting forward several feet, giving ample room to walk under it. For about 40 ft. or 50 ft. the wall and roof showed traces of ancient paintings, but were nearly obliterated and much disfigured by passers-by. A number of these were sketched. Prominent amongst them is a huge taniwha with open mouth, in front of which is a three- armed scroll of apparently meaningless design. I have, how- ever, since seen the pictographs figured by Dr. Von Haast,''' and recognise my figure as part of his No. 29, which is plainly a human figure escaping from a taniioha. There are several interesting figures in this shelter, and many of them are care- fully drawn with three pointed extremities. A similar shelter a little further down the valley has been destroyed recently in getting limestone. It is said to have contained similar designs. The floors of both of these shelters were tried, but nothing beyond a shallow layer of black burnt earth and a number of the shells of the river-mussel were found. Proceeding to the north and east, we soon reached the wide bed of the Opihi, which here flows between high lime- stone clifi's about a mile apart. Following down the right-hand bank, or south side, we carefully examined all the likely- looking places for caves and pictographs. In a very small cave there was a well-painted figure of a shark with open mouth; in another was the name " Kotaraki," printed in the form of Eoman capitals, adopted by the early scholars of the Maori race, and which is quite distinct from any Euro- pean's writing or printing. We afterwards saw Maori names written in hundreds in the caves and shelters, and found no difficulty in distinguishing them from the modern European names and writings found on the walls of the shelter. The particular cave we were looking for we passed by, but, being directed by a local resident, we turned up a small creek for a short distance amongst the hills, and found a whole series of pictographs of great interest, and in very good pre- servation, owing probably to their remoteness from the general track up the river-bed. The largest cave was of considerable size, some of the designs on the roof being 6 ft. long. It is used at present by cattle as a shelter. It lies on the sunny side of the creek, some distance above the water. In order to- see the designs painted on the roof it was necessary to lie on the sloping floor, and then the patterns became plainly visible. * Journ. Autbrop. Inst., Aug., 1878. Hamilton. — Bock Pictographs in South Canterbury. 27 In all cases we found that after being in the cave some few minutes the eye became accustomed to the light, and figures could be discerned which were not to be recognised at first. It was not possible to photograph the elaborate designs found here, so I made as careful a drawing as I could under the circumstances. In addition to the two colours — red and black — some of the figures were scratched round with white lines, probably done with a soft piece of the limestone-rock. A number of Maori names, such as " Eiwa," were painted on suitable places on the rocks in this gully. There was a figure of an ordinary mere on one of the rocks. This group of picto- graphs is probably the one which Canon Stack tried to see in 1875.- We crossed over the river by direction of our new guide, and visited the large rock-shelter on the north bank of the river, known loctilly as "Noah's Ark." It is about 200 yards long, and partly protected by a dense growth of the small shrub common on river-beds. As Canon Stack says, the entire surface of the rock is covered with pictographs, unfortunately much perished and defaced. Much of the damage to those within reach has been done by picnic parties, and the modern parties of Maoris when camped there eeling ; but far above, out of reach, there still remain several fine specimens. One very characteristic figure is about 2 ft. long, and drawn on the white face of the cliff at least 20 ft. above the ground. There are a number of almost obliterated figures of great interest which can yet be made out by careful study when the sun is in the proper position. The figure mentioned by Canon Stack still exists in the condition he described twenty years ago. Its height above the ground, 14 ft., has probably preserved it from the assaults of parasols and pen- knives. The floor of the Noah's Ark shelter seems to have been swept out by the river since the paintings were made, and we could find no remains of any kind near the rock. Proceeding down the river, we crossed to the other side, and found a curious rock-shelter near the top of a huge lime- stone bluff. The roof or upper portion of the cliff projected over perhaps 20 ft., and was perhaps 80 ft. or 100 ft. from the present bed of the river. The roof could be easily seen from below, and was painted with several figures, about a dozen of one kind (see Plate X.). At the tiine the cave was inhabited a long talus slope probably sloped down to the river-bed. This has all been removed by the river, together with the floor of the cave, so that it is now inaccessible from the river-bed, and had a deep water-hole at the foot. This appeared to be the last outcrop of the limestone as far as we * See App. No. 2 to Dr. Von Haast's paper, I.e. 28 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. could see to the east, and so we turned back, examining several small shelters up a tributary creek, on the north bank of the river. Under one rock we found the outline of a stone axe, very well drawn in red paint, about 16 in. long, and a few other solitary marks. On my return the next day I wanted to examine a cave near the Cave Station, close to Timaru, but was unable to do so. I believe there are some pictographs in it. The execu- tion of the paintings, on the whole, is not so careful or so striking as those at Takiroa, but those in the Opihi have been much defaced, especially those in the more exposed rock- shelters. I see no reason to doubt that the majority of the red and many of the black pictographs are genuine works of the natives inhabiting this part prior to the arrival of Euro- peans. The character of tlie designs is thoroughly consistent throughout the whole area. I have no doubt that a careful and special search would bring to light many more shelters and caves, and that it will be found that the same figures will occur in different localities. Any one familiar with the pictographs in other parts of the world will have little diffi- culty in deciding on the genuine character of the great bulk of the designs. Fig. 1, Plate VII., and fig. 6, Plate IV., are almost fac- similes of a figure published in the " Journal of the Anthropo- logical Institute" amongst the marks made on a document by chiefs of Easter Island in 1770. This is the only mark like a totem or symbol, the other marks on the document being more like alphabetic characters.''' Again, in Flinders Island,! a remote islet off the coast of Australia, there are numerous pictographs of animal forms, and one, a large lizard-like moiister with open jaws, re- sembles some of our figures in having a great expansion in the body with a figure of a man in it, probably representing a person swallowed by the monster, as in fig. 11, Plate VIII. , and as seen in some unpublished figures at the Takiroa Cave. I * Journ. Anthrop. Inst., vol. iii., pi. xxvii., p. 528. t Discovered in 1821 by Mr. Cunningham, of the " Beagle " (see King's "Australia," vol. ii., p. 25, and "The Cruise of the 'Alert,'" p. 192). I The same subject is represented in a Haida pictograph, published in Report of Nat. Museum, Washington, 1888, Niblack (pi. iv., and page 323), representing Skana the Orka, or whale-killer. The Chilkat and other tribes of Alaska carve figures of salmon, inside of which is the full length figure of an Indian. The allegory is of undoubtedly ancient origin and not a version of Jonah. The numerous parallels between the ethnology of the Haidas and the Maoris require careful examination. Rutland. — Did the Maori discover the Greenstone ? 29 Fig. 6, Plate I., seems to be a fair representation of a king penguin. We know that king penguins occasionally come as far north as Timaru, or, at any rate, Dunedin, as their bones are found in the camps and middens. Pig. 2, Plate II., is, I think, meant for a seal. Fig. 6> Plate III., is, I believe, meant to represent a man dancing, but to many it appears to be a frog. The only frog found in New Zealand as endemic is a small species {Leiopehna) in the Coromandel district. The Tuhoe people, in the North Island, have on their carvings a ngarara, known as " moJco-tajnri " or " moko-papa " ; it is just like a frog. They say, however, it is found in holes in trees. Several greenstone ornaments for the neck or ear have been found in Otago, shaped like the anthroporaorphs in Plate VIII. , figs. 8 and 9; Plate IX., fig. 2; and Plate X., fig. 3. The lines in Plate VII., fig. 4, are probably part of the ornamentation of a large fish like fig. 5, Plate IX. The curious figures in black on Plate V., fig. 3, and Plate VI., fio-. 6 are on the smoky roof of a cave, and it is very difficult to drav? them pi'operly. A large looking-glass placed on the floor of the cave would probably enable them to be copied with more ease and accuracy. The details are minutely drawn in the original, especially the curious curves representing the thumbs. The enlargement of the backbone on the centre is probably similar in motive to the instances previously noted of the in- cluded man. Art. III.