MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 December 1939, Page 2

MAORI MEMORIES

MORE THAN ONE ADAM AND EVE. (Recorded by J.H.S. for “Times-Age.”) From the similarity of the names Maori and Moriori, we generally regard the Chatham Islanders as a branch of the Maori people. It casts a doubt on this theory when we find their original race names ended in consonants. No Maori vocal organ could pronounce “Tehakat maihor.” This name seems to have been lost to us, and is now seldom referred to, so I must admit my ignorance of its origin or meaning. The Director of the Hamburg Museum and his wife visited the Chatham Islands about forty years ago. They were surprised and pleased to find that the Moriori stone implements were the exact replica of ancient stone axes, adzes and chisels found in the lower strata of Denmark. Darwin used this similarity of tools and weapons as proof of man's common origin throughout the world. Having seen the simple process of wehinga (splitting) masses of flint rock, ukui (rubbing) it to a sharp edge, and using the primitive powhiri (drill) to make a hole in the handle of the weapon, we should be satisfied that, without the secret of using metal tools, there is only one way to fashion them, and from stone; so without means for efficient ocean transport, there must have been an original Adam and Eve and Paradise in each isolated country. This theory would explain the wide difference between separate primitive races, and dispose of the difficulty of sisters and brothers finding husbands and wives in the first generation.