16.9 Evidence for an Early First Settlement from Language Divergence
275
Island, if not identical, are certainly comparable and, not surprisingly, in both cases
there is a record of linguistic distance attributable to long isolation.
There are some interesting similarities between accounts of Maui’s visit to New
Zealand and that of the Eastern Polynesian navigator Toi. The timing for Toi’s visit
is unclear. The motivation for Toi’s visit to New Zealand is well known. Toi’s grandson Whatonga and his nephew Turahui were blown out to sea in a sudden storm and
lost during a canoe race said to have taken place in the islands of Oahu and Maui
in Hawaii [20]. After searching in vain for his grandson and nephew in Eastern
Polynesia, Toi sailed with 40 men to New Zealand in search of them. He landed at
Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty on the east coast of the North Island. A conceivable interpretation of the curious fact that the canoe race was held in Hawaii, not
their home base of Rarotonga, suggests the possibility that Toi and his grandson
may have been involved in one of the simultaneous southern migrations to Hawaii
from several archipelagoes in the southern Pacific during a time of a severe drought,
which we date to 1096 in Chapter 19. If they had been involved, it would give a
reason for Whatonga’s taking part in a canoe race in Hawaii. More significantly it
might explain why Toi and his men decided to settle in New Zealand once they had
reached it, rather than to return to their drought-ravaged homeland in Rarotonga or
to return to Hawaii, where colonists from the competing migrations would already
have chosen the best sites.
In the account of Maui’s visit to New Zealand it is implied that communication
between Maui and the chieftainess of Orokoroko was difficult but possible. In traditional accounts of Toi’s visit, it is claimed that Toi’s language and the language of
the indigenous tribes of the North Island were mutually incomprehensible [21]. And
yet from recorded examples of differences between the two languages [22] it is clear
that the tangata whenua spoke a Polynesian language. For example, the early tangata
whenua word for man was hakana, versus tangata in Toi’s language and Hawaiian
and New Caledonian kanaka. The indigenous expression a kohi mai meant “come
hither” as it did in the Chatham Islands at the time of European arrival. Toi’s equivalent is haere mai. Indigenous waihi meant woman versus wahini in Toi’s tongue;
kohai rahu? meant “Who are you?” versus ko wai koe?
The linguistic divergence between the languages of the descendants of the first
settlers who had arrived in New Zealand by our estimate nearly 3,400 years ago
(see Chapter 20) and the language of Toi arriving over 2,000 years later is hardly
surprising. The languages of Samoa and Tonga are said to be mutually incomprehensible today, despite the geographical proximity of the islands. Earlier migrants
arriving in New Zealand in small numbers over a long span of time and intermarrying with the indigenous tribes would naturally have adopted local language variants.
The linguistic divergence by the time of Toi was probably far greater than that noted
at the time of Maui, a thousand years earlier than Toi. And yet, only perhaps a
century after the arrival of Toi and his men, in the time of Hoaki and Taukata,
there appears to be no recorded problems of mutual language incomprehensibility between North Islanders and visitors from Eastern Polynesia, arriving like Toi in
the Bay of Plenty. The explanation for this almost certainly lies in the total control
Toi was able to exert over the tribes in the area through alliance and conquest. The
275
Island, if not identical, are certainly comparable and, not surprisingly, in both cases
there is a record of linguistic distance attributable to long isolation.
There are some interesting similarities between accounts of Maui’s visit to New
Zealand and that of the Eastern Polynesian navigator Toi. The timing for Toi’s visit
is unclear. The motivation for Toi’s visit to New Zealand is well known. Toi’s grandson Whatonga and his nephew Turahui were blown out to sea in a sudden storm and
lost during a canoe race said to have taken place in the islands of Oahu and Maui
in Hawaii [20]. After searching in vain for his grandson and nephew in Eastern
Polynesia, Toi sailed with 40 men to New Zealand in search of them. He landed at
Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty on the east coast of the North Island. A conceivable interpretation of the curious fact that the canoe race was held in Hawaii, not
their home base of Rarotonga, suggests the possibility that Toi and his grandson
may have been involved in one of the simultaneous southern migrations to Hawaii
from several archipelagoes in the southern Pacific during a time of a severe drought,
which we date to 1096 in Chapter 19. If they had been involved, it would give a
reason for Whatonga’s taking part in a canoe race in Hawaii. More significantly it
might explain why Toi and his men decided to settle in New Zealand once they had
reached it, rather than to return to their drought-ravaged homeland in Rarotonga or
to return to Hawaii, where colonists from the competing migrations would already
have chosen the best sites.
In the account of Maui’s visit to New Zealand it is implied that communication
between Maui and the chieftainess of Orokoroko was difficult but possible. In traditional accounts of Toi’s visit, it is claimed that Toi’s language and the language of
the indigenous tribes of the North Island were mutually incomprehensible [21]. And
yet from recorded examples of differences between the two languages [22] it is clear
that the tangata whenua spoke a Polynesian language. For example, the early tangata
whenua word for man was hakana, versus tangata in Toi’s language and Hawaiian
and New Caledonian kanaka. The indigenous expression a kohi mai meant “come
hither” as it did in the Chatham Islands at the time of European arrival. Toi’s equivalent is haere mai. Indigenous waihi meant woman versus wahini in Toi’s tongue;
kohai rahu? meant “Who are you?” versus ko wai koe?
The linguistic divergence between the languages of the descendants of the first
settlers who had arrived in New Zealand by our estimate nearly 3,400 years ago
(see Chapter 20) and the language of Toi arriving over 2,000 years later is hardly
surprising. The languages of Samoa and Tonga are said to be mutually incomprehensible today, despite the geographical proximity of the islands. Earlier migrants
arriving in New Zealand in small numbers over a long span of time and intermarrying with the indigenous tribes would naturally have adopted local language variants.
The linguistic divergence by the time of Toi was probably far greater than that noted
at the time of Maui, a thousand years earlier than Toi. And yet, only perhaps a
century after the arrival of Toi and his men, in the time of Hoaki and Taukata,
there appears to be no recorded problems of mutual language incomprehensibility between North Islanders and visitors from Eastern Polynesia, arriving like Toi in
the Bay of Plenty. The explanation for this almost certainly lies in the total control
Toi was able to exert over the tribes in the area through alliance and conquest. The