Thus, these Maories, whom autochthonists regard as children of the soil, cannot have landed in New Zealand earlier than the beginning of the fifteenth century. VII. I have hitherto only spoken of more or less voluntary migrations, such as might be induced by a spirit of adventure, civil troubles, or the authority of a priest despatching an excess of population in search of new countries. But in treating of Polynesia, we must, as I have already remarked, take accidents by sea into consideration. Several examples are known. It was in this manner that Toubouaï was peopled, which at the close of the last century, within an interval of a few years, received three canoes from different islands, one of which was Tahiti. All three had been carried away by a storm and driven ashore upon this island, which, till then, had been uninhabited. Such, again, is the history of the chief Touwari and his companions, men, women, and children, discovered by Captain Beechey upon Byam-Martin Island, which they had begun to colonize. They had started from Anaa, an island situated two hundred and forty-five miles to the east of Tahiti, to go and pay homage to Pomare, but were surprised at Maïatea by _the monsoon, which had come sooner than usual_. Driven to the south-east into the midst of the Pomatou Islands, they landed at first on Barrow Island. Finding, however, no means of subsistence, they took to the sea again, and fell in with the island where they were found by the English navigator. This example is perfect, since it realises all the circumstances indicated by the theory. It establishes the existence of regular relations between islands situated at great distances from each other; it proves one of those occurrences which must more than once have caused these bold navigators to wander from the usual route; it shows how a remote island was able to receive all the elements of a colony; it leaves no doubt as to the possibility of dispersion going on in an exactly opposite direction to that of the trade winds. We need only add that the passage from Maïatea to Barrow and Byam-Martin Islands is more than five hundred and sixty miles, and we shall understand without any difficulty how Polynesia was peopled by voluntary or accidental colonization. VIII. There is one more circumstance which it is important to observe, and which is completely at variance with all autochthonist hypotheses, that, namely, on approaching the islands where they have been discovered by us, the Polynesian found them uninhabited.