[List of chiefs and other miscellaneous material, Editors' Notes]
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[LIST ATTACHED TO McCRAE'S JOURNAL WHILE ON BOARD.]
BAY OF ISLANDS.
Matowhai.
Pomarre . . . . Rungateeda no te Kaaingha.
E Wharre .. Whaheene no Pomarre.
Poaka .. Tamyte no Pomarre.
E Teeke .. . . Tamyte no Pomarre.
E Po .. Koeteedo no Pomarre Whaheene no Tenana.
Te Ou Shou . . Takoo Whaheene Koeteedo no Pomarre.
Gnahooia . . Takoo Whaheene Koeteedo no Pomarre.
E Ou . . Takoo Whaheene Koeteedo no Pomarre.
Murrewheea . . Takoo Whaheene Koeteedo no Pomarre.
E Hoonga . . Takoo Whaheene Koeteedo no Pomarre.
Te oure o Macareq .. .. Wyatoo no Takoo Whaheene.
Keadeede doto ra .. .. Wyatoo no Takoo Whaheene.
E Hooe E Care kee te ty boude . . . Wyatoo no Takoo Whaheene.
E ah ha ha kakewah kakewah . . . Wyatoo no Takoo Whaheene.
Kakewa kewa . . Wyatoo no Takoo Whaheene.
Te Uri kamami tekke wa . . Wyatoo no Murrewheea whaheene no Shookehanga.
E hu wa Ehee wa eh . . . Wyatoo no Murrewheea whaheene no Shookehanga.
BAY OF ISLANDS.
Superior Chiefs.
Shunghe Eeka . . . Te Kedde Kedde.
Temoranghe he Eeka . . . O Coola.
Pomarre .. .. Matowhai or Cororadica.
Koro Koro . . . Paroa.
BAY OF ISLANDS.
Inferior Chiefs.
Te koke . . . Py hea and Cowa Cowa.
Whewhea . . Wycadde.
Towe . . . . Ranghehoo.
Bene . . . Paroa bay near Oneroa.
Showrakke . . Teekooranghe.
WHANGEROA.
Superior Chiefs.
Te porre.. .. Motoo.
Te Poohai . . Kamime.
Inferior Chiefs.
Matapo . . . Mottoo uncle of Teporre.
Towwheetoo .. Do. relation to Do.
Tarra or George .. Brother to Tipoohe.
Ehoodoo .. .. Do. Do.
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BREAM BAY.
Tengangha . . Bream Bay.
Kookoopa . . Do. do.
MOODEWHENOOA.
Shunghe .. .. Moodewhenooa or N. Cape.
Porro .. .. West side of the N. Cape.
CAVALLE ISLANDS.
O Keeda.
TYHAMMY.
Kyterra . . . Thyammy subject to Temoranghe.
Tawheero . . Do. Do.
POOKANUE
Korookoo . . Pookanue subject to Temoranghe.
TE WYMATTE.
Tarriha .. .. Wymatte subject to Shunghe.
Rewa .. .. Do. Do. Do.
COPIED FROM FRAGMENT OF TORN PAPER.
Parts of New Zealand visited--On the East Coast Bay of Islands. Harbours Whangeroa Bay. Harbour.
On the West
Shuke Hanga Harbour and river.
The distance betwixt Bay of Islands and Shuke Hanga between 70 and 80 miles. Went once from Bay of Islands to Shuke Hanga and once from Whangeroa to Shuke Hanga. Distance betwixt Bay of Islands and Wharero betwixt 60 and 70 miles. New Zealand not remarkable for High Mountains tho hilly and which grow less in the interior. 1 The native name of the Western branch of the Shuke Hanga of which I was the first European who ever went up it is Manga Mooka. The River itself runs North and South. The Shukehanga navigable for vessels of small burthen about 20 miles and may extend to about 35 miles from its mouth where it divides.
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NOTES ON THE MAORI NAMES.