— Dif/ the Maori discover the Cireenstone ? By Joshua Eutland. \_Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 24th November, 1897.] From the geographical position, the extent, and the varied geological character of the New Zealand Archipelago we might naturally expect that the natives, who had occupied the country for about four centuries according to their own tradi- tion, would have made some discoveries, or evolved some art, unknown to their relatives imprisoned in the little Polynesian islands; but when Captain Cook came amongst them the Maoris were dependent on wood and stone for their weapons and implements, though the islands abound in metals ; they boiled water with heated stones, though clays of the very best description were procurable ; and they had not made the slightest advance in the direction of spinning and weaving, 30 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. though the cHmatic conditions of their new home compelled them to discard bark-cloth, and to clothe themselves with the warmer hand-made garments of Phormium and Cordyline fibre. A close comparison of ancient New Zealand and eastern Polynesian art shows that the manufacture of greenstone articles is all that the Maori can exclusively claim. But did the modern Maori discover the greenstone and how to work it ; or did they— as the Pelorus and D'Urville Island natives assert — obtain the knowledge from a people whom they found in occupation when they discovered the archi- pelago ? Though greenstone is not found in any of the eastern Polynesian islands or in Micronesia the inhabitants possessed a few articles made of it when Europeans first went amongst them. If the Maori came here from the Cook Islands, or the Society Group, they may have brought with them some of these articles, or a knowledge of them ; but it is impossible that; they could have been acquainted with the mode of w^orking the material when they quitted Polynesia. In the manufacture of stone implements and ornaments the natives of eastern Polynesia did not excel, shell being much in use as a substitute. In Micronesia shell was exclusively used, though obsidian and other volcanic rocks were abundant. Unless Polynesian art had greatly changed between the advent of the canoe-men and the time when our knowledge of the region commences, the Maoris must have acquired their skill in working stone after they made these islands their home. We have positive evidence of two very distinct periods in the history of New Zealand — the period of the pit-dwellers, and the modern Maori period, which virtually closed when Cook rediscovered the group. That the greenstone, and how- to work it, was knowm to the ancient as well as the recent inhabitants is proved beyoiad question by numerous articles found in the Pelorus district, contiguous to pit-dwellings, and beneath the roots of large forest-trees. If the pit-dwellers, who occupied the country from the Bay of Islands to Otago, and from whose remains Judge Maning years ago concluded ■■'■ that the islands had at some remote period a much larger population than Europeans found iu them — if these ancient inhabitants were a distinct people, and not merely the Maori in an early stage of their history, we must accept the tradition of the Pelorus natives with regard to the greenstone. When Cortez landed in Mexico the envoys of Montezuma, after presenting a quantity of gold and other valuables as a particular mark of their sovereign's friendship, gave him for * " Old New Zealand," by a Pakeha-Maori (Maning). EuTLAND. — Did the Maori discover the Greenstone ? 31 the King of Spain four greenstones, which they informed him were worth more than as many loads of gold. These were the Chalchuites,-'-' that could only be worn by nobles of the very highest rank. Being merely jade, they were regarded by the Spaniards as valueless. In China jade is regarded with superstitious veneration, and commands a high price, though it is too plentiful to be considered a precious stone. Amongst the articles presented by the Emperor of China to Queen Victoria on the occasion of her jubilee was a jade r2t-i,\ or sceptre, used by old ladies when receiving guests of ceremony. These sceptres are gene- rally made of polished wood, inlaid with pieces of jade. In various parts of Europe jade implements have been discovered in burial-places of the Stone age. Central Asia being the only portion of the Old World where jade is known to occur, from the widely -scattered implements some archaeologists have concluded it must have been an article of commerce, but to this others have objected that the transport of the stone to Europe necessitated long voyages which could not have been made by people in the rude condition the imple- ments in question indicated. The history of the Pacific removes this difficulty. There we know that peoples un- acquainted with the use of metal regularly made voyages which the Phoenicians, Greeks, and Eomans would not have undertaken. How did the ancient inhabitants of New Zea- land discover the jade or greenstone in the wild forest coun- try of the South Island ? Why, from amongst the countless varieties of rock the land affords, did they select it, make it a mark of rank, surround it with superstition, and take to burying it with their dead? There is but one possible ex- planation. A knowledge of the greenstone, the superstitions connected with it, the mode of working, and an idea of its value that made them seek it as we now seek gold, were imported from their former home. Looking for this home, we naturally turn to the nearest place where jade is found — New Caledonia ; here, as in New Zealand, when Europeans discovered the islands, the rude natives were manufacturing ornaments and implements of the venerated material. Here since have been discovered traces of a higher civilisation than existed at the time in any part of Polynesia. Evidently, then, there may have been a period in the history of the Pacific when even from Melanesia men went forth on voyages of discovei-y or to establish colonies. In a note appended to my article " On the Pit-dwellings of * Prescott's " Conquest of Mexico." t " The Long White Mountain," H. E. M. James. 32 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. the Pelorus District," published in the " Polynesian Journal,"* the editors have pointed out that I laid too much stress on the Melanesian affinities of the Morioris. In an article on " Cre- mation among the Maoris," published in the same journal,! the writer, Mr. E. E. M. Campbell, makes the following remarks : " How much of the blood of the present native in- habitants of New Zealand is derived from the people who lived here before the arrival of the historical canoes, and how much from the conquering canoe-men ? At present almost every Maori in New Zealand, except the Urewera Tribe, claim to have nothing but the bluest of blue blood, and quite deny any ' tangata whenua ' admixture ; but then we know that all England, so to speak, is descended from "William the Con- queror— at least, so they claim. I think that probably most of the Maoris have more or less of the blood of those who came in the canoes, but that by far the greater portion is derived from those who preceded the canoes by many generations." If this view is correct, assuming that the ancient inhabi- tants of New Zealand and the Chatham Islands belonged to the same stock, between the Maoris and the Morioris there will not be a very marked difference. A comparison of the Maoris and the natives of the Cook and Society Islands would be useful. Were the Papuan characteristics more pronounced in the former? If they were there must have been a cause. Since the remote period when New Zealand was first peopled the distribution of races in the Pacific may have changed, but the physical conditions of the region are unaltered. What there is reason to believe took place here may also have taken place in New Caledonia, an art commenced by one people being continued by another. Much is being done to determine the exact island from which the historic canoe-men set forth for New Zealand, but the more important questions — Did they on their arrival find the country already peopled? and, if so, whence came the earlier inhabitants? — have received very little consideration. It is with the hope of directing attention to this subject I have raised the question, Did the Maori discover the greenstone ? * " Journal of the Polynesian Society," vol. 6, p. 53. t " Journal of the Polynesian Society," vol. 3, p. 53. Best. — TuJioe Land. 33 Art. IW.