W. B. D. Mantell, Names of the hapu of the Kai Tahu tribe

W. B. D. Mantell, Names of the hapu of the Kai Tahu tribe, 1848.

1848

1848

MS 0402

Hocken Library

In 1848 Walter Baldock Durrant Mantell was appointed to the office of commissioner for extinguishing native titles in the South Island. Mantell used this collection of cardboard labels to represent the inter-relationships of the hapu of the Otago region in 1848. The names of hapu were recorded and tied together in groups representative of inter-hapu relationships. In preserving these hapu names Mantell has also captured the distinct pronunciation of the Southern Maori dialect by recording the names phonetically, as he would have heard them.