A few observations on the orthography of the Maori language will be of interest. The first scientific attempt to fix the orthography was made by Dr. Samuel Lee, of Cambridge. Thomas Kendall, one of the lay missionaries chosen to accompany the Rev. Samuel Marsden to New Zealand in 1814 to lay the foundation of the Christianization of the Maori, had made an attempt to commit Maori to writing, and a manual 2 of 54 pages by him was printed in Sydney, 1815, but he confessed to the need of experienced assistance, and rightly so. In 1820 he was accordingly sent to England, together with two chiefs Shungie (Hongi) aged forty-five, and Whycato (Waikato) aged twenty-six, who were eager to see England after the adventurous voyages of Duaterra (Ruatara), nephew of Hongi. They left New Zealand in the New Zealander on the 2nd March, 3 and reached London on the 8th August, spending about four months in London, two being spent at Cambridge. Here they furnished Professor Lee with the particulars that enabled him to compile the Grammar and Vocabulary of the Language of New Zealand, published by the Church Missionary Society the same year, 1820. They returned to New Zealand, in the Westmoreland, in July, 1821. Other material had been collected in 1818 from Tooi (Tuai) 4 and Teeterree (Titeri or Titari), two young Maori who visited London then, but who, like most of their countrymen, were unable to endure the climate and had been obliged to return to the more congenial air of New Zealand. The information given by them had been sent out to Kendall, he added very largely to it, and with the accumulated material was able to give Dr. Lee enough information for the production of the very creditable grammar referred to. Part of the issue was on thick strong paper, for the use of the Maori; part on ordinary paper, for ordinary use. Differences in the make-up, however, show that there was more than one issue, if not more than one edition. The objects in completing the book "were, in the first place, to make it useful to the New-Zealanders themselves; and in the second, to their teachers--the Missionaries and Settlers," and the English alphabet is given in full. The vocabulary of just a hundred pages reveals the sounds most definitely heard by these recorders of a hitherto unwritten speech, and these sounds, with two exceptions, are the ones finally adopted. The sound represented by the letter r had two forms--one the sound as represented by our r, the other as represented by our d. The vocabulary contains over forty words beginning with the d sound, and there are a great many where the d sound is medial, or both initial and medial, including dimu for rimu (five), didi for riri (anger), and so on.
A third sound of r, an approach to l, common in the south, was apparently not heard so much in the north. The appearance of buka buka for pukapuka (book), (p. 67), would suggest that the b
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sound was sometimes heard for p, as it was later when the land was settled, whence bukatea for pukatea (the tree), bunger for ponga (the silver tree-fern), &c. But b finds no place in the vocabulary, and buka buka was evidently regarded as a Maorization of the word "book," though pukapuka is genuine Maori. The adoption of the new meaning was no doubt partly from the similarity of the sound, partly with the underlying idea of a flat surface. (See Williams's Dictionary.)
Later orthographies make it clear that there were two sounds represented by the letter r. In one of these the tip of the tongue approached nearer the palate than in the other: so that words like riri, containing the r sound twice, often appear as ridi, as in puridi, for puriri (the tree), Waimakaridi for Waimakariri (the river)--and even Wy McReedy! As, however, the two sounds were not distinct, or not constantly distinct, the second r not sounding exactly like d or not doing so invariably, but rather as if it were a slovenly r, the d sound was wisely ignored in the committing of the language to writing. This was done principally in the printing of religious matter, such as the Lord's Prayer, the first three chapters of Genesis, and a Catechism, before 1827. In 1830 the first fragmentary Bible translations were printed in Sydney, under the superintendence of the Rev. R. Yate, who also saw parts of the New Testament through the press there in 1833. The first complete New Testament was printed in 1837, the translation being the work of the Rev. W. Williams, assisted by Messrs. W. G. Puckey and J. Shepherd. Definiteness was being arrived at, and the work of translation enabled a start to be made on the printing of Williams's Grammar and Dictionary in the year 1837. 5 To the Rev. W. Williams and the Rev. R. Maunsell are due the first grammars of Maori as now accepted.
