340 Transactions. 



When Colenso made his second visit to the East Coast, as related in 

 the " Tasmanian Journal of Science," he remarks that after passing Te 

 Kawakawa (Hicks Bay) " the clayey rocks had been so acted upon by the 

 sea as to be worn quite flat in many places, stretching into a continuous 

 layer of rock nearly a mile in length. Here in a clayey rock near high- 

 water mark the Natives show the impression of the foot of Rongokako, 

 one of their illustrious progenitors, the print of his other foot made in 

 stiiding hence being near Poverty Bay, a distance of more than fifty miles " 

 [100 miles ?]. Many marvellous exploits are recorded of Rongokako in 

 the legendary lealms of the Maori, but it is curious that the statement 

 made by Colenso in 1842 should be substantiated by Panapa Waihopi in 

 1912. The statement of the Native chief is another instance as showing 

 that the so-called footmarks of Rongokako and the footprints of the moa 

 were unknown to the Maoris of the North Island except as mere legends. 



In vol. 5, page 95, of the Transactions the Rev. Mr. Taylor says that 

 on inquiring from the Natives as to what kind of bird the bone belonged 

 which he had found in a Native house, he was informed " it was the bone 

 of the tarepo — a very large bird which lived on the top of Hikurangi, the 

 highest mountain on the East Coast. ... I then inquired whether 

 the bird was still to be met with, and was told there was one of immense 

 size which lived in a cave and was guarded by a large lizard, and that the 

 bird was always standing on one leg ! " 



On the other hand, Colenso (vol. 12 of the Transactions, page 81) says 

 an old chief of the coast informed him that " anciently the land was burnt 

 up by the fire of Tamatea. Then it was that the big living things, together 

 with the moas, were all burnt. Two moas, however, survived with diffi- 

 culty that destruction, but only two ; one of these lived at Te Wai-iti 

 Mountains (in the interior) and one at Whakapunake. The feather of this 

 one at Whakapunake has been seen, and was preserved as a plume decora- 

 tion for the heads of the dead chiefs of note. The name of the feather was 

 Ko-te-rau-o-Piopio (the special plume of Piopio). The forefathers of the 

 Maoris heard of the moa, but they never saw its body, only its bones." 

 This statement agrees entirely with what I have been able to gather from 

 the Natives in the vicinity of Whakapunake, at the foot of which 1 have 

 passed in going to and from Poverty Bay during the past thirty -five years. 

 Invariably the same answer is given in reply to inquiries : : ' In a cave 

 near the top of Whakapunake the last moa lived, and his feathers were 

 used on great occasions ; but this was a long time ago." 



As showing how the traditional lore is passed on from father to son, 

 the following account was related to me on the 16th July, 1912, by Urupeni 

 Puhara, aged eighty-eight, an old chief still living at Pakipaki : The 

 " moa " was not the name by which the great bird that lived in this country 

 was known to my ancestors. The name was "Te Kura," or the red bird ; 

 and it was only known as " moa " after the pakehas said so. Te Kura was 

 known to all ancient people, and was handed down from father to son, who 

 spoke about the big bird that was as high as the top of the door (pointing to 

 the door of the room in which we were sitting). Its legs were thick as those 

 of a bullock. Neither his father nor grandfather had seen Te Kura, but 

 it had been told to them, and tales were told of what it did. He did not 

 know how it was caught or snared, nor had he seen or heard of moa's eggs, 

 and knew nothing of its footmarks. The moa lived, he had heard, all over 

 the North Island, but they disappeared after the coming of Tamatea, who 

 set fire to the land. The fire was not the same as our fire, but embers were 



