DR. HAAST'S PAPER ON ROCK PAINTINGS.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 910, 25 May 1877, Page 3

DR. HAAST'S PAPER ON ROCK PAINTINGS.

Quotation was lately made in these columns of an article which had appeared in the New Zealand Herald on the subject of the peculiar rock paintings which were described by Dr. ITaast, in his opening address at the Canterbury Philosophical Institute. Referring to that article, the Rev. J. W. Stack writes to the Herald as follows : "My attention lias been drawn to some statements in a critique which appeared in your columns on Dr. Von Haast's paper on rock paintings in Canterbury. I am not surprised that the writer should attempt to make merry with a subject so new to Maori antiquarians; but I am surprised that he should venture to assert that no other tribe but the well-known one in the North ever bore the name of Nga Pulii, because such a statement betrays a want of accurate knowledge of the traditional history of the South Island Maoris, where To Eapu Wai were known as Nga Puhi, having derived the name from their leader, Te Puhircrc. I do not wish to express any opinion upon Dr. Von Haast's theories respecting the antiquity ol the rock paintings, but only to assure those who take an interest in the matter that there is satisfactory evidence of their great age. Similar drawings to those under dis-

cussion were shown to Mr Waller Mantell, F.R.G.S., &c, in 1849, and were copied by him; they were then spoken of by the Maoris as being of great antiquity, that is to say, relatively to the period during which the Maoris can trace their occupation of this country. In 1859 I was told of the existence of these rock drawings at the Waitaki, the Levels, Opihi, and Waikari; they were well known to all the older Maoris here, who invariably stated that they were not drawn by Ngatikuri, and must therefore have been done before their advent, two hundred years ago. The rock paintings which existed here in 1843 were undoubtedly drawn before the colonisation of the country. They were attributed by the Maoris either to Ngatimamoe, or to a people who lived long before them, to Te Rapuwai, or Te-ai-tanga-a-te-Puhirere —Ngn Pulii, of whose history very little more than the name remains. To suggest, as the writer of the critique does, that Dr Von Haast lias been hoaxed, is to suggest what the evidence in the case plainly contradicts." In a note to this letter, written more seriously than its first remarks, the Herald says : —" The Rev. Mr Stack is, we believe, the best authority respecting the Maoris of the South Island, and we do not care to controvert anything he states upon the subject, when he comes to the help of Dr. Haast. We still think, however, that wo were right in the main points. The paper stated : —' In examining the paintings under review it is evident at a first glance that they are quite distinct from those of the Maoris, which always consist of curved lines and scroll work!' We disagreed with this statement as to the existence of another race in New Zealand before the Maoris, and so apparently does Mr Stack. The statement that the paintings of the Maoris ' always consist of curved lines and scroll work,' we believe Mr Stack will also admit, is erroneous. It is a specimen of the positive assertions made throughout the paper, on points on which there can be no certainty. As to the Ngapuhi, it is clear from the evidence afforded by Mr Stack, that they ought not bo so termed. Their ancestor was Puhircre, and not Puhi. In respect to the Waitaha of the South Island, wo do not question for a moment Mr Stack's statement; but it is somewhat singular that the Arawa Waitaha, now residing near Maketu, never mention their brethren in the South, and claim no land in the Taupo district, on the score of early occupation. There is, however, a tradition of an early conquest of Taupo from Kawhia, and at that time some of the Arawa may have been driven off to the South Island. But at the close of the letter Mf Stack comes nearly to the same conclusion as ourselves. In contradiction of the statements in the paper, we stated, ' The earliest resident s in the South Island were the Ngatimamoe, and the likelihood is that they executed all the paintings.' Mr Stack now says that the paintings ' are attributed by the Maoris either to Ngatimamoe, or to a people who lived long before them, to Te Rcpuwai, or Te-ai-tanga-a-te-Puhirere.' He does not mention now a race existing before the Maoris. It is strange that, we have no rock paintings in the limestone caves of this island."