BOOKS OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1740, 3 May 1913, Page 11

BOOKS OF THE DAY.

WHO ARE THE MAORIS? -Jfo the already long list of writers on tfe probable origin, the "whence" of tho Maori race,.must now be added the name, of Drf Newman. For some years past Dr. Newman has been specially interested in Maori history, manners, and customs, and finally ho. came to the decision to set to work on his own lines to follow up the track of tho Mnori race, and to endeavour to solve the oft-debated problem as to whence they came to New Zealand, to discover, in fact, the exact identtiy of their cradle-land, Hawaiki. Mr Percy Smith and other writers had come to tlie conclusion that they could be traced to tho islands of the Malay-Archipelago, but Dr. Newman, not satisfied with this, determined to follow their history still further back. With characteristic zeal and most laudable energy ho threw himself into the task, sparing neither time, trouble, nor expense in his quest, a quest which took the author to Java, Burmah, India, : and the SandwicK Islands, visits to-theso countries being followed by arduous.research work in many of tho famous museums and libraries .of the Old World. The result is displaced in the. interesting volume "Who are the Maoris?" recently published for the author by Messrs. Whitcombe and Tombs. Tho work is dedicated to , Mr. Percy Smith, to whom, and to many other writers on Maori lore and history the author makes frequent and appreciative acknowledgment in the course of his fascinating pages. .The Author's Conclusions. The conclusions arrived by Dr. Newman may be briefly summarised as follow:—The _ author claims that his book contains incontrovertible evidence that the Maoris came from Northern India) that .their cradle-land, Hawaiki, was India; that he has discovered tho'lost'history of the IFaori race; that he has proved the route of tho .Great Migration from tho banks of the Indus to New Zealand; and that, finally, "the Maoris are an 'Aryan-llongolio people, but dominantly Cauousian." These main contentions are set forth in great detail in tho three hundred and odd pages of the volume before me, a volume which merits, as it will' doubtless receive, widespread attention- from students of ethnology and anthropology generally, particularly those • interested in the '■ history, mythology, manners,, customs, and language of the Maoris. It is difficult to overestimate the interest and value of the vast mass of information which the author has collected in order tj present and fortify, his main theories and contentions. There may. indeed, be some complaint, that Dr. Newman has overloaded his book with detail, but careful perusal of _ his work will show that seemingly trivial . points, when properly grouped, and regarded as a whole, ail have their own particular value. It would have been better, perhaps, had the author paid more attention to the specification of authorities, but to have done this would have seriously encroached upon his available space, and after-all, the" chief authorities quoted should be fairly well f known -to well educated readers. ~ . '■ . ' -~ .ThVGreatbMlgratlonJ ; Several chapters are ,dcvoted to an examination of the identity of Hawaiki and to.; the various facta which support the . Author's general argument that Hawaiki was"\ India, tho great "Ava Land, _ and that the Maoris, tho first people in the Pacific, originally came from India by way of the Malay Archipelago. ■The Hindu and Maori mythologies are compared, and there is much interesting comparison also of Indian and Maori tribal and place names. It is, however, . when we reach Chapter SI, in which the route.of the Groat Migration from Asia is traced, that the work assumes more particular interest. The emigrants dropped colonies en route, but it is easy, Dr. Newman asserts, to trace the main route from India proper to Manipur, and ~ thence . to Burmah, Arakan, and- on' to, the " Malay Peninsula. From what may be called Indonesia, the author maintains tho Maoris proceeded by two main streams, the one going from Borneo to Hawaii, the other great division to Papua, then to Samoa, Tonga, Easter Island, Earotonga, Now Zealand.. Having . once parted, the two streams of Maoris/ never came together again, and for' nearly 2000 years have had no communication with each other. Tha stages . from India to Borneo.and.Fapua were , easy* voyages through calm, seas; tho, t long daring sea voyages began- after they left Borneo and Papua. This is Dr. Newman's main-contention as to the route. The theory that the Maoris "grew up in tho Pacific ■ Islands" 'he dismisses as absurd. "All tho evidence," he says in his last chapter,, headed "The Snmming Up," "leads back directly to Northern India. It could not be from any other land in Asia—not from'" China, their Caucasian ancestors could.oaly have been in India. The whole Maori civilisation .is that of Northern India, of the Sangata Mauri, but little changed in the 8000 years since they left Hawaiki."

