Page:Hawaiki The Original Home of the Maori.djvu/206

194 done. The information thus received from all parts of the Pacific seemed to indicate that there were fields still open in which much might be gathered; and at the same time certain questions arose out of the contributions to that Journal that seemed to render enquiry on the spot desirable by some one having a fair knowledge of what had already been accumulated. Many of the questions awaiting solution were of great importance, in connection with the history of the Polynesian people, and of special interest more particularly, perhaps, to those who dwelt in New Zealand and who were seeking to learn the origin of the Maoris. Notwithstanding the many attempts that had been made up to that time, nothing certain had been settled as to the immediate whence of the people, though many indications had been given, and as it turns out, often given truly.

It seemed, therefore, to the writer that the attempt to clear up this and other questions once for all, was worth making. Time was pressing—the old men of the Polynesian race from whom their history could be obtained were fast passing away—civilization was fast extinguishing what little remained of ancient lore—the people themselves were dying out before the incoming white man—and, to all appearances, there would soon be nothing left but regrets over lost opportunities.

Feelings of this nature were borne in strongly on the writer, and, it was felt the attempt to clear up some of the outstanding questions must be made. It was with this object then that I undertook a six months' voyage in the Pacific in 1897; the results, in brief form, are shown in what precedes this, and in what follows.

It is doubtless due to the prominence of two names (in the Samoan, Savaii, and Hawaiian, Hawaii) that so many