40 Transactions. — Zoology. 



fish, men, and moas, having evidently formed a native feasl , , 

 Mr. Eoberts also has found human bones mingled with moa- 

 bones and cinders, close to stones which had evidently been 

 used for the purpose of cooking them.( 92 ) Finally, Mr. 

 Eobson has made similar observations in the neighbourhood 

 of Cape Campbell. (° 3 ) Thus, contrary to the assumptions of 

 Dr. Haast, the moa-hunters were cannibals. 



VII. 



I have just examined Haast's principal propositions which 

 more directly bear upon the special question, the subject of 

 the present inquiry. They are hardly consistent, as may 

 be seen, with the actual facts which are beyond question. 

 The same is true with respect to what he alleges as to the 

 absence of local tradition relating to the moas.( 0i ) As far 

 back as 1818 Dr. Mantell announced to the Geological So- 

 cietv of London that his son had found near Wellington 

 distinct traces of these birds which were of higher stature 

 than a man, and were at one time very abundant in the 

 country ; and, further, that some of the oldest Maoris affirmed 

 that they had seen them.( t5 ) Later on, in 1S70, Sir George 

 Grey, in reply to an early paper by Dr. Haast, wrote a letter 

 to the Zoological Society of London in which he declared 

 that twenty-five years previously — that is, about 1845 — the 

 natives always spoke to him of the moas as having been 

 known to their ancestors. He added that the Maori poems 

 contain numerous allusions to these birds. ( ir ) In 1875 Mr. 

 Hamilton published the report of a conversation which he had 

 had with an old native, who said he had seen the last of the 

 moas, and who described it in a manner which was vividly 

 impressed on the mind of his English questioner. ( aT ) This 

 Maori described, among other things, the curve of the neck 

 with an exactness which could have been diagnosed by a well- 

 informed European, but which nothing short of the actual 

 appearance of the living animal could have suggested to the 

 mind of a savage. I could multiply instances, but I shall 



(91.) "Notes on the Discovery of JMoa and Moa-hunters' Remains at 

 Pataua River, near Whangarei," by G. Thome (Transactions, vol. viii. 

 p. 85, pi. hi.). 



(92.) "Notes on some Ancient Aboriginal Caves near Wanganui," by 

 H. C. Field (Transactions, vol. ix., p. 220). 



(93.) "Further Notes on Moa-remains," by C. H. Robson (Transac- 

 tions, &c, vol. ix., p. 279). 



(94.) Second proposition. 



(95.) Loc. cit., p. 26. 



(96.) Letter from Sir George Grey, quoted by Dr. Haast in his " Ad- 

 dress," p. 100. 



(97.) " Notes on Maori Traditions of the Moa," by J. W. Hamilton 

 (Transactions, vol. vii., p. 121). . 



