THE MYSTERIOUS SKULL

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 68, 14 December 1920, Page 7

THE MYSTERIOUS SKULL

PREHISTORIC RACES IN NEW • ZEALAND. ' _ Till more light has been thrown on them a good deal of interest must he left in the "curiously-shaped skull" and •' bones found,' inland froru Whakatane, by Dr. Buck, and supposed by him to be remains of a prehistoric-race callcd by the Maoris Fern-caters. It was well known, says the Dunedin "Star," that, prior to the advent of the present Maoris, at a time conjectured to have been about the middle of the fourteenth century. New Zealand was inhabited by an earlier people, with whom tho newcomers intermarried, when they did-not drive them to.■ the-remoter..fastnesses, or. make uso of them as an addition to their diet. It is generally supposed, however, that they did not differ much in origin from the subsequent invaders who -dispossessed them of the soil, though the legends of their conquerors, in which they are referred to as the "tangata whenua," or aborigines, make them appear as of mildflr habits than the ferocious warriors who came in the great canoes. The chances ore that they were simply earlier comers of the same race, who may have arrived in this country about the time of the Norman Conquest, and of whom '"16' Honoris, of the Chatham Islands. evidently, 7 fugitives from New Zealand ' were the last remnant to survive in an ■nnmixed 6tate. Mr. Percy Smith has written of Natives in the Urewera, who retained aopearances of this earlier people, modified by admixture with the later comers. The names of their orig-inal-clans have been preserved in Maori legend, but our knowledge of them has been almost entirely confined to th» vague references of tho legends, unless the mysterious rock painting found in various parts of New. Zealand are to lie regarded aa their work. . It is possible ■ tliat vestiges of a still more ancient race are represented by the "curiously-shaped skull" and bones. A fkull like a Jloriqri's (if that is what has been found in tho North Island) would not seem a very startling discovery, and "prehistoric", does not take ns far. back necessarily when New Zealand antiquities are concerned. The Maoris have not encouraged scientific, investigation of bones and other relics, regarded by (hem as sacred, which might have strange stories to tell if they were marked and examined by experts. Ono of the' original canoes sis supposed to bo buried at- a 6ite, marked by two white stones, on the north coast of Taranaki, but inquisitive pakelias who desired one" to excavate the spot wero threatened' with shooting. The ethnological department of Otngo University will no doubt desire more, knowledge of Dr. Buck's discovery. The importance of the problems yet to be fC' v< r!' '•. w ''-'i fi® spade's assistance, in the Pacific, can be gathered from some remarks of the late Dr. Hocken. recalled when the lectureship in ethnology was established. Dr. Hocken said: "To those whose tastes lie in tllie direction of languages and ethnology, I could' recommend, no more absorbing subject than-that.connected with the iPolynesian race or races. Problems of • tho most astounding are here everywhere presented—islands untenanted for ages, where huge monoliths and massive, struc- . t.ures tell -of a bygone people, who have left no other trace, and whose history is utterly unknown to those who GOO years auo came after t.liem. -Now. n» will link; together or show any relation between these lone-lost peonies? T? the honour to- descend upon Ihn shoulders of anyone in this Toom? Were it in my power. I would found a clmir for the prosecution of studies such as theso."