Ngā Rauropi Whakaoranga

From author's abstract: "The plant has a pre-Magellan introduction into Polynesia by possibly A.D. 1 in the Samoa area and is dispersed from there to the rest of the Pacific. The plant was transferred either by birds carrying the seed or, more likely, through an accidental casting of a vessel carrying it upon an island of the Samoa region. The word kūmara, alleged by many to show direct contact between Polynesians and Quechuan-speaking Indians, apparently reconstructs to Proto-Polynesian and was introduced into the Quechua dictionaries to reflect the educated Spaniard"s knowledge of sweet potato terms."