A FIORD MYSTERY.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 June 1921, Page 3

A FIORD MYSTERY.

LOST AIAORI TRIBE. ; SPECULATION AS TO ITS IDENTITY. WHO WERE THE HAWEAS? Air. H. Beattie, of New Plymouth, and formerly of Gore, has an article in the latest journal of Science, in which he discusses from personal ,f. .'estigatiqns and older records and references, the identity and fate of the mysterious natives known to have inhabited the Otago fiord district down to recent times. Traces of these elusive people, he states, have been found as late as 1874, but from that date onward they seem to have vanished from human ken.

Air. Beattie reviews the evidence hearing on the’ existence and manners of these people from the time of Captain Cook, who saw natives, whom he called “Indians,” in Dusky Sound, and named Indian Island there in consequence. A number of old Alaoris whom the writer interviewed in this province had something to say about the vanished peon!?, and their statements are given. The conclusion of his article is as follows: “It will be noticed that the Southland Alaoris in 1842 and 1852 called the wild natives ‘Hawea.’ Who were the Hawea people?

“A very well-informed Alaori assures me that the Hawea were the first race to inhabit the South Island. They were not Alaoris, he says, but an extremely dark-skinned race, with thick lips, strong white teeth, and curly hair. They were displaced by the Rapuwai, who were not so dark as the Hayvea, but were, nevertheless, an ill-favored lot, being ugly to look at and clumsy and awkward in their movements. The next race to inhabit the South Island were, the Waitaha and they were the first proper Alaoris to arrive in New Zealand, so he said, and they were followed by the KatLMamoe and Kai-Tahu peoples. The Hawea did not come from Hawaiki, but from a different land altogether. “The information is interesting, but it seems to the writer that it is not the Hawea described above who are the Hawea of Fiordland. Nor would he ascribe the origin of the title ‘Hawea’ as applied to the wild natives to thd fate that some of the refugees apparently fled from Lake Hawea, although such a theory was promulgated by one Alaori. Hawea is also a. name for an influential sub-tribe of Kati-Ala’mop, and it was some of these people who are said to have fought at 'i.'e Whnre, Preservation Inlet (before Captain Cook’s appearance), and to ha’ve remained round on the West Coast after that event, while another portion of Kati-Hawca remained at Otago heads. This is tho origin of the name ‘Hawea’ applied-in this case, as far the writer can ascertain. “To survey the whole evidence so far available, it seems most probable thatthe denizens of the wild west Region of Otago wore not driven there by any one event at any one given time, but were rather the refugees of various oceurranccs at widely separated points and periods. Some would be the survivors of the fight iu Preservation Inlet, some tho fugitives from Waiharnkeke and Te Anau fights, some had fled from the Wanaka-Hawea district, and others wore perhaps driven down from Westland warfare. They would probably be in small bands—one about Alartin’s Bay and Milford Sound, another about Dusky' and Breaksoa Sounds, another about Lakes Te Anau and Alanapouri, and yet another, probably, in the bush region west of the Waiau river. They appear to have been timid, inoffensive wanderers, npd it is likely thaft if in bands, as suggested, they would flee at one another's approach. There is no tradition of their having killed anyone since they fled to the sanctuary of the wilds.

“It seems scarcely probable, that any of those shy, harmless creatures ear survive to this day. Canon Stack in 181)8 wrote:—‘lt is jiifft possible that a small remnant may still remain secreted in the recesses of that inaccessible region.' At- one'time it was thought the moa would be found there, but that dream has vanished; and so -must also the dream of finding a Stone Age people in Now Zealand. But what is to prevent the discovery sooner or later of their places of shelter, of their mouldering mats nnd baskets, and of their rude tools?”