The Papuan Race of Indonesia.

Again, there ought to be traces of some recollection of the black or very dark brown Negritto races of Indonesia, called Papuans, which name is said to be derived from the Malay word Puapua, frizzled hair. Students of New Zealand history are aware that in the Maori traditions there are incidental notices of an ancient people called Manahune or Manahua, who are by some supposed to be a diminutive race, and somewhat like the elves of old-world stories. But they are not said to have lived in New Zealand. This people is also known in Hawaii under the same name, where they are described as somewhat like those of the Maori traditions. They appear to have been page 103at one time very numerous, and lived in the mountains, but were in a state of subjection to the Hawaiians, performing for them many works that required great numbers, in order to complete the task at once. Like the Patu-pai-arehe of New Zealand story, these people are said not to like the daylight, but worked at night. Many of the heiaus and some of the loko-i'a, or fish-ponds, of Hawaii are said to have been built by the Manahune. Again, in Tahiti we find mention of the same people, Manahune, who in Ellis's time formed the lower orders of the people. But they were an ancient tribe, or people, for Miss Henry tells me that the Tahitian expression Ari'i o te tau Manahune refers to the time when kings were born to the plebeians of Tahiti, begotten of the gods, and not wearing the chiefly maro-ura, or scarlet girdle, the insignia of the ruling chiefs of Tahiti. In a Paumotu genealogy in my possession, I find one of their chiefs named Tangaroa-Manahune, who lived many generations ago; and it is known that there was a tribe in old times in Mangaia named Manaune. We shall find later on a reference to them in Rarotonga history, where they are again referred to as little people. The word manahune, both in Maori and Rarotonga, means a scab, or mark on the body. None of the accounts I have seen infer that these people ever differed in colour from the brown Polynesian. The Patu-pai-arehe or Turehu of the Maori, on the contrary, are distinctly stated to be white or light-coloured, and had the Manahune been of that colour, or black, the fact would probably have been mentioned. It may be that the origin of the name is due to the people who bore it being marked with cicatrices (manahune). Fornander seemed to be of the opinion that this was a racial name applied by the Polynesians to themselves in ancient times, and derived from one of their remote ancestors named Kalani-Menehune; but from page 104Maori and Rarotonga accounts, they appear rather to have been an alien race. The vague notions the Polynesians generally now have in regard to the Manahune—their living in the mountains and forests, the wonderful powers of sorcery, &c., accredited to them—seems to point to their having been a race living in the remote past conquered by the Polynesians, and probably often enslaved by them. In fact, the traditions no doubt point to the Papuan or Melanesian race, who, it is well known, mark their flesh in gashes as an ornament, instead of tattoo, as with the Polynesians.

There seems to be two possible or probable theories to account for the Manahune. Either they were the first migration into the Pacific, or they were one of the races the Polynesians came into contact with in Indonesia, or further to the west, and some of whom they brought with them in their migrations as slaves. In this latter case, the stories of their having inhabited Hawaii and Hawaiki are Indonesian events localised in process of time in the Pacific homes of the Polynesians. The latter theory is probably the more consonant with what is known of the Manahune. It would be quite in keeping with what we know of Polynesian customs, that on conquering the Papuans they came in contact with, they would enslave them, and carry them with them in their voyages to form part of their crews. Large numbers of the women would be enslaved and taken as wives, and hence the Papuan element in so many Polynesians of the present day. But this element was doubtless much increased during the lengthy sojourn of the Polynesians in the Fiji group. All history, tradition, and observation go to prove that Indonesia was occupied by this Negritto race from the very earliest times, and the Polynesians must have had page 105constant communication with them, making war on them, ousting them from the lands, and enslaving them.

We find the names of several countries or islands mentioned that Tangaroa visited (besides the skies), such as Rangi-ura, Vai-ono, Avaiki, Vairau-te-ngangana,^‡ Raro-nuku,^§ Rangi-make, &c.

Vai-takere, Tangaroa's father-in-law, is accredited with the introduction of the bread fruit to the knowledge of his

^† The change from ka to nga being common to the language, we may probably see in this name the Maori Mango-roi-ata.

^‡ In the Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. III., p. 105, it will be seen that the Maoris have retained in their traditions the name Wairua-ngangana as the place from which they originally obtained the taro, and introduced it into Hawaiki. The two names are not exactly the same, the u and the a being inter-changed. No assistance in identifying the island can be derived from the native habitat of the taro, which seems to have been common to India and Indonesia.

^§ This is the island which I suppose to be represented by the name Ao-nuku in Marquesan traditions. (See a former page.)

page 107people. The story about it is overlaid with mythical incidents, as are so many Polynesian tales, but there is no doubt a substratum of historical fact. It appears to have been first discovered growing in the mountains. There were great rejoicings at the discovery. Vai-takere's wife is accredited with having produced the ii, which is, I think, page 108the Tahitian ifi, ihi, or chestnut,^* called also by the Rarotongans mape. The story says that two new foods having been discovered in Avaiki, the use of vari, or rice, was abandoned.

Notwithstanding the fanciful dress in which we find these stories in the original, they point strongly to the first arrival of the people in a strange land, where new kinds of food were discovered.

The bread fruit is stated by De Candolle in his "Origin of Cultivated Plants" to be a native of Java. "The bread fruit is evidently a native of Java, Amboyna, and the neighbouring islands; but the antiquity of its cultivation in the whole of the archipelago, proved by the number of varieties, and the facility of propagating it by buds and suckers, prevent us from knowing its history accurately." The rice of course grows in Java at the present day, and I hold the probability is the Polynesians first introduced it there from India; and it is also tolerably certain that they brought the bread fruit from Indonesia with them on their migrations, for the varieties now growing in Polynesia are seedless, and can be propagated only by suckers. It is clearly not a native of Polynesia.

At this time the people were apparently divided into tribes, for we find the names mentioned of Ati-Apai and Ngati-Ataranga, both Ati and Ngati being tribal pre-nominals.

Whether the theory hinted at above as to Māui being a real historical person or not is correct, must be left to the decision of some one who will study the whole body of legends relating to him as derived from all branches of the race; but the Rarotongan account in a measure supports Fornander's hypothesis that this series of legends is older than the migration into the Pacific.^* There have been very many Māuis in Polynesian history, and in process of time the deeds of some ancient and mythical Māui have become confounded with those of men who lived in later ages. The Rarotongans do not, so far as I know, trace any descent from Māui of this period, though Hawaiians and Maoris do from one who lived in a later age.