HuTTON. — On the Moas of New Zealand. 157 



Sumner, in which polished nephrite and other stone im- 

 plements, as well as wood carvings of Maori pattern, were 

 found, with moa-bones, and fragments of moa-eggshell still 

 retaining the shell-membrane/'' There can therefore be no 

 longer any doubt that the moas were exterminated by men of 

 the Maori race; and the only question remaining is, How 

 long was that ago ? 



In the North Island we have to trust almost entirely to 

 traditional evidence. Mr. J. S. Polack, in his book, "New 

 Zealand," ]oublished in 1838, says that "the natives [of the 

 East Cape district] added that in times long past they received 

 the tradition that very large birds had existed [in New Zea- 

 land] ; but the scarcity of animal food, as well as the easy 

 method of entrapping them, had caused their extermination."! 

 He adds, "I feel assured, from many reports I received from 

 the natives, that a species of Strnthio still exists in that 

 interesting [South] Island, in parts which perhaps have never 

 yet been trodden by man. Traditions are current among the 

 elder natives of atuas, covered with hair, in the form of 

 birds, having waylaid former native travellers among the 

 forest wilds, vanquishing them with an overpowering strength, 

 killing and devouring, &c." Mr. Polack gives no name to these 

 birds, but Mr. W. Coienso says that in 1838 the Maoris of 

 the same district had fabulous traditions of a large bird, 

 which they called moa.;| Mr. Eule, who brought the iirst 

 bone to Professor Owen in 1839, told him that the 

 Maoris had a tradition that this bone belonged to an ex- 

 tinct hawk, which they called " movie. "§ In the same year 

 the Eev. W. Williams and the Eev. E. Taylor found bones 

 of a large bird near Waiapu, which Mr. Williams says the 

 Maoris called "moa," while Mr. Taylor says that they called 



* Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxii., p. 64, and vol. xxiii., p. 373. 



t Vol. i., p. 303. Quoted by Hector, Tran.s. N.Z. Inst., vol. v., p. 413, 

 footnote. 



i Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xii., p. 64. "Moa" is the native name for 

 the domestic fowl in Polynesia; but, as the Maoris do not appear to have 

 brought the fowl with them to New Zealand — along with the dog, the 

 kumara [Convolviihis batata), and the taro [Colocasia antiqiionim) — it 

 seems possible that it was not known in Polynesia at the date of the 

 Maori migration. If this conjecture be correct, the word " moa" must 

 have been used for some other bird, and it has been suggested that it 

 meant the cassowary. This, however, is hardly possible, because the 

 cassowary is not found on any of the islands from whence the Maoris 

 are supposed to have come, but is confined to Melanesia and the Molucca 

 Islands. It is called "mooruk " in New Britain. 



§ The extinct eagle, Harpacjornis, appears to be known in IMaori 

 tradition as the liokioi (see Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. v., p. 435, and vol. xii., 

 p. 99). In the South Island the same bird, or an ally, was called " poua- 

 kai " {I.e., vol. X., p. 63). 