Maunsell, who published his Grammar of the New Zealand Language in 1842, remarks on the letter r, " R has two sounds; (1) rough; as in rain, river, &c.; e.g., kahore, rorea, roro, roto. (2) The second more soft, and is formed by a gentle jar of the tongue against the palate; so gentle indeed is the vibration, that most foreigners pronounce it like d. or l, as in raro, ruru, rimu, pouaru, pari, muri, mariri, koiri, korikori, kouru, maru." 6
Further, he admits wh only as a variant sound of w, which letter he says "Has two sounds, one simple, as that in wind, &c.; e.g., wai, water, waka, a canoe, ware, a plebeian. 2. An aspirated w, as in when, where, &c.; whai, follow, whare, a house, &c." He feels that this is insufficient, for he adds in a footnote, "The reader will observe
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that the author has deviated from the established usage, and occasionally introduced the wh into his pages. The fact is, he had not proceeded far when he found the simple w very inconvenient. There are multitudes of words in the language very diverse in meaning, spelt in the same way, and yet distinguished in speaking by the aspirated w. In some of the Polynesian islands to the northward, this sound is denoted by f, and such a practice is well worthy of attention. As for the remark that the simple w is desirable for simplicity, the author would observe, that, if by simplicity, be meant jumbling together things that are totally different, then Maori has to acknowledge its obligations to such a plan, for not only poverty, but simplicity. In a language so contracted in the range of its consonants as Maori, our object should not, the author conceives, be to abridge, but to enlarge. Indeed, as the organs of speech, as well as knowledge, of the aborigines improve, there is little doubt but that an addition to our present characters will be necessary."
In the first edition of Williams's Dictionary of the New Zealand Language (Paihia, 1844), whilst words beginning with the ordinary and the aspirated w are mixed together, those aspirated have an inverted comma prefixed, as Wai (water), 'Wai (a fish), as if the sound were hw rather than wh; and if the speaker will listen as he says the word where, he will find that the h really does precede the w. However, this aspiration being shown in the dictionary reveals the fact that the idea was becoming definite that the wh was not a mere modified w, but a separate individual sound. This idea is more clearly shown in the second edition (1852), where words beginning with wh are all together, but still under W, between We and Wi. In the third edition (1871) wh has a place by itself, after all other words in W.
In Maori, the wh has really nothing to do with the letter h; it is not a combination of w and u or of h and w, but is a definite sound, unrelated to h but related to w in the same way that p, t, and k respectively are related to b, d, and hard g--that is, it is the "voiceless" cognate to the "voiced" w.
It has not been found necessary, as Maunsell thought it might be found, to add to the characters to represent the Maori sounds of speech: b, d. and l have been definitely rejected, and wh has become established. There is only one sign given for the sound represented by the letter w, in Lee's book; the sound represented by wh is ignored. The commonest and oftenest-used word beginning with that sound, the causative prefix whaka, is spelt waka, the common prefix Whanga, in place-names, being similarly spelt Wanga. A difference in pronunciation was, however, noticed, for in the vocabulary the causative is printed Waka, the canoe Waka, and it is still observed that when the causative particle precedes a word, the causative has no accent, any accent there may be being placed on the syllable following, as whakatu (to cause to stand).
There has been some confusion in the actual sound of this wh, partly because it has been said to be like the sound of our f. It is, however, only like f in so far that in sounding it the lower lip approaches the upper teeth; but it only approaches them--never touches: and the lips keep their broad position, not puckering as in our which.