fThe Philological Evidence. The value placed by tho'author upon the philogical evidence may be considered by many . u ho have studied tho ''whence of the Maori" as being open to doubt. In tho many dialects of Maori Spoken in the Pacific, word mutilation can bo easily understood. It would be curious, indeed, if, certain of these mutilated forms 'did not correspond with certain others found in remote parts of tho . world. It may be doubted, however, whether Dr. Newman does not sometimes make too much of these resemblances. In this connection' let us take an instance of compared personal names, including • that of the Maori god, Tane, whom the author identifies (p. IG2 et. scq.) with the Ka of certain Maori legends. According to the author, Brahma was Ka. "Each was the Great Male who produced all things." Now tho Hawaiian islanders call •Tane, Ivane, having, during past times, substituted tho letter K for the T. The author, after asserting that Brahma was Ka, proceeds; "When Ka, alias Tane, had separated the Sky Father from the Earth' Mother," etc. So that by a process i of substituting T for K and then chopping off the second syllable, the author gets an identity of Ka, Kane, whereas tho comparison should, it might fairly bo argued, be Tane, Ka. Manu and Maui. Dr. Newman commences his comparative ]ist of "Indian and Maori First Parents" &s follows—lndian Parents: Manu, Manui, Parent God; 'Maori Parents: Manu, Ma-Jiui-Parent God, Maui. But I I find no proof, either in this book of Dr. Newman's or in others that I have read .that tho New Zealand Maori ever knew Maui as Manu or Manui Again, on page 178, wo find: "Manu's brother was Itiwaka; Maui's, Tiwakawaka" There is surely something wrong here, for unless I ani mistalcen, Maui had no such brother. Tiwakawaka . is tho proper . name for tho fantail bird, whose legendary chattering led to the mythical destruction of Maui by Hinenuitepo. let another curious evidence that a writer who strongly desires to prove his case can sometimes make use of rather doubtful evidence is to be found in the Comparative List of Indian and Pacific J-Tibal Names" (p. 12-1), wherein I find in tho Indian column Akaran. In tho parallel polumn appears the Maori Akarana. Whereas A karana is, so I am assured on good authority, not a genttino Maori word at all. being quite a modern creation, tlw Maori corruption of Auckland. . But these and many other awkward points in the philological theories set forth by the author I must leave to the experts. Similarity in Manners and Customs. When Dr. Newman comes to compare the every-dav life of tho -Indiana .witli^

the Maoris he is on much safer ground, indeed, ho here makes out a very strong case, the strongest yet mado by any writer who has dealt with the fascinating problem with which tho book is concerned. Tho resemblances are so numerous as to leave mo bewildered which to select. Let me take just one resemblance, tho tattooing. This can be along tho route of the Great Migration. All Maoris agree that the art was brought from "the Fatherland." Dr. Newman says:—

The Dyaks of Borneo—a land through which the Maoris passed, tattoo largely, and in many oases the patterns aro tho same. Dyaks and Mantawai peoplo tattoo siuglo and double spirals. The Maoris of Man- ' tawai are the greatest tattooers in tho Malay. Archipelago. In north-west Sumatra the Battaks tattoo, In Burma the Karens, Shans, and many others tattoo a variety of patterns very beautifully. .Farther north are the Nagas, so closely allied to the Maoris, who- tattoo .abundantly, using purely Maori instruments, and employing the same rites, A Naga warrior chief, elaborately .tattooed all over his face, at once reminds one of a Maori warrior. ... In Timor Laut tho people tattooed. . . . Some of the statutes of Garudas—Gargoyles of Javan templeshave their foreheads and skulls decorated in the same way. Tattooing in, India is a custom dating from ■ tho earliest times. . . . The Gangetic peoples of the ancient kingdom of Ava l (Bengal) lavishly practised this art.' The art of tattooing can be traced right from New Zealand to Bengal (Hawaiki). The instruments were the same, the patterns frequently identical, the priestly ceremonies strangely alike.

