Concluding Observations

There are some concluding observations of a miscellaneous character which I now crowd together, "rudis indigestaque moles," because the dread of length prompts me to refrain from enlarging. Thoughtful men who have studied the Maori language have been much puzzled by the presence of a very considerable number of Aryan and other words in the Maori dialect. A Nelson gentleman has a list of several hundreds. I have collected many, some of them very remarkable.

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The list might be vastly increased. Rawlinson has noticed the same singular manifestation in the primitive Chaldean language. "One of the most remarkable results," he says, "of an analysis of the Hamite cuneiform alphabet is the evidence of an Aryan element in the vocabulary of the very earliest period, thus showing either that in that remote age there must have been an Aryan race dwelling on the Euphrates among the Hamite tribes, or that (as I myself think more probable) the distinction between Aryan, Semitic, and Turanian tongues had not been developed when picture-writing was first used in Chaldæa, but that the words then in use passed indifferently at a subsequent period, and under certain modifications, into the three great families among which the languages of the world were divided." We must be very cautious, therefore, in drawing direct ethnological inferences from the linguistic indications of a very early age. "It will be far wiser," adds Rawlinson, "in these early times to follow the general scheme of ethnic affiliation which is given in the tenth chapter of Genesis, and to lay as little stress as possible on presumed affinities or diversities of language."

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The Maori language abounds in vowel sounds. No two consonants come together, the ng being in fact one nasal sound. Every word ends with a vowel, and the general effect upon the ear is particularly soft and pleasant. It is a language admirably adapted for vocal music. Dr. J. H. Carter, in the Bombay Journal of 1847, speaking of the language spoken to this day by the Arabs of Mahrah, in Arabia, says "it is the softest and sweetest language I ever heard."

Confirmation of the previously indicated migrations of the Polynesians may also be had from the names of the points of the compass in use in the Polynesian Islands at the present time, as they indicate a residence at some previous time on lands whose characteristics or physical surroundings were different from those which the people now inhabit. Thus in Hawaian songs and legends we find the names Ulunui, Melemele and in Maori legends the name Uru for the north, being, as we have seen, the names of their ancient towns to the north of their former habitat in South Arabia.

Hau-a-uru, the name in Maori of the westerly wind, was doubtless introduced into the language at a later date, when the people were living in the Indian Islands. The wind from Uru would then be a north-westerly wind, and Hau-a-uru, wind from Uru, would fitly describe it. Ra-whiti is the east, where the sun rises; Ra-ki is the north, where the sun is on the meridian; and Ra-to is the west, where the sun sets or dies—Ea-tu of the Akkadians, Ra-tum of the Egyptians.

Mr. Fornander well notices that in many of the groups (including New Zealand) the expressions "up" and "down"—runga and raro—meaning northwards and southwards, point strongly to a former habitat in lands where the regular monsoons prevailed. As the south-east wind blew for nine months out of the twelve, it was the prevailing wind, and one is said to go up, runga, when travelling against the wind, and to go down, raro, when going before it. Thus the terms became fixed as indicating the quarters from which the wind came or to which it blew. The words can have no application in New Zealand, where there are no trade page 119 winds, and are consequently older than the residence of the Maoris here.

Dread of tedious length forbids me to enter into an investigation of the religion, or want of religion (in our sense of the word) of the people as we find them, or to compare their gods (such as they are) with the gods they so ardently adored in their first and second homes. Every idea of religion as connected with the gods is lost, and in some cases even their names. Nor can I refer to their customs, such as salutation by hongi, or rubbing noses; tattooing; cooking with hot stones in the open air; the law of tapu, or pomale, as it is called in the Indian archipelago; astrology, still practised in Hawaii; their skill in cutting hard stones, as may be witnessed here every day, and as the beautiful seals in the British Museum testify of the ancestors of the Maoris; the custom of carrying burdens by the balance beam, common to all parts of Polynesia, except New Zealand; their weapons of war; their canoes, still sewn together; their huts, still bound by withes, as recorded by Strabo, was the custom of their ancestors in Arabia; their great skill in weaving, which will recall to our minds the beautiful Babylonian garments which we read of in the Bible, one of which, "a goodly Babylonish raiment," proved so fatal to Achan; their treatment of the dead; the horrible rite of human sacrifices; the division of the year: the preparation and use of holy water; the custom of circumcision—an almost universal custom amongst the Polynesians, except in New Zealand and the Southern Marquesas, where the practice has long been obsolete;—all these subjects I must pass over.

There are, however, one or two matters of interest which I may notice. In a cave at Weka Pass, in the other island, are some rock paintings of undoubted antiquity, in the colour red, the sacred colour of the Maoris, as it was of the Chaldeans. The most prominent of these ancient pictures are large serpents and lizards or crocodiles of enormous size relatively to the human figures there also depicted. No such reptiles ever inhabited New Zealand. A superstitious reverence for, and terrible dread of, even the most harmless lizard existed, and exists still in a dimi- page 120 nished degree, throughout the Polynesian Islands. What was the origin of this popular sentiment? Throughout all the islands we hear accounts of huge taniwhas which inhabit certain secluded places, but which, when diligently sought for, as Mr. Colenzo has well shown, are never to be found. There can be no doubt this terrible dread arose from legends of the olden time, strictly handed down from father to son, containing histories of some fearful monsters which had terrified and warred upon their ancestors. The python (Anaconda) is still extremely common in Mindanao, and of enormous size. The image of the large lizard placed on one of the Marais at Tahiti, and the long row of lizards still to be seen in Pokiha's carved house at Maketu, and, in fact, in every New Zealand pa, are simply memories of the terrible crocodiles which were the source of perpetual danger, and the occasion of heroic exploits, in the lands from which their forefathers came.

A careful observer will discover in almost all the carved figures of the Maori ancestors a mythological figure with a hawk's head attacking the shoulders of the principal image. I have made numerous inquiries amongst the Maoris as to the meaning and origin of this ever-present animal. The general answer is that it is a manaia; occasionally it is said to be a kotuku. Further inquiry will educe a story, evidently of recent invention, though fitted on to an old legend. The origin of this figure is certainly very ancient, and its meaning is clearly lost amongst the people. I venture to suggest the legend of the Sin of the God Zu as the origin of this mythological creature. The extract is taken from Mr. G. Smith's work, "Assyrian Discoveries."