78 TnDi.sdctiviia. — Miscellaneous. 



I was pleased to find that the Moriori had legends as to 

 the existence of an enormous bird, which they state once 

 existed on the larj^est island. Its name was i^oua, a word 

 which one has little difficulty in recognising as being akin to 

 Pouakai, the gigantic man-eating bird of the myths told in the 

 South Island, New Zealand. This does not seem, however, to 

 have been a huge flying bird, but to have resembled some great 

 Apteryx, since the last survivors of them were driven by 

 the natives into Te Whanga lagoon, and there drowned. No 

 bones, however, are procurable, and the poua's skeleton is 

 unlikely to attract interest in our museum for some time. 



Some little time ago I saw in the Australian papers a dis- 

 cussion as to the date on which the last- aboriginal native of 

 Tasmania died, a question having arisen whether a certain 

 woman recently dead had been a full-blooded native or only a 

 half-caste. Information respecting a kind of native census, 

 which had been made long before, was produced in the effort 

 to settle the question. Thinking that, as the Moriori are 

 rapidly dying out, scientists at the end of the next half-century 

 might be interested in knowing what was the exact state of 

 the native population in LSM9, I made a census-inquiry, with 

 the following result : — 



Chatham Islands, 23rd September, 1889. 

 At Mannkau. 



Men : Hiriona Tapu, Tiritiu Hokokaranga, Heta Namu 

 (half-caste, Maori and jVIoriori), Horomona te Eangitapua, 

 Apieta Tume, Te Karaka Kahukura, Te Ohepa nga Mapu 

 (half-caste, Maori and Moriori). 



Women: liohana Tapu, Paranihi Heta, Pakura te Eetiu, 

 Himaira Horomana, Harireta te Hohepa, Ruiha te Hira (half- 

 caste, Maori and INIoriori). 



Children : Tame Hoi'omana (boy), Mika Heta (boy), 

 Ngana Riwai (girl J. 



At Kaingaroa. 



Men : Hoani Whaiti Ruea, Te Ropiha Rangikeno (an old 

 man), Riwai te Ropiha, Tamihana Heta. 



Women : Eripeta Hoani Whaiti, Kiti Riwai (a quarter- 

 caste pakeha — i.e., child of pakeha and half-caste woman), 

 Emiri Parata (half Maori, half Moriori). 



.4^ Waitangi. 



Men : Pumipi te Rangaranga (a very old man), Heremaia 

 Tau, Wi Hoeta Taitua, Te Teira Pewha, Timoti Wetini, Taitua 

 Hangi, Temuera Numi. 



Women : Hipera te Teira, Paranihi Taitua, Ereni Timoti 

 (or E Puti) (half-caste, Maori and Moriori). 



