The Rock Paintings in the Weka Pass.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2873, 1 May 1878, Page 2

The Rock Paintings in the Weka Pass.

At the last meeting of the Canterbury Philosophical Society an interesting letter was read, accompanied by postcript from Professor Yon Haast on the ancient rock paintings in the Weka Paw ranges, Canterbury. It was addressed to Professor Yon Haast, F. 8.5., by Mr A. Mackenzie Cameron, Interpreter of Oriental Languages to the Government of New South Wales.. As throwing an entirely new light on the ethnology of New Zealand, the letter is ofareat importance, and we (Lyttelton Times) ac cordingly publish it:— "1. Cascade Terrace, Cascade street, Paddington, Sydney, February 9th, 1878. 11 To Professor Julius Yon Haast, President Philosophical Institute, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand. "My Dear Sir,—You have already

received my hurried acknowledgement of the receipt of your kind communicatioa enclosing photographs of the newly discovered rook paintings in New Zealand, with notes on them supplied by yourself and the Key. Mr Stack. I now proceed to offer some suggestions on the figures. " (1) That such ancient remains are to be found 'in such distant parts of the globe as Ireland, Scotland, India, and Borneo, and the distance from the last to New Zealand is not so great as the distance of Ireland or Scotland from India. (2) In the western countries there are two sets of figures—one Eastern in origin and, pre-Christian, and the other and post-Christian. They are easily distinguishable. (3) The pre-Christian figures were made by Phoenician traders and Buddhist missionaries from India. Both were of the same age of the, world's history. The first were well known for maritime enterprise, and if they made for one extremity of the world in Cornwall for tin, and down south-east to Taprobane and the Aurea Chersonesus for other merchandise and gold, why should it, be improbable that they visited ' the Isles of the Sea' expressly mentioned by Ezekiel, and reach to the end of the chain, which begins with Sumatra and ends with New Zealand ? We have clear

philological testimony that the serpentrace of India in early times obtained a in New Zealand. This will be Mvther brought out below. Again* as to the Buddhist missionaries, they were noted for their enterprise and travels for their faith. They carried their faith, doctrines, and symbols to the extreme east, north, and south of the great continent of Asia; over seas, deserts, and extended barriers of eternal snow, and all through to the extreme west of Europe. la it improbable that, whether with the'• serpent- race from India, or in Phoenician vessels, they arrived in New' Zealand ? The association of the Buddhist cross with Phoenician letters on inscriptions in the West is a fact. .

" These observations will serve to clear up the following remarks on the figures transmitted by you: —First, I may say that the figures strike me as divisible into pre-Christaib, Indian, symbolic, and later native. The pre-Christain are generally the hieroglyphics, while most of the drawings of men with marine monsters appear to be later native. This may be a mere supposition, but you have other circumstances to decide this point. Secondly, figures 2, 6,13, 21, 21a, and perhaps 24, constitute, along with, very probably, 15,16,18, one group—the Trinity symbol-—and are pre-Christian. It can only briefly explain here this symbol. It may suffice to state that spirit, matter, and organised life form, as the result of the .action of the first on the second, are supposed to from the pan-theo-cosmical (if I may coin such a word) nature or universe of the ancient religious creed of India, and which was carried by the Buddhist missionaries over the world. The symbol of this cardinal and esoteric doctrine of religion was three circles near each other, and in my opinion also two joined circles, crossed with the zig-zag figure (supposed'by some to be also a Masonic symbol) usually called the 1 spectacle ornament,' the crossing eig-zag figure representing probably spirit. We find these symbols alike on great Buddhist temples in India, oh. the Bhilsa ' topes,' on the standing stone in Aberdeen, and on the Ding wall stone in North Britain. The figures composing the symbol are either plain or ornamental, and disposed ;n various ways. The variations are remarkable, and give a clue, as I believe, to the true signification of figures 2, 6, 13, 16,16,18, 21, and 21a. In all these the three parts are distinctly made out, especially in figures 2, .6, 21, 21a. In my opinion, figures 13,15,16,18 are similar to the 'spectacle ornament' of North Britain. Figure 14 may be a representation of the same symbol, of a Buddhist temple, the form of which figures in North. Britain, explaining unmistakably the zig-zag line, and the sacred name of the Trinity symbol. "I make no observations on figure 17, of which there are several similar representations in other parts of the world, j Figures 4,9,22, and perhaps 24, also have \ counterparts elsewhere. The Buddhist cross (and Phoenician few) is probably in- , tended in figures 5 and 12, though the , execution is very degenerate. The very remarkable, figure 23 probably represents 1 the early Phoenician and Hindoo Fish-god. 1 I have certainly seen it before somewhere in India. This establishes the early age of the drawings, the race of workmen, and the sacred character of the drawings.— I remain, <fee, A. Mackenzie Cambbon. " P.S.—With reference to some of your own remarks, made in your last annual i speech* I should state that figure 15 re- < sembles an Indian bow and arrow; figure 18, a war couch; and figure 14, a broadbrimmed hat, nearly similar in shape to those used in Malayan counties. Notwithstanding all these resemblances* I still adhere to the opinion that they represent Buddhist symbols. The P.S. of your own speech]would appear to dash my theory to the ground, but what is the meaning of your own words, 'they are of a more ■primitive nature P 'and of ,Mr Stack's assigning them to 'the oldest inhabitants, of this island — somewhat mythical people—of whom.there are any traditions p' If furnished with the necessary philological and ethnological materials, I may be able to indicate the early historr^f your island." POSfITCBIPT BY PBOFESBOB YON. HASST. "It is scarcely necessary to point put the important nature of this communication,, which opens up quite anew field for research into the early history of these islands, and goes far to prove the great antiquity of the paintings in question. In reference to Mr Cameron's views, I may, however, te allowed to observe that these red paintings have evidently all been executed at the same time, and cannot therefore represent two distinct periods,.or have been the work of two distinct races. In stating, in the postscript to my address that when speaking of the great antiquity of these paintings, I did not do so in the European sense, but , only as far as there were existing reliable traditions of the. present Native inhabitants of these Islands, I did not wish to give any expression as to my views of what the real age of those paintings might be. Before doing so, I wished to obtain more material. However, ■ anybody acquainted with my own views in regard-to the great number of years these Islands have been inhabited, and the long period, of time since the moa has become extinct through the agency of man, of which we have ample geological evidence (the only one to be trusted), will easily underetand that I can only coincide with Mr Cameron's opinion as to the great antiquity of the paintings in question, eren in the European sense."