—Tuhoe Land: Notes on the Origin, History, Cus- toms, and Traditions of the Tuhoe or Ureioera Tribe. By Elsdon Best. [Read before the Attckland Institute, 4th October, 1897.] The district generally known as the Urewera country, but officially as Tuhoe Land, extends north and south from Eua- toki, on the Lower Whakataue, to Lake Waikaremoana, and cast and west from the head of the Waioeka Kiver to the Whirinaki Eiver and a hne running a few miles from the right bank of the Eangitaiki Eiver. It includes the watershed of the Upper Whakatane, with a portion of those of the Upper Waimaua, Euakituri, and Waiau Eivers, as also the right- bank watershed of Whirinaki. The district is rugged and mountainous, the vaheys being narrow, and containnag little flat land, while the quality of the soil is but second rate. Nearly the whole of this area is covered with forest, which is generally of a light nature, but mixed with rimu, kahikatea, and niatai. The higher ranges are covered with forests of cawai, tawari, and tawhero, the tawai predominating ; while on the left bank of the Whirinaki, and tributaries thereof, are fine patches of totara. This district is inhabited by the Tuhoe or Urewera Tribe of Maoris, who are descendants of Ngapotiki, the ancient tribe which occupied this region for centuries before the arrival of the later migration of Maoris from Hawaiki by the historic fleet some eighteen or twenty generations ago. These ancient people of New Zealand were undoubtedly Polynesians — in fact, Maori — being but a prior migration from northern isles ; and, without doubt, voyages were made to New Zealand from the Pacific isles between the time of the arrival of the " Ara- tauwhaiti " canoe, bringing over the ancestor of the Tini-o- toi, and the coming of " Mataatua," from the crew of which ^'essel the Tuhoe obtained their strain of modern Hawaikian blood. Among such voyagers were Maku, Kupe, Ngahue, Paoa of Horouta, Taukata of Nga Tai-a-kupe, and Hape of Te Hapuoneone. An ancient tradition states " that the ancestors of the original people came to New Zealand in the " Aratauwhaiti " canoe, about thirty-five generations ago, from a land called Mataora. The principal man of this vessel was Tiwakawaka (see below. Gen. No. 1). His father, Papa-titi-rau-maewa, was another of the crew. After the ancient war between the off- spring of Eangi and Papa the kuniara was brought into the world by Pani-tinaku ; she was the mother of the kumara. Pani married a brother of Whanui, who procured from Eehua 34 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. a piece of kumara, or seed thereof, and caused Pani to give birth to the kumara. As the vahiable possession came forth to the world she repeated the karakia, commencing " Pam, Pani heke," &c. Her childi-en ate a portion of the kumara, and when they learnt the origin of it they were much dis- mayed, and said, "We have eaten the parapara of our mother." So alarmed were they that they left their home and scattered to all parts of the world, some of them coming to New Zealand, where they settled in a lone land, and became the origin of many ancient tribes, such as Te Tini-o- toi, Te Kawerau, Tuoi, Te Marangaranga, Tini-o-awa, Te Makahua, Tini-o-taunga, Kotore-o-hua, and others. These were some of the tribes found here by the crews of the historic Heet " Mataatua," " Te Arawa," &c. (The origin of the kumara, as above described, was preserved by tradition, though the tuber itself appears to have been unknown in New Zealand before the time of Toi-kai-rakau. When Whanui is seen flashing above the sea-horizon in the direction of the fatherland, then the toJmnga pronounces the kumara as ready to be dug. So was this land settled by the children of Pani.) The Tini-o-awa were a division of the ancient people. A section of this tribe, known as Ngapotiki, held Tuhoe Land, or the greater part thereof. Ngapotiki were divided into hapus, as follows : Te Kotore held the Pukareao Valley ; their lands are now owned by Ngai-tav/haki. Te Hokowhitu- pakira-a-romairira occupied Euatoki ; the famous ancestor, Eangi-monoa, was of this hapu. Ngati-ha held the valley of the Upper Whakatane and the head of the Waiau River. Ngati-rakei dwelt in Te Wai-iti Valley ; Ngapotiki proper at Maungapohatu ; Tuahau at Manana-a-tiuhi ; and Tu-mata- rakau on the Lower Waikare. The Valley of Whirinaki was held by Te Marangaranga, and that of Waimana by the ancient tribes of Maruiwi, Maru, and Tama. The first and last of these three were branches of Te Hapu-oneone, who would appear to have sprung from a different migration to that of the tribes which claim descent from and relationship with Toi, the wood-eater. The Hapu-oneone are the descend- ants of Hape, who flourished about twenty-five generations ago ; but if he came from Hawaiki, as some claim, the name of his vessel has been lost. The Tribe of Maru held lands on the northern side of Maungapohatu, and that of Potiki occu- pied those to the south. Ngapotiki are descended from Te Maunga and Hine- pukohu-rangi, from whose son, Potiki, the tribal name comes. He lived about sixteen or seventeen generations back (see below. Gen. No. 2). The Tuhoe people are also descended from the " Mataatua" migration — that is, from Toroa. The tribal name of Tuhoe comes from Tuhoe-potiki, third in descent from Best. — TuJwe Land. 35 Toroa; and that of Te Urewera from Mura-kareke, son of Tuhoe (see Gen. No. 3). The descendants of Toroa first left the coast lands and settled among Ngapotiki in the time of Karetehe, four generations from Toroa. Karetehe settled at Ruatoki with Rangi-monoa, who gave land to the newcomers. The mixed descendants of Toroa gained certain victories over Ngapotiki, but it is not the case that the inhabitants of Tuhoe Land were ever conquered by the Mataatua migrants or their descendants. The concrete truth is that Tuhoe are Ngapotiki, and should be called by that name. It is, of course, a fact that the Mataatua tribes intermarried with Ngapotiki to a con- siderable extent, but for all that Tuhoe are mainly aboriginal in blood to this day, and speak far more of their aboriginal ancestors than of those of Mataatua, though alive to the fact of the superior mana of the later Maori. Table of Generations. Tiwakawaka— Ro-tua ^' ' I Taranui Tara-roa Ngai-nui Ngai-roa Ngai-whare-kiki Ngai- whare-kaka Ngai-roki Ngai roka Ngai-peha Ngai-taketake Ngai-te-huru-manu=Te Waero I Toi=Te Kura-nui-a-monoa Rauru Hatonga Tahatiti Ruatapu Rakei-ora Tama-ki-te ra Tama-ki-Hikurangi Rakei-ora II. Whata-kiore Te Puka Tete Tera Tama-rakei ora Ira-tu-moana Rangi-tuhi Tama-poho Te Rewa-o-fce-rangi Tahia-i-te-rangi Patu-pakeke Tapuika-nui H. T. Pio Te Rere-kino Renata Katu 36 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. No. 2. Tahunui-o-rangi • Tukutuku Hekeheke Uaua Te Maunga=Hine-pukohuiangi Potiki Tuhouhi Taae-te-kohu-rangi Te Rangi-tiri-ao Puhou Te Ao-tawhena Pou-te-aniwaniwa 1 Tama-urupa Potiki II. Tongarau-nui=-Awatope 1 Tawhaki 1 1 Hatiti Parahaki Tutonga 1 Tu-manawa-pohatu Tama-ahua-mako Taokaki Tau-koroki Te Whatae Iki-whenua Rarigimai-tawhiti Tama- kai- moan a Mata-wha Takoto-mai Marie Tamakaimoana Te Kokau Tahuri Rawiri Te Ika-poto (his child) Tiwha Kurawha=Tutaka Ngahau 1 Tukua-te-rangi Te Ika-poto No. 3. Toroa Wairaka=Paewhiti (of the aborigines) 1 Tamatea-ki-te-huatahi 1 Ue-mua Tane-moe-ahi 1 Tuhoe-potiki Uenuku-rauin Te Kato-o-Tawhaki _ 1 Te Rangi-aniwaniwa | 1 Tuhunga-ki-uta Mura-kareke Karetehe " Maru Te Rangi-warakihi Tuhungaki-te-ata Tara-rehe Rangihina-tu Rakau-tawhia Tu-pohatu Te Kura-hapaiDga=:Tu-manawa- Rutunga 1 [pohatu Maru-wahie Te Whatu-pe Hine ra Te Rahui Te Manitanga Hau ki-waho Manuhiri Moko-nui Pukaha Tapui Te Whatu Rangi-aukume (about 55 years old Pihopa Te Tuhi Kohu Best. — Tuhoe Land. 37 Among the Tuhoe mountaineers are conserved a large number of archaic and sacerdotal words which do not appear to be known in other parts ; also, the traces of many singular ancient customs are noticeable among them, together with traditions which differ materially from those of the modern Maori. The old men of the tribe are well versed in such legends, &c., but appear to be behind other tribes in their knowledge of the Hawaikian fatherland and traditions per- taining thereto. They still preserve the knowledge of many old-time customs and ceremonies, together with the all-neces- sary karakia. Any person having a good knowledge of the Maori tongue might here collect much new matter anent the customs of the ancient Maori. The subject of human sacrifice alone might occupy a volume if thoroughly looked into by a competent inquirer, and also lead to many interesting comparisons with similar customs of other lands. The sacrifice for lifting the tdjni from the tvhare potae, or house of mourning, and that on the occa- sion of the taanga nguki (tattooing of the lips) of a woman of rank, are probably new to those interested in such matters. The sacrifice of men at the building of a new house, and the launching of a war-canoe, have been placed on record, but are interesting. Probably more so, however, is that made when the tauira, or scholar, leaves his tutor and the whare viaire, where all sacred lore was taught (Tuhoe do not use the term luhare kura), and comes forth as a tohunga. In order to give mana to his karakia, and also as an equivalent for knowledge imparted to him, he slays by a spell or incan- tation some persoii selected by his tutor, and which victim was often a parent or some relative of the scholar. The tohunga retains the privilege of naming the tauira patu, or person to be sacrificed ; he selects a relative of the scholar, who, by the sacrifice of such relative, obtains the peculiar mana necessary to make his incantations effective. The sacrifice is led before the scholar, who slays him by means of a karakia makutu, or incantation to bewitch. Should he sacrifice any other than the person selected by his tutor his karakia will never be effective. On being ynakututia in this manner the victim is dead in a few minutes. It was not permissible for the scholar to pay the tohunga for teaching him in goods of any kind. The body of the victim was buried, for, being a relative, of course it was not eaten. When a man killed a relative or member of his own tribe, either in anger or such ceremonies as the above, he would take out the heart and place it to his mouth, but would not eat it. He would then repeat the rndkakd karakia over the heart, by which the