Page:Hawaiki The Original Home of the Maori.djvu/90

78 traditions of each particular branch of the race, but which may be quite unknown to other branches. A party of migrants arrives at some island, settles there for a time, gives the place a name, then moves onward, actuated by the growing desire of discovery—the desire to know what lies before them,—and departing, leaves no sign that can be interpreted into a name by those who follow. Other parties again follow somewhat different routes, giving different names to their discoveries; or they follow in the wake of the first-comers, but not knowing the names already given, apply fresh ones, which alone are retained in their records—to the exclusion of those given by the first discoverers. Hence we find such differences in the "logs" of the migrations. It is not until we approach Fiji, the general gathering ground of the race, that the names begin to accord more closely, and that because the later migrations found people of their own race in occupation of settled homes.

There is another cause of difficulty in reconciling these names, but it may be, and often is, overcome as further knowledge is gained. This is due to the change that takes place from time to time in the names of islands and places, which of course would only be known to the people who remained there, whilst those who have migrated would retain only the earlier name. The causes of these changes are not always apparent, but in some cases are probably due to the well-known Polynesian custom of altering the name of any thing or object when such name enters into that of one of their tapued chiefs; or, on the other hand it may be due to the occurrence of some notable event in the history of the people. The names of New Zealand illustrate these changes, though the origin of them is unknown: Nukuroa and Ukurangi (or Hukurangi) were