ORIGIN OF ANCESTORS OF MAORIS?

Chronicle (Levin), 12 July 1947, Page 6

ORIGIN OF ANCESTORS OF MAORIS?

Iieceived Friday, S p.m. NEW YORK, July 10. T-he six Norwegian scientists on thv Kon-Tiki rat't expedition have radioeii that after 75 days at sea the raft ha.-s now drifted .3401) naulical miles of the 3900 land miles westward of Peru. The scientists are trying to prove by duplicating the feat that pre-Incan Indians travelled by rafts to Polynesia 1500 years ago. Tliey report: "We have only 48 > miles to go before teaching the lirs possible landfall. Our experienees witli the little known balsa wood raft have on the whole convinced us all tha; with such craft in common use ajong the coast of ancient Peru, with the vvind and current sweeping incessantly westward, Polynesia can hardly have been undiscovered by South American raf tsmen. ' ' The scientists praise the seaworthi ness of the balsa raft, saying that the logs are still buoyant despite their long immersion. The softness of balsa wood had prevented the chafing of the ropes which held the logs _ together. The expedition has been experimenting with centreboards similar to those used by the prehistorie Peruvians and the experiments proved that the pre-Incan-niust have used sails because the centreboards were otherwise useless Thus the experience of the expedition seeined to answer the contentions of those who had challenged the theory of pre-Incan raft migration to Polynesia. The s&entists report hd that their ev perience also demonstrated that enough fresh water could be carried iu bambo:. canes as the early fSouth American raf tsmen had been known to do. Foo-i for long voyagcs likewise was no problcrn. ''We have svveet potatoes and coconuts exposed to the weather iu Peruvian baskets on the foredech. Phe potatoes as well as tlie coconuts have long since started to sprout an 1 tlie ten-inch coconut palms coni|)ete iu greenness with the seagrass covering the logs. ' ' Fiying fish had landed on the low raft every night and a sinall quantity of edible crabs could be picked off the logs. Edible squids were also foun l aboard. "In addition the shade under our slowly drifting raft attracts quantities of big fish which are easily caught. Af this is written three sharks swim around us, oue so close that we coul-l touch its dorsal fui. " The strong sun enabled Ihe raf tsmen to serve dried fish and sporadic showers provided an additional fresh water supply which could be augmented u v juice from crushed or chewed iish.^ "The expedition 's position is 123 dcgrees 27 minutes west and 12 degree.s 15 minutes so'uth.