body of the slain is made ta'pti, so that no one can eat it. 38 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. When the daughter of an important chief had her Hps and chin tattooed a day was set apart on which the tribe would assemble to view the work of the artist. A party would be sent forth some time before to secure a member of another tribe, for the purpose of sacrificing such person in honour of the taanga ngittu of the young woman, and also to give strength to the tribe. The body of such sacrifice was eaten by the people. Te Whatu said to me, " It was well to take the victim from another tribe, for it gave us the pleasure of jeering at that tribe for all time by saying, ' You are my slaves ; you were slain for the taanga ngtitu of my ancestress.' Pare-karamu, daughter of Koroki, was the last person I knew of who had a human sacrifice for her taanga vgutv." Whare Potae. — This was a mourning-house, and took its name from that of the ancient mourning head-dress. It was sometimes called the whare tana. When a chief of distinction died his widow and children would remain for some time within the ivhare 2'otae, eating food during the night time only, never during the day. When the period of mourning was over a human sacrifice was made, to take the tajni off the tvhare potae and its occupants — hai heuenga mo te whare potae, or dispersal of the mourners. The mourners are accom- panied to a stream-side by the toiiitnga, or priest, where the ta2m is taken off their heads or mourniug head-dresses (ka purea tana mahunga). When Taupoki, of Ngati-Marakoko, died, at Waikotikoti, Tapuku, a slave, was killed for above ceremony, the body being cut up and cooked in a hajn, or oven, on the river-bank, just in front of my tent where I am now writing this article. The cooked flesh was eaten by the people, a portion being sent to those living at the lower Whiri- naki. Whare Kohanga. — This is a house to which a mother and newly-born child are removed from the tvhare kahu, or foetus- house, the next day after birth of the child. Such a ceremony was, of course, only kept up by chiefs. The mother remained m the ivhare kahu during birth of the child. The child was taken by the priest to a stream-side, where he performed the ceremony of tu-ora over the infant, with appropriate karakia. The mother and child were then taken to the ivhare kohanga, a small house specially constructed for the purpose. The child was taint, and remained for some days in this " nest- house." When the end of the iho, or umbilical cord, was severed it was carried to the urupa and there left. In some cases the iho was deposited in a tree or under a rock at some noted tanmata, or resting-place, by the side of a track ; such a place would ever after be known as " The ilto of So-and- so." Also, it was sometimes deposited at the bounds of tribal lands, to preserve the tribal right and influence over Best. — Tuiioe Land. 39 such lands. Such places are Te Eahui and Ngaheui, at Wai- karemoana. The yure, or whakanoa, ceremony was performed over the child when it was taken from the ivhare kohanga. Two Jiapi (ovens) of food were cooked, one for the priest and one for the people. With certain karakia, the priest then took the tapiL off the child, who now became noa, and might be carried about by the women. One of the most interesting subjects in this district is that of the various duties pertaining to the position of the tohunga, or priest, of the ancient Maori. Their duties appear to have been almost innumerable, for the tohunga, in one capacity or another, was in constant requisition. The ancient karakia are without number, and many of them are most interesting, containing, as they do, many words of an archaic type. A close study of the karakia of the Tuhoe priests, if made by a competent person, would throw much light on the beliefs and rites of the ancient Maori. The word " umu " is prefixed in a strange way to many of the old karakia, such as iwiu hiki, an incantation to cause a hostile tribe to leave their homes and migrate ; ^imu tavioe, a karakia to render a defeated enemy powerless to obtain revenge ; uimc icaharoa, a karakia and ceremony performed over the dead ; iimu pongipongi, a ceremony and karakia to bewitch. In this case it is by no means clear that wnu = liangi (an oven). It is probably an ancient word, signifying a karakia, or ceremony. In many sacred rites fire was used by the priest, such as the aYd tauviata and ahi taitai. Also, sacred ovens were used to cook food, to be used in such cere- monies as the freeing from tap)u of a returned war-party, and in this manner the word " unni " may have come to be used as a synonym for karakia. As stated, the karakia of the Maori were innumerable, and were used for almost every act and occurrence. Karakia were repeated by children at their games, and they had special ones for spinning j^jo/;aA;a (tops), kite-flying, and for the karetao, porotiti, topa, pakuru. and other toys, as well as for games played with the hands, such as the hajn taica, upoko titi, and kura-ivinixvini, as also for the xvi, tatau manawa, tatau langata, and tatai iclieiu. Though styled karakia, these are in many cases a mere jingle, equivalent to our nursery rhymes, and sometimes are in the form of a dialogue. The more serious form of karakia cover a great scope. The ancient tohunga had karakia in his budget for causing a flooded river to subside, to blast trees and shatter rock, to harden himself for the fire ceremony, and to cause crops to grow. In commencing a journey he would karakia to cause the land to contract, so as to shorten his journey, and would request that the land might not be drawn out lengthways. If 40 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. doubtful of reaching his destination before nightfall he would repeat a karakia to hold the sun in its course, so as to give him a start, a most useful thing. When pursued by an enemy he would repeat the hoa tapuiuae over himself to render him fleet of foot, while at the same time he would repeat the punga to make his pursuer slow to follow. If overtaken, he recited the tu-mata-jjongia, which rendered him invisible. In wrestling he used the tuaumu incantation, and when going to battle repeated the hoa rakau over his weapon . The moremore- puivha was to force the knowledge of the art of weaving into his womankind, and the rotii to calm the waves of the ocean. When reciting a karakia to subdue an unruly taniioha or the ocean he would pluck a hair from his head {ka 2cmchia te tai- o-makawe) and cast it into the waters. The toko was a karakia used to separate a wife from her husband ; it was made use of by a second wife at times, to cause a favourite wife to be parted from a common husband. The kai-ure and others were karakia of the class known as matajjuru, which were used to ward off witchcraft. If a man came to know that he had been bewitched, or that some evilly-disposed person was trying to take his hau, he would immediately procure some strips of harakeke, or flax, and tie them care- fully around his body and limbs. He would then recite the matajmru to render harmless the spells of his enemy. Bua torino (Ngatiawa). — This is a ceremony by which persons are slain by witchcraft {karakia makutu). The to- hunga forms a mound of earth in the shape of a man's body. He then makes a hole in the supposed body with a stick. He then recites an incantation to draw the ivairua, or spirit of the man he wishes to slay, into the hole. The wairua may be an invisible essence or it may be in the form of a fly. The kopani karak'a is then used to close the nia torino, and confine the ivairua therein, where it is destroyed, and with it, of course, the earthly body, wherever it may be. Bua-iti. — This appears to be the Tuhoe term for the rua torino. When a tohunga wishes to kill a person by means of the rua-iti he procures from the home of the doomed person a piece of cord or string, which he takes to the rua-iti, and there places one end of the cord in the hole ; the other end he holds in his hand. This cord serves as a takutaku, down which the priest causes the ivairua (soul) of the victim to pass into the rua, where it is destroyed by the karakia known as lohakaiimu. The counter ceremony for the above was described to me by Te Whatu, of Tuhoe, as follows : " Should I become aware that a tohunga is bewitching me so as to cause my body to waste away — and I should know at once if he were — I send some one to his place to bring me apiece of cord, of any kind. Mebeana Mokomoko. — The Building of Hotunui. 