De Quateefages. — On Mom and Moa-hunters. 39 



Maori dogs did not behave like those which accompanied the 

 old Danes of the kjcekkcnmcsddings , and that they did not 

 leave, as these latter did, the trace of their teeth on the refuse 

 hones around them. 



VI. 



Here, again, is a most important question in relation to 

 which Dr. Haast disagrees with several of his colleagues. 

 The eminent geologist has often declared that he has never 

 found human bones amongst the scattered remains of feasts in 

 the vicinity of the ovens ; and from this negative evidence he 

 concludes that the moa-hunters were not cannibals. ( 8R ) But 

 he himself declares that he was unable to find any more in 

 the heaps of shells which were unquestionably left by the 

 ancient Maoris. ( s0 ) Moreover, the cannibalism of these latter 

 is well known ; and yet Dr. Haast's manner of reasoning 

 would induce us to doubt it, and even to deny it. This simple 

 remark destroys the entire value of Dr. Haast's argument. 

 Besides, iu both cases this absence of human remains is very 

 easily understood. It is not when hunting, or when fishing 

 peaceably for shells, that the most cannibal of the tribes 

 regales itself on human flesh. To perpetrate an act of canni- 

 balism under such conditions, and to leave the ground strewn 

 with bones of men and rnoas, needed nothing less than some 

 absolutely exceptional cause. 



But, for all that Dr. Haast said, this occurred" from time 

 to time. Mr. W. Mantell was the first to establish this fact 

 in the North Island, ( 90 ) and his statements are amongst those 

 that cannot be doubted. This talented and persevering ex- 

 plorer discovered in the Wanganui Valley small mounds 

 covered with grass, which the natives declared were formed 

 by the remains of their ancestors' feasts. In digging them 

 out he found that they were composed of moa-bones, dog- 

 bones, and human bones mingled in confusion. All these 

 bones had evidently suffered from the action of fire. Dr. 

 Mantell (the father) tells us, moreover, that Mr. Taylor had 

 come across similar mounds in the Whaingaehu Valley. These 

 observations are not without corroboration. Mr. Thorne dis- 

 covered in the northern part of the North Island, at the Pataua 

 River, near Whangarei, alongside of remains of ancient Maori 

 ovens, a medley of shells, cinders, coals, and bones of seals, 



(88.) Seventh proposition. 



(89.) hoc. cit., Transactions, vol. viii., p. 74. 



(90.) " These consisted of moas', dogs', and human bones promis- 

 cuously intermingled" ("On the Fossil Remains of Birds collected in 

 Various Parts of New Zealand by Walter Mantell," by G. Algernon Man- 

 tell, Esq., F.R.S. : "The Quarterly Journal of the Geological Socictv," 

 vol. iv., 1848, p. 234). 



