they would have been iriost durable; or int he tradition^,
which certainly wbdM haA^Ihdntiohëd the conquest of due race
by the Other, if it had really happened. Captain CfoSet, a
'Frenchman, who early vi&itëd New Zealand, says' that he
found a tribe at the North Cape darker than the rest. I could
observe nothing; of the kind there, although I visited all the
natives. Nor are these darker-coloufed individuals more common
inthe interior ; I shouldsay^fe^eh'lessso. There is undoubtedly
a greater variety of Colour and countenance*! afeüftgsir ' the
natives of New Zealand than ohé Would' expectj—ia circumstance
which ithight prove either an eatly blùriding of different
races, or a differeticè of social ^nditiOhsi N^hibh iatter hhilpël-
sition would go far to explain the fact. All thè^èw1 Zéklànd*
ers speak of the Mango-Mango (blacks) of NOW South Walès
as unconnected with and inferior tç> theUiSëlYés|bUt they never
make such a distinction regarding thëir"'ôwns^qSièlf^*'
It seems from thèse remarks tbat the author does '"hôt
suppose the Maori tcMbe a mixture of two different nation^,
but one people, divided from remote times into different
castes; and this;1 as Dr. Dieffenbach has assured me, waS his
ultimate and deliberate Opinion. Though thOi diffèréncéS of
physical character appeared on a superficial viewin' gréàt ’âs
to afford countenance to the hypothesis of M. D’Urville; the
total want of any other indications of a mixed origin of which
he became aware on an intimate acquaintance with the people,
led him to the conclusion that the variations of type are the
result of somë othèr âgèhcÿ; ‘ ‘ The question seëniS to bë precisely
the same as to the New Zealanders as in regard to the
Tahitians and oilier Polynesians. They all display similar
diversities of caste. There sëéms to be a greater tendency to
variation in the physical type among these islanders than in
any other parts of the world ; and if we admit the existence of
two races, it will not explain the phenomena. For example,
if wé assume that thérë exists in these' islands a Papuan tribe
in juxta-posiiion with another of Malayan origin, whence are
we to deduce the xanthous variety ? The fair people of Tahiti
and the Marquesas are numerous, arid they are as completely
* Travels in New Zealand, vol. ii. pp. 7-—11.
xanthous as any E u ro p e an s.T h e re seems to be something in
the manner, of life and food of these islanders, which, aided by
the influence o f their* climate, tends to favour the appearance
of variation. The-higher dashes are of finer form and larger
jltetriie and fairer complexion than the fewer orders, and the
chiefs appear to ko.snpprior iq pther .respects to all the other
mempers tof they,eomjnunity. The most intelligent ,and best-
informed travellers ascribe this difference in Tahiti, as we have
.seep, to the diflererit < man ner of .life to , which the higher and
lower orders are subjected, or to the ease and affluence and better
nutrition wlheh is? the lot of thefquble^and chiefs. Mr. Ellis,
and the missionaries who have been h?st acquainted With the
people\of.that island, assure; ,us. that,: though there are differences
pf caste-, the physical characters prevalent in each are
nof constant diversitiesjg, apef unless thisr should appear to be
the case yyitlx the. 'Maoriaus, .y?e cannot feqk vupon the varieties
discovered as. national peculiarities. T.h,e people themselves
have, as it scrips from Dr. X)ieffenbaeh’§ smcoqnt, po tradition
or ppipiqq^ which favpprs such an, hypothesis.. They Coiyidpr
fh em s e l^ to be of one origin and have, no d iffe ren t of dialect.
St;ill, in the present state of ;our. knowledge on this subject,
it would he rash to dra.W any positivecqnciusion. f
.< Traditions and Mythology. |
Maui, or Mauwfeisfhe mythical apeesferofthe, New Zealanders.,
Mauwi is.pot a gqd: he is distinctly stated to have
been, a,man. , Mauwi and his brother^ fished up New Zealand.
The. story is nearly a counterpart to.: the njythos of Tangaloa
in .the Tonga, Isles* r The north erpisle.is sometimes called
^e-ahi-na-Maqij that “ . Th§j begptteq « |lauwi,’’ though
this name is little known. The people .arrived in uve canoes :
they came from two islands named Hawaikj and Tawai, which
Dieffenbach supposes to be isles -in the Sandwich groupe. He
infers, chiefly ftojp^this tradition, that New Zealand received
its inhabitants froip the Sandwich Islands.
A brief account of the old Paganism of New Zealand has
been written by M. D’Urville. The word atoua, like the