41 I take the cord and smear it with blood procured from an incision in the left side of my body. I then kindle a fire and burn the cord ; also, I cook a single kumara or taexva at that fire. The cooked kumara I give to the ruuiahine (a childless woman employed m various sacred rites), v^ho eats it. Friend ! That man is dead ! " Another method of averting the effects of witchcraft is to place the kumara beneath the paepae-poto (door-sill) of ray house and get the ruwahine to step over it." The paepae-p)oto is one of the most sacred parts of a house. The saying is, " Kia loehi ki te paepae-poto a Hou." To describe the various rites, customs, and ceremonies of the natives of Tuhoe Land as they obtained in pre-pakeha days would require a volume, and also much care and patience on the part of the compiler, combined with a thorough knowledge of the Maori tongue, or, at least, the vernacular thereof, a qualification which I myself, unfor- tunately, do not possess. It is greatly to be desired that these matters should be placed on record during the next few years, for the present generation is the last which will retain such knowledge, and, indeed, only a few old men of this time can tell of the countless ceremonies of the ancient Maori. Much has been lost beyond recall, but much may yet be saved if a few capable persons will but take the matter up. Art. V. — The Building of Hotunui, Whare Whakairo, W. H. Taipari's Carved House at Thamefi, 1878. Told by Mereana Mokomoko, widow of the late chief, W. H. Taipari, to Gilbert Mair, 12th July, 1897. [Read before the Auckland Institute, 6th September, 1897.] My father, Apanui Hamaiwaho, chief of Ngatiawa at Wliaka- tane, built the house Mataatua. Taipari, his father, Hotereni, and myself were invited to go to Whakatane to take away that house, but before we could go Sir Donald McLean visited Whakatane, and Ngatiawa, to show their aroha, gave him the house. My father then said Ngatiawa would carve a house for me. This was in 1875. Accordingly the work was com- menced forthwith, and in May,. 1878, the posts were all finished, and about seventy Ngatiawa, under the chiefs Wepiha Apanui (my brother), Eangitukehu te Wharewera, 42 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. Tiopira Hukiki, Te Putere, and Te Pirini, came to Hauraki, bringing all material. The freight and passages cost £170. The first post erected was named after Pereki Awhiowhio, chief of Ngatiwhanaunga. When an attempt was made to lift the ridge-pole it failed : then we sent for Paroto Manu- tawhiorangi, who uttered an incantation, or karakia, called " Tehziti 0 Tainni " (the raising of Tainui), and lo ! the great tree was lifted up quickly and easily. Such was the power of magic as exercised by Maori priests of old. During the building a number of the Ngatiawa workmen were smitten with sudden illness, which was attributed to their having burned in a cooking-fire some chips from Apanui's chisel (ivhao). It was the women who inadvertently committed sacrilege, and the sickness which fell upon our people was termed a mate-ruahine. When several persons had died, my brother Wepiha came to me at dawn of day saying, " Kua ngaro a Ngatiaiva (Ngatiawa will be anni- hilated). Hasten you quickly to remove the spell caused by the desecration of the work of our father's chisel." I hurried to the spot, and in the midst of the assembly a small fire was made of chips from the carvings, and two kumara roasted therein, which were offered to me to eat. I trembled with fear, lest death should come to me also ; but the old men said, "Fear not, you are equal in mana to Apanui, your father, and you alone can remove this spell which is destroying Ngatiawa." I then ate the roasted food, and the epidemic ceased. Soon the house v^as completed, and Wepiha sum- moned a toJmnga called Mohi Taikororeka from Opotiki to perform the ceremonies called " whai kaiva" — i.e., making the house "noa," removing the tapu, &c. After this was done, and the men had entered and eaten food in the house, three women (myself, Kitemate Kiritahanga, and Mere Taipari) were sent for to takahi te 'paepae (to tread on or cross over the threshold, and thus remove the enchantment which debars women from entering a sacred house until this ceremony is ended), for, as you know, the ridge-pole would sag down in the middle and destroy the appearance of the house were this ceremony disregarded. As the morning star {Kopu) rose, we, the three women, crossed over the threshold which Te Eaihi, of Ngatihaua, had tapa'd (called) Hape Koroki, and then the mana a te ivhakairo (the sacred ness of the carving) was subjugated, overcome, and women generally were free to enter and eat within the house. The several tribes of Ngatiawa who took part in the build- ing were as follows : Ngatihokopu, Te Pahipoto, Te Patuwai, Te Patutatahi, &c. The ridge-pole was a kahikatea (white-pine), procured at Turua. It was carved by Hotereni Taipari himself, and Meeeana Mokomoko. — The Btiilding of HoUmui. 43 named after his great ancestor Hotunui. These are the gene- rations from that ancestor :— (1.) Hotunui I (2.) Marutuahu I (3.) Te Ngako I (4.) Kaburautao I (5.) Rautao (6.) Hape 1 (7.) Te Poutu I (8.) Paterangi (9.) Te Hotereni Taipari (10.) W. H. Taipari = Te Tawai I I (11.) Waata Taipari Eruini Taipari The length of the house is 80 ft.; width, 33 ft.; height, 24 ft.; length of porch, 12 ft. The figures on the right-hand side of the porch are — (1) Kopuani, (2) Takuao, (3) Te Tai te Hura, (4) Takoto Titaha ; inside on the right hand the large figures are as follows : (5) Te Motuituiti, (6) Te Iwi Tuha, (7) Te Putara, (8) Ngahaupaha, (9) (not named), (10) To Apurangi, (11) Ka- hurautao, (12) Hape, (13) Matatahi, (14) Ngangaia, (15) Tai- toi, (16) Pereki Awhiowhio, (17) Te Whero, (18) Te Umu, (19) Matau, (20) Kiwi. On the left-hand side of the porch there are — (1) Kauahi, (2) Te Tuki, (3) Horowhenua, (4) Tauaiwi ; on the left hand inside the iigures are — (5) Paharua, (6) (not named), (7) Ra- rauri, (8) Parera, (9) Ureia, (10) Rautao Pouwharekura, (11) Uetawhiti, (12) Tapane, (13) Toitoi, (14) Puhoi, (15) Pu- toa, (16) Kawhero, (17) Pahae, (18) Pakira, (19) Tarakai Ka- whia, (20) Riki. The paepaeivaho (threshold of porch) is called " Rua- raano." When the builders were returning to their own place they would not accept payment beyond the food and presents we had given them from time to time, but my father-in-law (Te Hotereni Taipari) felt ill at ease, saying the Ngatimaru had not sustained their ancient name for generosity ; so he said to me, " My daughter, do you take this letter quickly to the Bank of New Zealand at Tauranga, and when our friends the 44 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. Ngatiawa [who were returning by sea] reach that place give them the money the bank-manager will pay you." I travelled day and night overland, and overtook the steamer at Tau- ranga, and I got the bag of money from the bank, and took it to the people, saying, " Behold ! I have brought you a koha (gift) from your grandparent, Hotereni Taipari." £1,000 in single bank notes did I give them, and Ngatiawa went on their way rejoicing. Art. VI. — The Insulation of Gold-stores. By Professor F. D. Brown. [Read before the Auckland In'^titute, 12th July, 1897.] Plates XI. and XII. When a low temperature is artificially maintained in any space, such as a portion of the hold of a steamer, a room in a freezing-works or butter-factory, or in a railway-truck, it is necessary to prevent, as far as possible, the access of heat from the outside. This is done by providing an internal lining to the walls and roof, distant from them some 12 in. to 18 in., and packing the intervening space with some material which does not readily allow heat to pass through it. Charcoal has hitherto been generally employed for this purpose, but it is claimed that pumice-stone is more suitable ; while it is conceivable that other substances known to be good in- sulators might be employed with advantage. It seemed desirable to institute an exact comparison of the insulating powders of these substances, and the following is a description of some experiments made with this object in view : — The apparatus employed is shown in Plate XL ; it con- sisted of a small cylinder A of thin brass, 2 in. in diameter and 7 in. high, surrounded by a double cylinder or jacket BB made of copper. The internal diameter of this second cylinder was 5fin. and its height lOfin. ; so that A, when placed centrally, was separated from BB by a space 1^ in. wide. This space CC was loosely packed with the charcoal or other substance to be experimented upon. The cylinder A was pro- vided with a thermometer T, divided into tenths of a degree centigrade, and of such an open scale that hundredths of a degree could be easily distinguished by means of a suitable reading-telescope, which instrument was employed through- Brown. — On the Insulation of Cold-stores. 45 out the experiments. The cylinder A was further furnished with a metal stirrer, driven at a constant speed by a small electromotor. The mechanical arrangement of the stirrer is shown in the drawing. When making a series of observations the insulating sub- stance was first packed in CC, care being taken that the cylinder A was exactly at the centre of BB. A measured quantity (300 cc.) of ice-cold water was then introduced into A, and steam was blown into BB through an orifice D, escap- ing at the bottom by the tube E. BB was thus kept through- out the experiment at a temperature of 100° C. The stirrer having been set in motion, the thermometer in A was observed at intervals of five minutes. The rise in the temperature of the water in A is evidently a measure of the amount of heat pass- ing through the insulating substance from the steam-jacket in che given interval of time. x\t first the temperature of A rose slowly, owing to the flow of heat from the steam-jacket being largely employed in heating the insulating substance ; but the rate of rise in temperature gradually increased, until after a period varying from forty to sixty minutes it attained a maxi- mum, and then began slowly to dmiinish. The numbers given in the subsequent tables were, with one or two exceptions, all observed during this latter period, when it was assumed that the. temperature gradient was uniform throughout the insulating material. It is, of course, important in making experiments of this kmd to allow sufficient