And so the author proceeds, for somo four or five pages, going into considerable detail as to the curious and significant similarities of the tattoo patterns, which can, ho argues, and argues, it must be said, with force and point, be traced tack to Northern Indian origins. An interesting engraving is given of the carving on a Hindu idol, which the author saw in a Javan temple. The florid carving on the forehead bears a remarkably strong Tesemblance to the tattooing on the foreheads of so many of the older New Zealand Maoris. The birth, marriage, and burial rites'of the Maoris all have clearly traceable parallels in Northern India. Circumcision was practised by the race. Tho use of urine as a medicine was common to tho Maoris, and tho Northern .Indians. Both with Brahmin and Maori .priests, strict accuracy in all holy rites was insisted upon. -When a Mnori priest altered a karakia he did so in one breath. If before he finished his spell he had to take breath, the spell was broken. Similarly, tho Hindu priest "spoke his spell in. ono breath, otherwise some calamity would follow. Sonio priests put two fingers before their irose and held it, uttering a spell beforo they breathed again. - The Maori priests often uttered their spells in Tclays, as it were, one priest starting, another taking up tho running before the first actually stopped, and so on to a third. This was exactly tho Brahmin way of getting through long prayers.

• I must refrain from further quotation. The authdr, indeed, offers so many tempting phrases that choice is difficult, and anything like adequate presentment of wli it I may call tho folk lore and customs arguments for the identification! of the Northern Hindus, the Aryans, as the, original Maoris, is quite impossible in a necessarily. brief notice, 'such as this. To do full justice to Dr. Newman's intensely interesting and valuablo contribution to the history of the Maori race, several columns of space would be required. Suffice it to say that however opinions may differ upon certain, details of the author s theor-' ies and contentious, tho evidences of deep and careful study to bo found in his work cannot fail to win him the respect and esteem of all who have even a cursory dcquaintnnce with the important and fascinating problem which ho claims to have solved. The book lias been well printed by' the publishers, and contains a number of interesting and . well-produced illustrations, many of which are from photographs specially taken for tho author. Tho price of tho work is 7s. 6d.

The "Everyman" Encyclopaedia. j- Messrs. J. M. Dent and Co. have added to.the debt of gratitude which all book lovers with scantily-filled purses ' owe tliem by initiating- an. enterprise of special to.thoso who need—and what reader does not—a good, reliable encyclopaedia. AVo cannot all afford the stately Britannica; for many, of us, indeed, that well-tried. favourite, Chambers' Encyclopaedia, is beyond our means, but Messrs. Dent are' publishing an Encyclopaedia which when, complete will cost but fifteen shillings for ihe twelve volumes of which it is composed.. For a copy of the.first volume, "A to Bac.," I am indebted to .Messrs. Whitc'ombe and Tombs. The size, is that'.of the favourite Everyman series, the paper i 9 necessarily thin but quite opaque, and the type, though small, is laudably sharp and clear. Each volumo contains some CIO pages, comprising over 500,000 words, so that the full set of twelve volumes will contain more than six million words. The work is edited by-Mr. Andrew Boyle, whose object lias been to satisfy the everyday reader's desire for rapid information on all Subjects to be met with in a general course of reading or in the affairs of daily life. We have tried, says the editor in his informative preface, to deal throughout with -those subjects which continually occur in reading a newspaper or a book, and they can be found without reference to an index. The essential facts of every subject of importance are stated as brietly as is consistent with accuracy. No necessary matter has been omitted, and we have tried to exclude everything unnecessary.- An excellent' feature, and ono which will specially appeal to tho busy man, is tho subdivision of subjects. A town, for instance, is dealt with bv itself, not under tho general heading of the country to which it belongs. Some Good Features. In tho larger encyclopaedias, which generally ppssess an exhaustive index, the-, adoption of general headings is permissible, but tho greater the extent to which subdivision is carried the better for the purposes of rapid reference. Tho "Everyman" Encyclopaedia is therefore on the lilies of the best Germnn Conversations Lexicons, a system first adopted in England, I believe, in Knight's Popular Encyclopaedia, which was an outcome of tiie great Penny Encyclopaedia, a work which did much in its day to diffuse common knowledge. I have subjected tho first volume I'f the Everyman Encyclopaedia to a very searching test, both as to diversity of subjects dealt with and tho information given in the articles. Ono goon feature which strikes me is tho richness of its biographical information. .Living personages of any celebrity aro not excluded, and although the articles are - necessarily brief, it is astonishing what a amount of information is packed into a relatively small space. At the same time, when a subject is of considerable importance, there is no noticoable parsimony of words. For instance, there aro two really excellent articles on Antarctic and Arctic exploration. The first, with information brought up to January, 1912, is of four columns, the second runs into three columns morel Both are marvels of compression and succinctness. Separate articles on Scott and Shackleton will be found iu later volumes in their alphabetical place. Meanwhile tho volume beforo me contains an admirable little article on Amundsen. .

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