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There has also been much controversy over the sound of sh, said to have sometimes been heard in words like Hongi, which appear as Shongi. A remark in one of the editions of Lee's Grammar, however, in a way explains the sound. "There is one peculiarity in the pronunciation of the New Zealand language which should here be noticed, and which could not be marked in the Alphabet. When two vowels concur, the combined sound becomes that of the English sh; ex. gr. E ongi, A salute, is pronounced Shongi; and so of every other combination, in which the indefinite article e precedes a vowel. This appears to me a phaenomenon in the history of speech; and, as the introduction of sh in such cases, either in the Dialogues or the Vocabulary, would have brought with it great confusion, it has been thought proper to omit it, and to mention it here." It was evidently a prevalent sound, at any rate in the north and as far south as Auckland, or little farther; but it was not a widespread sound, for it is absent from Cook. He has several instances of words beginning with a vowel preceded by the article (he, not e), as a chief," Eareete (he ariki); "fish," heica (he ika). Again, wisely, Williams and Maunsell disregarded the sound. It was really not a sibilant at all; it still persists with some of the Ngapuhi, and the Ven. Archdeacon Williams considers it to be an abortive i after the h, the cheeks being drawn in laterally during pronunciation; thus for Hoki, Hihoki, and so Shoki.
The sound ng also seems to have caused some trouble; for whilst it is recognized in the sign of the plural, nga (p. 9), and also medially, as in kanga (a curse), the common tribal prefix Nga is given as na, as in Napui for Ngapuhi. The English tongue seems to find a difficulty in pronouncing the initial ng, though it should find none, for it uses the sound often enough, in words like singer; and when the direction "sing 'ah'" is given, the sound ngah is the very sound beginning the word Ngapuhi. For a time, in printing, special signs were used for the sounds ng and wh; but they did not take on, and have been dropped. In Samoan, Tongan, Mangarevan, Tuamotuan, the sound is represented by the letter g, the sound of g not occurring in these or other Polynesian dialects. It is a pity that one sign cannot be adopted throughout Polynesia for the one sound; and as g is already associated with a certain English sound, and ng with another, which is also the same sound in Polynesian, ng seems to be the sign that should be adopted, representing the English ng sound in singer--not in finger.
Bishop Pompallier, in his Notes Grammaticales sur la Langue Maorie ou Neo-Zelandaise (Lyon, 1849). includes g in his alphabet as well as ng (he also includes wh); but as he gives no definition of the sounds of the letters, and as his lists of words contain none where g occurs apart from n, it is to be assumed that he did not hear the g sound separately, though words do appear in other early writers where g is used.
These early writers spelled the words they heard as phonetically as they were able; some made very good attempts, especially among French writers; some attempts are deplorable. The present writer, McCrae, makes a very fair attempt. It is to be remembered that in transliteration there are always three factors to be dealt with: the ability of the speaker to give the correct sounds, the ability of the
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writer first to hear those sounds, then to write them as he hears them. No wonder we have many variants of particular words. The letter c often takes the place of k, as in cowrie for kauri (c appears useless in English, except in combination as in ch), where ow also takes the place of au. The broad sound of i is often represented by ee or ie, u by oo or ou, and ai by y.
With these notes, it is easy to see the correct forms of the following:--
Wymatte.. .. .. .. Waimate.
Kyperra . . . . .. . . Kaipara.
Moodywy .. .. .. Muriwai.
Kookoopa .. .. .. Kukupa.
Rookoo .. .. .. .. Ruku.
To those who are interested the names are fairly easily identified; to those who are not interested identification is of no importance.
In old transliterations, the Ven. Archdeacon Williams notes in Nicholas, a typical early writer (1817), that the present sounds adopted are as follow:--
Present a is represented by a, e, o, u.
Present e is represented by e, a, i, ee.
Present i is represented by e, ee, ie, u, i (only when short).
Present o is represented by o, ou, a.
Present u is represented by oo, u, ow.
Present ai is represented by i, y.
Present ae is represented by i, y.
Present ao is represented by ou, ow.
Present au is represented by ou, ow, aou, and rarely au.
Present ou is represented by o, oo.
But McCrae frequently approximates very closely to the modern spelling; in particular, he often writes wh correctly, and sometimes ai.
I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to the Venerable Archdeacon Williams and Mr. Elsdon Best for valuable advice and criticism in the writing of the foregoing note.
JOHANNES C. ANDERSEN.
By Authority: W. A. G. SKINNER, Government Printer, Wellington.--1928.
[537/5/28--1414