time to elapse for this uniform gradient to establish itself. That during the latter part of the experiment there should be a gradual dimi- nution of the flow of heat into A is to be expected, inasmuch as the difference of temperature between the outside steam and the inside water becomes less as the experiment progresses. The first series of observations were made with pumice, such as is used for insulation on steamers, which was kindly provided by the New Zealand Shipping Company. As it was probable that the insulating-power of any material would be influenced by the size of the grains employed, the pumice was first sifted so as to divide it into the following three grades : Coarse, passed through seven meshes to the linear inch, but not through twenty meshes ; medium, passed through twenty meshes, but not through fifty-six meshes ; fine, passed through fifty-six meshes. The pumice was not dried, but used as it came from the warehouse. The following Table I. gives the readings of the thermo- meter at intervals of five minutes, starting from the moment when the water in the internal cylinder was at 20° C. pre- cisely. The three columns of the table refer to three ex- periments, one made with each of the three grades of pumice : — 46 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. Table I. — Pumice-stone. Coarse. Medium. Fine. Tempera- Kise in Five Tempera- Bise in Five Tempera- Rise in Five ture. Minutes. ture. Minutes. ture. Minutes. 20-00 20-00 20-00 2-02 2-10 2-04 22'02 22-10 22-04 1-89 1-96 2-18 23-91 24 06 24-22 1-80 1-87 218 25-71 25-93 26-40 179 1-70 2-20 27-50 27-63 28-60 1-71 1-59 1-90 29-21 29-22 30-50 1-67 1-51 1-82 30-88 30-73 32-32 1-60 1-46 1-73 32-48 32-19 34-05 1-54 1-40 1-59 34 02 33-59 35-64 150 1-31 1-48 35-52 34-90 36-18 1-28 37-12 An exactly similar set of observations was then made with charcoal, also supplied by the New Zealand Shipping Com- pany, and of the kind used for insulation. The charcoal was in its ordinary state, and undried ; it was roughly crushed in a mortar, and divided into the same three grades, with the sieves used for the pumice. Table II. gives the results : — Table II.— Charcoal. Coarse. Medium. Fine. Tempera- Rise in Five Tempera- Rise in Five Tempera- Rise in Five ture. Minutes. ture. Minutes. ture. Minutes. 20-00 20-00 20-00 2-69 2 82 291 22 69 22-82 22-91 2-57 2-72 2-80 25-26 25-54 25-71 2-44 2-55 2 67 27-70 28-09 28-38 2-32 2-39 2-58 30-02 30-48 30-96 2-17 2-23 2-41 32-19 32-71 33-37 2-03 2 09 2-27 34-22 1-91 34-80 ■ 35-64 86-13 •• Bkown. — On the Insulation of Co'd-stores. 47 From the above tables of figures we learn that when pumice and charcoal are in the form of powder they are not such good insulators as when in larger grains. Thus, in the case of the pumice the temperature of the water in the internal cylinder arose 1088 deg. in half an hour when surrounded by the coarse material, and 12-32 deg. when surrounded by the powder. In the same way the temperature rose 14-22 deg. in half an hour with the coarsely-divided charcoal -and 15-64 deg. with the powder. The difference between the coarse and medium materials is much less marked, but it would appear that the coarse is slightly the best insulator. The figures in the tables also show that of the two sub- stances used, pumice and charcoal, the pumice was much the better insulator. Thus, while on the coarse charcoal the tem- perature rose 10 deg. in twenty minutes, it only rose 7|-deg. with the coarse pumice. It has already been mentioned that the rate at which the temperature increases gradually diminishes throughout each series. This is noticeable in every case. Thus, in the case of the coarse pumice the rise in temperature during the first five minutes was 2-02 deg., and during the last 1-50 deg. It has been explained that this is due to the difference in tem- perature between the outside steam and the inside water being less at the end thaii at the beginning, or, in other words, the temperature gradient across the insulator becomes less as the experiment goes on. For example, with the coarse pumice the difference between outside and inside was 80 deg. at the beginning and 64-5 deg. at the end. The heat-flows should then be in this proportion , which is very nearly 4 : 3, which is seen to be the case. The fact that the diminution is shghtly greater than that which should take place theoretically is probably due to the increased evaporation of the water at the higher temperatures, by which, of course, its temperature is rendered slightly lower than it would be if no evaporation took place. This evaporation it is difficult to avoid. After each of the experiments with charcoal had been completed, the internal cylinder, on being removed, was found to be wet on the outside, and the charcoal in the neighbour- hood of the surface was found to be in a like condition. This was obviously due to the moisture in the charcoal having been distilled, as it were, from the hotter portions to the cooler. This distillation was necessarily accompanied bv a transfer of heat ; so that it was clear that the flow of heat across the charcoal was partly due to the moisture, and the same may have been the case with the pumice, although, with the latter substance, there was no appreciable moisture on the cylinder. In order to avoid the errors introduced by the presence of 48 Transactions. — MisceUaneozis. moisture, the pumice and charcoal were both carefully dried by heating on a metal plate for several hours, and then allowed to cool in closed vessels, so that they could not absorb water from the air. Series of observations were then made with the dry substances, exactly as before. The coarse material only was einployed in each case, as it had been found that when finely divided it was less efficient. The results ara given in Table III. Experiments were also made with dried slag- wool, a material largely used for covering boilers and steam-pipes, and which was furnished to me by the Eailway Department through the kind intervention of Mr. Macdonald. The results with slag-wool are included in Table III. :— Table III. Charcoal. Pumice. Slag-wool. Tempera- Rise in Five Tempera- Rise in Five Tempera- Rise in Five ture. Minutes. ture. Minutes. ture. Minutes. 20-00 20-00 20-00 1-59 194 1-45 21-59 21 94 . 21-45 1-56 1-86 1-40 23-15 23-80 22 85 ■ 1-53 1-83 1-36 24-68 2563 24-21 1-51 1-73 1-30 26-19 27-36 25-51 1-44 165 1-30 27-63 2901 26-81 ■ 1-41 1-58 1-26 29-04 30-59 28-07 1-36 1-50 1-22 3040 32-09 29 29 1-.30 1.40 1-17 31-70 33-49 30-46 1-27 1-31 1-15 32-97 34 80 31-61 1-23 1-24 1-12 34-20 1-14 36-04 32-73 1-10 35-36 1-12 33-83 108 36-48 34-91 35-95 1-04 The numbers in this table show that, when carefully dried, charcoal is a better insulator than pumice, and that slag- wool is better than either. Thus, at the end of half an hour, or six periods of five minutes, the rise in the temperature of the water was — With charcoal, 9-04 deg. ; with pumice, 10-59 deg. ; Brown. — On the Insulation of Gold-stores. 49 "witli slag-wool. 8-07 deg. These numbers are proportional to 100, 117, and 89 ; so that if we take the heat flowing through dry cliarcoal under the given conditions as 100, that which flows through dry pumice under like conditions is 117, and that through slag-wool 89. Eeferring to Tables I. and II., we find that the rises of temperature of the water in half an hour with the coarse undried charcoal and pumice were respectively 14-22 deg. and 10-88 deg., or, taking dry charcoal as 100, they would be 157 and 120. We thus have the following com- parable numbers for the flow of heat through the different sub- stances : Dry charcoal, 100; dry pumice, 117; dry slag-wool, 89 ; ordinary charcoal, 157 ; ordinary pumice, 120. It will be noticed that, while there is a great difference between the conducting-power of dry and that of ordinary charcoal, there is but little such difference in the case of pumice. This is due to the fact that charcoal absorbs from the air a considerable amount of moisture, while pumice absorbs very little. Ordi- nary pumice and dry pumice are therefore almost identical, while ordinary and dry charcoal difi'er much. In order to compare the absorptive power for moisture of the two substances', two wooden boxes with loosely-fitting lids were filled, one with the dry pumice the other with the dry charcoal which had been used • in the experiments above described, and placed side by side in the laboratory. After the lapse of more than six months the amount of moisture which had been absorbed was estimated, and it was found that 100 parts of the charcoal had absorbed 7-22 parts of moisture, while 100 parts of the pumice had only absorbed 0-32 parts. This absorption of moisture by charcoal is greatly detrimental to the use of the substance as a thermal insulator. Its effects can only be avoided by drying the charcoal imme- diately before packing it in the walls of the chamber, and lining these walls with sheets of metal, soldered or riveted together so as to be perfectly airtight. With pumice these precautions are unnecessary. The numbers recorded in Tables I., II., and III. were plotted out in the usual way, and the resulting curves are given in Plate XII. From these curves the comparative in- sulating powers of the several substances might be determined more exactly than has been done in the above paper. Little would be gained, however, by so doing. 