550 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



toy-dogs. There is no reason why the Maori should not have 

 possessed dogs of dili'erent breeds, and of various shape and 

 size. Their known fondness for pets, even of the bird kind, 

 would indicate a probability of their controlling various 

 breeds. 



Captain Good sends me the following letter, dated Oeo, 1st 

 May, 1891 :— 



" Dear Sie, — I have much pleasure in replying to your 

 letter of the 17th ultimo, and in giving such information as 

 I possess relative to the discovery of the skeleton of a dog 

 some twenty years ago in the face of a cliff not far from the 

 mouth of the Urenui Eiver. The discovery was made by my 

 sons, who were then small boys. Seeing some bones project- 

 ing from the face of the cliff, they casually mentioned the 

 circumstance on their return home. 



" Mr. Eowan, late 43rd Eegiment, who was then on a 

 visit at my house, and who took an especial interest in matters 

 of the kind, went at once to the spot and dug the bones out. 

 A skeleton of a dog was found, not in a cave, but in the hollow 

 trunk of a tree, together with portions of coarse matting. The 

 most curious thing in connection with the finding of this 

 skeleton of a dog is, as to how it got there. This you will 

 understand when I describe to you the geological formation of 

 the coast-line near Urenui. The lower stratum is papa rock, 

 or blue lias, evidently at one time submerged, from the num- 

 ber of shells found in this formation ; upon this a stratum, 

 3ft. to 4ft., of gravel and quartz, water-worn; above this light- 

 red porous soil for about 8ft. ; upon this a foot or more of 

 vegetable mould. Height from the sea at high water, from 

 20ft. to 30ft. 



" The bones were found on the papa rock, next the water- 

 worn gravel, and about 12ft. from the top of the cliff. The bones 

 became exposed by the falling-away of the cliff', caused by the 

 action of the weather and by the washing of sea-spray in tem- 

 pestuous weather. This coast is continually falling away. In 

 1865 an old Maori told me that a pa which once stood on the 

 south headland of Urenui Eiver had been washed away. In 

 all probability this skeleton of a dog had lain hidden for 

 centuries — long before the Southern Ocean had been visited by 

 Europeans — and goes to prove that the people who then occu- 

 pied New Zealand were possessed of dogs — domesticated dogs, 

 beyond all doubt, as plaited matting was found with the 

 skeleton. 



" As I said before, how did the bones get where they were 

 found ? I have a theory, which may be taken for what it is 

 worth, which is this : In former times a Maori would for some 

 reason or other bury a dog in a hollow tree, or at the foot of 

 a tree — a ceremony to make the tree, or the land on which it 



