348 Transactions. 



surface features of the country ? The sending of hot embers by Eangi in 

 answer to the prayer of Tamatea suggests disturbances and destruction by 

 fire. Along the East Coast and inland, as I have elsewhere indicated,* 

 pumice sands are to be seen varying in thickness from a few inches to 

 many feet, constantly thickening as they are followed to the volcanic area. 

 The falling of hot pumice and scoria might cause the destruction of 

 most of the vegetation in the country throughout the Island, just as the 

 mud, sands, and pumice did in the vicinity of the Tarawera eruption in 

 the year 1886. 



If accompanied by gaseous exhalations from earthquake-rifts such as 

 were common during the later Pliocene and Pleistocene periods, all diffi- 

 culties vanish in supplying reasonable explanation for the sudden dis- 

 appearance of the moa, and why skeletons are found in caves and in the 

 open so perfect and complete. 



The fossil feather-markings are described in vol. 21 of the Transactions, 

 page 318, from the Ormond pumice-mud deposits, and the footprints of the 

 moa from the several localities show that the pumice was loose and soft 

 when the impressions were made. Associated with these beds are others 

 at Whautaupoko, Ormond, and the Kidnappers, which contain perfect leaf- 

 impressions, representing a great variety of trees and ferns and Lycopods, 

 with numerous fish vertebrates and the fossil feathers. Had man existed 

 at the time, why is there no trace in the shape of footprints, broken bones, 

 stone implements, or other forms of human industry ? 



The history of the East Coast is complete as a geological sequence, and 

 the sudden disappearance of birds over a wide extent of country under 

 varying conditions of living requires an explanation that carries convic- 

 tion and is supported by geological evidence. That evidence is forth- 

 coming in the wide distribution of pumice, in the traces of earthquake - 

 rifts, and in the absolute knowledge that volcanic activity was particularly 

 active during a portion of the Pleistocene period. At that time the moas 

 were numerous in the land ; they had become widely differentiated ; they 

 were found occupying Tertiary and Secondary land-surfaces, and were 

 constant visitors along the East Coast to the warm sands, where breeding 

 appears to have been carried on. They range in vertical space to a height 

 exceeding 3,000 ft. The association of bones of the moa with others whose 

 habits were altogether dissimilar must be explained in a way likely to carry 

 conviction. Native legend tells us of the destruction by fire of the moa. 

 It makes no reference to other birds. Tamatea was the reputed son of 

 Kongokako, to whom reference has already been made with respect to 

 footprints. 



Those legendary heroes the Maoris dwell upon with pride in relating 

 their ancestry. In times long past the tradition had been received of very 

 large birds having once existed ; but they knew nothing as to the kind of 

 bird, and so crude were their ideas on the subject that Polack, Colenso, 

 Taylor, and others could obtain no single fact on Ihc subject. 



Does not this suffice to show the utter ignorance among the Natives 

 concerning the bird that was called "moa," "movie," and so on ? The 

 Natives from whom Polack first obtained his legend had never seen the 

 bird as described by them. They were unaware of its having dwelt on the 

 coast sands : they stated it lived at Ikorangi, a mountain far in the interior, 

 in one instance ; at Whakapunak^, in another instance ; and Colenso was 



* Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 20. p. 293. 



