THE OTAGO INSTITUTE.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3710, 15 November 1880, Page 2

THE OTAGO INSTITUTE.

BARLY HISTORY OF NIK ZEALAND.

The President (Dr Hockem) delivered a first of a short course of lectures on "The Early Histoiy of New Zealand." He proposed in this and succeeding lectures to give a sketch of the hisfary of New Zealand from its earliest discovery in 1642 to the successful settlement of its last and youngest Province in 1850—that of Canterbury. He had often been surprised that so many intelligent and educa< ted persons should be comparatively ignorant of the history of their adopted country —a country of surpassing interest to so many sections of cultivated men—to the geologist who if in its islands, the oldest in the globe, studied the last remains of a vast and ancient continent now buried

beneath the Pacific waves—to the zoologist from whose eyes were now departing; strange wingless birds, some of gigantic size, and which strode over the surface of that continent—to the ethnologist, who studied in the Maori, the foremost race of savage men, whose mythology, songs, and traditions were of the highest class, and whose migrations, yet shrouded in mystery, offered for solution a problem of the greatest interest to the politician and seiologist, who here saw a new scheme of emigration worked out, and a large section of the British race freed.from the trammels and traditions of their former home, grappling uader quite new conditions with social questions, always and everywhere of first importance in the success of the race. The lecturer exhibited a number of curiosities, including one of the bronze medals given by Captain Cook to the natives, and which was now in the possession of the widow of Mr Peter Thomson, a late respected member of the Institute. He (Dr Hooken) suggested that New Zealand should raise a suitable tribute to the memory of our great countryman, Captain Cook. The portrait of Captain Cook, now hanging in the Museum was presented by Mr James Battray, and was a faithful copy of the original in Greenwich Hospital. Captain Cook sat for this picture at the request of Sir Joseph Banks before setting out ojl, ! his third voyage to the South Seas, Itf was bequeathed to the nation in Banks* will, and on the death of Lady Banks in 1829 was transfered from Soho square to Greenwich Palace, in the painted hall of which it now hangs. The painter was Nathaniel Dance, 8.A., a young artist of great ability, who was becoming a formidable rival at that time to Bir Joshua Reynolds. Mr Battray's gift was not only graceful, but munificent Sir George Grey had done inestimable service by collecting amidst great difficulty, stores of valuable information relating to the mythology, traditions, and songs of the New Zealander. The importance of this work could hardly be exaggerated. The time for the recognition of the value of his labors had not yet come. One could not but regret that a gentleman of Sir George Grey's tast and culture-should not have confined himself to the pursuit of studies evidently so congenial, and which would have done more to hand his fame down to posterity than his participation in the vexatious quarrels of New Zealand polities—(Applause.) The historical events narrated by the lecturer evoked frequent applause. "He mea hi no Maui" was the correct orthography of Cook's old name for the North Island. It meant" the thing fished from sea by Maui," or "the fish of Maui/' and bad evident reference to the fishlike shape of the Island. It was not indeed unlike one of the flat or rhomboidal fishes. Maui was one of the greatest heroes in old Maori mythology. He was out fishing, one day in a canes with his brothers, with whom he had some misunderstanding. They consequently refused to give him any bsit; but Maui was equal to the emergency. He gave his nose a blow, and drew blood, wherewith he saturated' a piece of flax, which he affixed to hit hook. This, by the bye, was made of hit grandfather's jaw. He threw his bait overboard, uttering his spells:—" Blow gently, bow gently, my line; let it pull. straight; let it pull strong. It has caught; it has come. The land is gained, is in. the hand, long waited for. The boasting of Maui; his great land, for which he went to sea. His boasting, it is caught." And so he; pulled until the canoe nearly capsized. At last the tops of the mountains appeared, and finally the whole Island. "So now you know how the North Island of New Zealand was created.— (Laugher.) It is Maui's fish. It's salt water eye is now Wellington Harbor; it's fresh water one, Wairarapa Lake. The {'aws are formed by the North and south leads; the head is a mountain near Wairarapa; the bsdy is Taupo and Ton-' gariro, and the tail is situated at Cape Jieinga or Spirit's Bay, so called as here the spirits of the dead leave this earth for the darkness of Po, the Maori Hades. It faces to the west, and with the dying sun sinking in the western sea, the spirit of the Maori plunges into the waters of oblivion."—Morning Herald. >.