50 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. Akt. VII. — Thoughts on Comparative Mijthology. By Edward Tregear. {Bead before the Wellington Philnsophical Society, 22nd Deccmher, 1897.] In venturing to write on so vast a subject as comparative mythology, I can only hope to oifer a very small contribution towards the knowledge of the subject. It appears presump- tuous for a pigmy to venture among the giants engaged in con- flict, but my excuse is that the weapons employed grow blunted in the long-protracted fight, and the contestants are sometimes grateful for a fresh supply, even if of rough and homely manu- facture. " Many men, many minds," and it may be that something of use may be added to the controversy. If not, the earnest desire may be " counted for righteousness." The field of comparative mythology is at present occupied by two parties. It is difficult in a few^ words to explain the position, but, roughly, the opinions of the opposing forces are as follows : One party considers that mythology has arisen from a desire to represent the forces of nature (perhaps the phenomena of nature) symbolically, and that by a " disease of language " these symbols have grown to be considered as per- sonal beings, and have become deities, &c. These thinkers hold that the student of mythology must search in the literature of the ancient people to which any particular myth belongs if it is wished to understand what the myth once meant. It is a necessary adjunct to such study that a most careful and accu- rate scholarship in classical and Oriental languages be attained before any explanation of the meaning of myths handed down to us by peoples speaking those languages be attempted. The other party contends that mythology has had little to- do with language ; that the same idea or similar ideas spring up almost spontaneously among all races when on a certain level of barbarism or civilisation. It is asserted that if we wish to understand the meaning of a myth invented by bar- barians we must go among modern savages and find out from them what they understand on the subject, if any similar belief to that under consideration is to be found among them. There is, of course, much to be said on both sides ; the literature published on the subject is already enormous ; the side-issues are endless ; and the whole question, except to master-minds strong enough to hold firmly to main principles of their argument, appears confused and intricate, almost beyond comprehension. It can only, then, be the hope of illustrating some particular incident, or supplying some lost Tkegeak. — Thoughts on Comparative Mythology. 51 link in the chain of evidence, that can make an outsider's thoughts on the subject worth taking into consideration. I am led into doing my little part by the issue of a new- book by the Riglit Hon. Professor Max Miiller. It is called "Contributions to the Science of Mythology" (Longmans, Green, and Co., 1897). I propose to make a series of running comments on those parts of the book which offer points that have struck me as capable of further illustration. I have not the presumption either to criticize the main argument or spoil the reader's enjoyment of the work by making long extracts. Vol. I., page 6 : The professor alludes to the legend of Tuna, and notes that the white kernel of the coco-nut was in Mangaia called " the brains of Tuna." He says, — ( Considering that " coco-nut " was used in Mangaia in the sense of head (testa), the kernel or fltsh of it might well be called the brain. This is certainly true, and the remark may be further strengthened by considering the native words actually used in the legend. "The brains of Tuna" is rendered in Mangaia as te roro o Tuna. Now, roro is a widely-known Polynesian word, and the complexity with which the two ideas " flesh of the coco-nut " and " brain " are interwoven renders confusion between the two almost a certainty ; or, rather, makes the identity of each almost inseparable from the other. Thus, while in Maori roro means " the brain," in Samoa lolo is used for " the coco- nut prepared for making scented oil." In Hawaiian lolo means "the brain"; in Mangareva roro is " the skull," and also "milk from coco-nuts"; in Mangaian roro is "brains"; m Fiji lolo is "the milk of the coco-nut squeezed from the kernel when scraped." This proves that in ancient Polynesian the one word probably covered both mean- ings— " brains " and " the soft part of coco-nut." Page 75. The gods being once given, we can account for goddesses, for heroes and heroines. It is the gods who require explanation, and we know now with perfect certainty that in their first apparition they were simply the agents postulated as behind the most striking phenomena of nature. This is a broad and far-reaching statement of position. It insists on the absolute necessity of drawing a mental line between mythology and folk-lore — that is, as I understand it, between the almost abstract conception of personified forces of nature and the elevation of heroic personages by means of miraculous machinery to the ranks of gods and demi-gods. It is difficult to give instances from New Zealand mythology, because it is only now beginning to emerge from obscurity ; but we may consider Ao, the representative of Day or the Upper World (as opposed to Po, Night, the Lower World), as being one of the great forces, the scarcely-personified deities ; 52 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. while Maui, as a hero, belongs more to the domain of folk- lore. =*- It is said by the priests of Tahiti that it was impossible that the Maori of New Zealand could inherit the highest forms of the old Polynesian religion, because Ngatoro-a-rangi, who arrived here in the " Arawa " canoe, was the only great priest accompanying the expedition from Hawaiki — that he was only a priest of the third rank, and, as such, was not initiated in the higher mysteries. Be that as it may, there is to be found in old Maori songs and incantations vestiges of an infinitely higher conception of a divine being than any that for a long time we were taught were to be found within the Maori Pan- theon. If we look over the sea to the men of the same race as the Maori we shall find that they based their beliefs on nature-forces, and had embodied these mentally in conceptions of such forces existing in awful majesty as uncreated deities governing the universe. Consider the solemn litanies with which the natives of Hawaii worshipped their Trinity — Light, Sound, and Stability (Kane, Ku, and Lono), or, as the Maori called them, Tane, Tu, and Eongo. Here is a fragment of this litany : — The Priest : 0 Tane and Tu, the builder, is it true ? The Congregation: It is true, it is so. The Priest: 0 great Rongo, dwelling on the water, is it true ? The Congregation : It is true, it is so. The Priest: Quickened, increasing, moving. Raised up is the conti- nent (island, division). Is it true? The Congregation: It is true, it is so; it is true, it is so. The true god. All together : Tane-po-rangi, 0 heavenly father, with Tu, the builder, in the blazing heaven, with great Rongo of the flashing eyes, a god, the god of lightning, the fixed light of heaven, standing on the earth, on the earth of Tane-tumu-whenua ; he is god. It is true, it is so ; it is so, it is true ; he is the true god. So, too, in Tahiti, Taaroa (Maori, Tangaroa)— who is in many places in Polynesia regarded as the god of ocean — appears in the mythology of the eastern groups as an abstract and apparently omnipresent deity. The Tahitian chant says, — He abides— Taaroa by name — In the immensity of space. There was no earth, there was no heaven. There was no sea, there was no mankind ; Taaroa is the root, Taaroa is the rock (or foundation), Taaroa is the light, Taaroa is within. * This remark is subject to the fuller consideration given to the true position of Maui in mythology in a subsequent part of this paper. Tregeak. — Thoughts on Comparative Mythology. 53 Tangaroa was also regarded as a primal deity in the Mar- quesas, where he is called " Tanaoa " : — In the beginning, Space and companions ; Space was the High heaven, Tanaoa filled and dwelt in the whole heavens. And ]\Iutuhei was entwined above. Tliere was no voice, there was no sound. No living things were moving, There was no day, there was no light. It is through the mythology of these Marquesans that we are able to recognise these primal gods as nature-forces. Everything is vast, innnense, mysterious ; no place for mere human hei'oes here. In the boundless Night resided Tanaoa, whose name here means Darkness. With him reigned Silence (Mutuhei) ; but in this realm of Darkness and Silence lay the unawakened germ of all that was hereafter to come. Evolved from himself, Light (Atea) made war on Darkness, drove him av^ay, and confined him within limits. Proceeding from Light came Sound (Ono, or Kongo), who destroyed and broke up for ever the rule of Silence over the universe. In the struggle between Light and Darkness, Sound and Silence, the Dawn (Atanua) arose. Light took the Dawn for wife, and from their union sprang the lesser gods. As we read this cos- mogony we almost seem to be listening to some old Aryan hymn setting forth the marriage of the Sun and the Dawn. Atea and Tangaroa may change their attributes, and we shall find them do so if we wander from island to island, and allow the lapse of time to weave ridiculous stories round the deities of a decaying faith, but the fact will remain, never to be explained away, that Light and Darkness, Sound and Dawn were primal gods of the Polynesian, anterior to all hero- worship, and more ancient than all folk-tales. If any one should say that such broad and abstract conceptions were im- possible to these simple islanders, I would quote their lofty and magnificent hymn, where among many other fine expres- sions they say, — O thrones placed in the middle of the upper heavens ! 