THE ANNALS 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY 



No. 89. AUGUST 1844. 



XII. — An Account of some enormous Fossil Bones of an 

 unknown species of the Class Aves, lately discovered in New 

 Zealand. By the Rev. William Colenso. 



It was during the summer of 1838 that I accompanied the Rev. 

 W. Williams on a visit to the tribes inhabiting the East Cape 

 district. Whilst at Waiapu (a thickly inhabited locality about 

 twenty miles S.W. from the East Cape), I heard from the 

 natives of a certain monstrous animal, which, while some said it 

 was a bird, and others " a person," all agreed that it was called 

 a Moa ; that in general appearance it somewhat resembled an 

 immense domestic cock, with the difference, however, of its 

 possessing a "face like a man;" that it dwelt in a cavern in 

 the precipitous side of a mountain ; that it lived on air, and was 

 attended or guarded by two immense Tuataras*, who, Argus- 

 like, kept incessant watch while the Moa slept ; and that if any 

 one possessing temerity sufficient dared to approach the dwelling 

 of this wonderful creature, he would be infallibly killed by it : an 

 act which it was said to execute much in the same manner as that 

 by which those unhappy criminals are summarily punished in 

 the dominions of the native Indian princes, by the trampling of 

 an elephant, and at which feat this celebrated Moa was quite 

 expert. 



A mountain, named Wakapunake, at least eighty miles distant 

 in a southerly direction, was spoken of as the residence of this 

 creature; where however only one existed, which one, it was 

 contended by the many, was the sole survivor of the Moa race, 

 although they could not assign any possible reason why it should 

 have become all but extinct. 



While, however, the existence of the Moa was universally be- 

 lieved, (in fact, to dare to doubt of such a being amounted in the 

 native estimation to a very high crime,) no one person could be 

 found who could positively testify to his having had ocular proof 

 of the existence of the animal ; for while with every one it was 

 a matter of the profoundest credence, that belief only rested on 

 the bare and unsupported assertion of others. Many of the 

 * See Note A., Appendix. 



Ann. §• Mag. N. Hist. Vol xiv. G 



