332 Transactions. 



conviction to the younger Natives, who take great delight in the marvellous 

 and the improbable." Polack makes no mention of the word "nioa" in 

 his reference to fossil ossifications of a bird belonging to the genus 

 Struthio, and it is strange that no reference occurs from the time when the 

 missionaries reached the country, in 1814, up to the time when the Rev. 

 William Williams and Mr. William Colenso took a holiday trip from the 

 Bay of Islands along the East Coast, following the completion, printing, 

 and publication of the New Testament in December, 1837. 



Bishop Williams, of Napier, informs me in a letter that the Rev. William 

 Williams first visited the East Coast to the south of East Cape in the year 

 1834. This being so, it is possible that he may have met Polack at Tolago 

 Bay or elsewhere along the coast, and that he then heard of the fossi ossifi- 

 cations ; but I can find no reference to this in any publication. Colenso 

 was a born naturalist, and this fact may have suggested to the Rev. William 

 Williams the advantage of being accompanied by Mr. Colenso during his 

 second visit to the coast. But whatever the reason for the companionship 

 of the Rev. William Williams (missionary, and editor of the first New Testa- 

 ment in Maori) and Mr. Colenso (the printer of that New Testament), the 

 fact remains that previous to the date when the two started on their im- 

 portant journey together on the 1st January, 1838, no missionary or other 

 person appears to have interested himself in the " fossil ossifications " such 

 as Polack states he saw along the East Coast during his residence between 

 the years 1834-37. 



The gradual spread of information in England and elsewhere following 

 the publications of Nicholas and Polack naturally increased the interest of 

 zoologists in the flora and fauna of New Zealand. Every bit of information 

 that it was possible to glean about the country was collected, in the hope 

 of obtaining for Great Britain some of the credit that naturally marks a 

 country by the discoveries of its scientific workers. The mere reference by 

 Nicholas that a struthious bird existed in the country, and subsequent 

 reference by Polack to the Apteryx and " fossil ossifications " of a former 

 Struthio, sufficed to whet the imagination of zoologists in England, and to 

 direct their attention to the importance of New Zealand as a land to be 

 studied and exploited by scientific workers. In January, 1838, Polack's 

 books could not have reached this country, but the frequent reference in 

 the English newspapers posted to New Zealand sufficed to arouse the atten- 

 tion of missionaries and others to the many objects of Maori workmanship 

 and the wonders in natural history around them. These, while differing 

 from what was common in the Home-land, provided valuable material for 

 scientific inquiry and research. 



The years extending from 1837 to 1843 are particularly interesting, as 

 representing an important page in the history of this country. The cities 

 of Auckland and Well ngton were founded. The Treaty of Waitangi 

 was signed, making New Zealand an integral part of the British Empire. 

 Captain Hobson, the first Governor of the new colony, was appointed, and 

 many scientific men visited the country whose names to-day are world- 

 wide. Among those may be named Dieffenbach, Dr. Sinclair, Sir John 

 Franklin, Allan Cunningham, the late Sir Joseph Hooker, F.R.S., and — 

 greatest of all — Darwin. All these visited New Zealand within the years 

 named ; and, to add still further to the growing importance of the country, 

 the British House of Commons held an inquiry into certain matters con- 

 nected with the growing lawlessness of the " flotsam and jetsam " that had 

 reached New Zealand from Australia and the surrounding islands. 



