MAORI LORE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2176, 14 September 1920, Page 1

MAORI LORE.

The name of Mr Elsdon Best has lony been associated with ;i firsthand kno\vl(*d” - (’ of Moari lore :md history. Recently, :U W'ellinyton, n lecture entitled “Comparative Anthropology; Its Scope and Advantages,” was yiven by him, tinder the auspices of the W.E.A, The leetnre was a plea for a wider and deeper study of the history of human- development as shown in ancient and barbaric races, with special illustrations taken from Maori ellnmcraph, and as full tin account a--time permitted of .Maori beliefs and ttsayos. ‘‘lt is only by Ihe study of com- j paralive anlhropoloyy," Mr Best j said, “thill the more advanced raeesj can unders-tand the road they have i travelled, and their relation to their own customs and usages. The study of comparative milhropoloyy makes clear our debt to peoples of lower culture planes. It shows how. in savayo and barbaric societies, crude ferine of knowledge were slowly acquired; how inventions and institutions were developed; how concepts jind beliefs were evolved. Throuyh countless centuries the peoples of antiquity groped their way throny-li the,darkness of ignorance, and broke out tin 1 paths we follow in the clear 1 i<ilit of day. The study of comparative anthropology explains how civilisations have developed and advanced from si aye to staye of advancing culture, also how and why they have decayed.” It is a comparatively new science—it Inis only been taken seriously for about fifty years. Prior to that period, man's intellect was directed to exploring the world in which he lived; now he seems to be lurniny his attention to himself, and his own processes and development, throiiyh the study of the past and of existing races of savage peoples. Where they are now, so were the most Jdyhly cultured people once. “In (In' study of comparative anthropology llte people of New Zealand have a yreat privilege, and one of which limy should take advanlnye Indore il is 100 late. That is their opportunity to study at lirsl hand the beliefs and customs of a people who, when the European came to these shores, was still in the Neolithic period of development. . Many vears ayo. Tylor wrote in his “Primitive Culture": “dust as the adze of polished jade and the cloak's made of llax libre which these New Zealanders were tiseiny but yesterday, are older in their place in history than the bronze battle-axes and linen mummy-cloth of ancient, Eyypf, so the Maori poets' shapiny of Nature in the Nature myths belongs to a staye of intellectual hi--lory which wa< pa.-siny away in (1 recce live and. twenty centuries ayo." The Maoris were themselves mini iy ran Is to these shore's, hrinyiny with them their beliefs from a still older culture. In their isolation from the rest of (he world, these beliefs were conserved and persisted in Ilnur original form until the coining of the European. Mr Best has lived in friendly intercourse with the Maoris most of his life. He was always conscious cnouyh of the intellectual interest of their beliefs and customs to 'keep notes, realising that, as there was no written record, they would otherwise soon be lost, (iisappeariny before the ideas of the newer and more advanced race as .-now in the sun. Each one of the divisions id' his lecture would have furnished material, if amplified, for a lecture in itself. Soy-real was (lie. interest shown in the subject that. .Mr Best has consented to conduct a W’.E.A. class in Maori lore and bis-

skin discuses, and should lie used in even - home. 1 Imve frequently used this prepaml ion, aml found it soothiny uud ia|>id in healiny. J proeured Doan’s remedies at Wood’s Pharmacy." Two years later, Airs Manning' says:— I “The mire referred to above, still holds yood, a I'ael that speaks volumes for the merit of Doan’s Pmekaehe Kidney Dills. Doan’s Daekaehe'Kidney Pills are sold by all ehemisis and storekeepers at ds per hoi lie (six bottles Kis (hi), or will be posted on reeeip! ol priee, bv Poster-.McClellan ( 0.-, d> J ! ill Sired, Sydney. Ibil, be sure you yet DOAN'S. Advl.