0 thrones whereon to seat the Lord of love ! The great Lord Atea established in love. Born is his first son, his princely son. 0 the great prince ! 0 the sacred superior ! 0 the princely son ! first born of divine power. 0 the Lord of everything ! here, there, and always. O the Lord of the iieavens and the entire sky ! O Atea ! their life, body, and spirit. Here there is no lack of the higher religious feeling, and it is a long leap downwards before we come to the deified human hero. Even when, however, the myth has become a folk-tale it is often certain that if we could trace the folk-tale 54 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. to its fountain-head we should arrive at a myth- source — that is, at the observation of natural phenomena. I class the Maui legends rather as folk-tales than as myths only, because they are related as if they belonged to a lower stratum of thought than that we have been considering. They are told with a familiarity, with an absence of reverence, that to me seems to mark a distinction. The name of Maui is not regarded like that of lo, the Supreme Being, a name to be uttered with whispered breath, and never under a roof, only out under the great vault of heaven. Yet the deeds ascribed to Maui are of supernatural interest. He was the Sun- catcher, the Fire-bringer, the fisherman who drew the world of Day up from the abyss of Night, the hero who died in the attempt to win immortality for men. Nevertheless his story is told in colloquial language, with laughter for Maui the crafty, Maui the deceiver of gods and men. The deeds related of him shrink, on account of the strong human personality so forcibly presented in the legends, until we forget how impos- sible it is that the actions he is said to have performed could have been executed by any creature in human likeness or akin to our race. We seem to see him, and know hnn well as a brother ; he sleeps on his mother's arm ; he plaits his ropes, prepares his bait, chooses his weapon, performs his devotions, and, at last, dies as a mortal dies. But when we meditate on the story, stripping away the conversational freedoms and familiarities that loving sympathy with the hero has caused the narrator to add to his narrative, we find that Maui, though he is the sun-catcher, is himself the sun ; though he brings fire from the under-world for mortals, he is himself the solar fire. It can be proved in many ways. How else can we explain such a verse as that in the ancient Hawaiian song : — A-Taranga the husband, Hina-ka-te ahi the wife ; Born was Maui the foremost ; born was Maui the middle one ; Born was Maui Tikitiki ; born was Maui from the apron {maro). From the girdle that A-Taranga had fastened, Pregnant was Hina, and a fowl (moa) was born, A hen's egg was the offspring that Hina conceived. If this is related of human beings it is not to be explained. However, we know from other sources that Hina was the Moon-goddess, and that when she bore Maui (himself an immature birth='=) and the egg she was bringing forth Light and Darkness, the holy twins, as Leda brought forth the swan's egg that produced Castor and Pollux, and as in the * The Maori regarded premature births with superstitious awe, and looked with dread upon an abortion or miscurriage. Such abortive births were supposed to be endowed with supernatural powers, generally of a malignant character. Tkegbar. — Thoughts on Comparative Mythology. 55 Veda we are told that Saranyu bore the twins of Day and Night, the Asvins/'' It is riddling talk, but there is an answer to the riddle. I may say here, while speaking of Maui as a purely mythi- cal personage, that consideration of the legends regarding him helps to make me a sceptic and a heretic on the subject of Maori genealogy. Some genealogies are very interesting, and when compared with others are full of points of study, especially if viewed with the eyes of the psychologist or an- thropologist. But, historically, beyond a few generations back from living natives, they are, in my opinion, totally unreliable. For instance, in the pedigree of Major Ropata, Maui is shown as his direct ancestor twenty-eight generations ago. i Allowing twenty-five years to a generation, this gives seven hundred years. So that, according to this account, it is only seven centuries ago (say, in the year that Richard Coeur- de-lion died) since Maui pulled up the North Island of New Zealand from the sea. Similarly, if we consider the genea- logies of Mangaia Island as given us by the late Dr. W. Wyatt Gill,! we find that between the high priest of Motoro, hving in a.d. 1830, and his first ancestor, Papaaunuku {I.e., in Maori, Papa-tu-a-nuku = Mother Earth, the wife of Eangi, Heaven), there were only nine generations. This would be startling if we could not compare it with three genealogies given by Grinnn in his "Teutonic Mythology, "§ in which he shows that the Princes of Kent, Bernicia, and Essex all traced their descent directly to the god Woden in nine generations also. [ I Page 78 : It is said with a certain amount of plausibilit.y tliat tliese ancient races must have remembered also something else — some real heroes, some real battles— and that they would have talked and sung of * Hina, the sister of Maui (the Light-god), is known to the Maori as Hina-uri — i.e., Hina the dark one. t For pedigree, see Tregear's " Maori- Polynesian Comparative Dic- tionary," p. 668. There can bo no doubt that this is the legendary Maui, because he is given as the son of Taranga, daughter of Muriranga- whenua. } " Savage Life in Polynesia," p. 227. § VoL.i., 165. ][ Kent — Bernicia — Essex — Woden. Woden. Woden. Wecta. Bffildeg. Saxneat. Witta. Brand. Gesecg. Wihlgils. Beonoc. Andsecg. Hengist. Aloe. Sweppa. Eoric. Angenweit. Sigefugel. Octa. Ingwi. Bedecca. Eormenric. Esa. Offa. ^thelbeorht. Eoppa. ^Escwine. Ida. 56 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. them rather than of the battle between Light and Darkness, between Day and Night, between Sunshine and Rain, between Spring and Winter. So it seems, but it has been shown that even in our own time nothing is so striking as the forgetfulness of tiie people where there is no printed literature to keep up the memory of great events. Experi- ments have been made, and it was found that peasants living near Leipzig know nothing of the great battle, except what they may have learnt at school. I myself heard an old woman assuring her friends that after Waterloo Napoleon had been hiding in England for many years, and had at last come back to Paris to fight tlie Germans. To test the retentiveness of the memory of peasants similar experiments have been made in the neighbourhood of the great battlefields of Frederick the Great. Tiie people all knew some anecdote, more or less mythical, of the Olle Fritze, but of the battles near their own villages— of the posi- tion of tlie armies, of the flight of the enemy, of acts of valour and all the rest — they knew nothing at all. Places are shown where the king is supposed to have jumped on horseback over a river which no one but an old heathen god or a hero could ever have jumped — that is to say, popular legends were beginning to absorb historical reality. The above remarks as to the forgetfuhiess of a people without printed literature need qualification. The modern instances adduced illustrate the weakness of memory among people accustomed to rely upon literature to preserve their history. They have therefore allowed their legendary memory to become almost rudimentary from disuse. Among races totally unacquainted with literature the converse of the state- ment takes place. "With the Polynesians, for instance, the most laborious efforts were used to insure strictness in hand- ing down their ancient legends, just as in those instances of the oral transmission of the Vedas in India, so well described by Professor Max Miiller himself. Printed books are the enemies of memory. The last sentence in the above quotation — that relating to the leap of the king across a river— may perhaps bear an illustration from my own experience. Many years ago I was walking with a Maori on the bank of the Waikato Eiver, near the village of Te Whetu. The native chief said to me, "I will show you something that no white man has ever yet seen. I will show you our ancestor, Eaukawa." This Maori be- longed to the Tribe of Ngati-raukawa. We left the river-side and proceeded up a narrow valley. Turning a sharp angle in it, we came upon a huge conical stone. It was about 30 ft. in height, if my memory serves me. About 20 ft. up was a bright patch of red ochre. The Maori said, " Do you see the kura (red mark)?" I answered, "Yes, what is it?" He replied, " That is the blood that flowed from the wound when he was killed. That is my ancestor, Eaukawa. He was a giant ; he leapt across the Waikato Eiver at the place where Cambridge now stands." I said, "I should like to under- stand exactly what you mean. Do you want me to know that this stone was set up in memory of your ancestor, and Tkegeau. — Thoughts on Comparative Mythology. 57 made sacred fov hiin ? " He answered, "No, this is my ancestor himself." 1 then said, " You must know that you are tall