266 Transactions. — Zoology. 



killing of ngarara, or monsters, such as ngarara-hua-rau, 

 called also karara-hua-rau, the monster with numerous 

 progeny. Such would seem to be flocks of moas, which pro- 

 bably lived in small parties. This particular creature was 

 killed at Wairarapa by a chief called Tara, after whom is 

 named the lake at Te Aute, in Hawke's Bay.* It was near 

 or about this lake that Mr. A. Hamilton collected many re- 

 mains of the moa in shallow water, after drainage. May not 

 this lake have come by its name because it was utilized by 

 the chief Tara and his companions when making a surround 

 of a flock of moas, which they forced into the waters of the 

 lake, whereby numbers were drowned, and a part obtained as 

 food? We know for certain no person, whether Maori or any 

 other, ever killed a crocodile or alligator in New Zealand, but 

 that tradition states that a something was killed by such-and- 

 such a person : what, then, is it likely caused the origin of the 

 story? Did a certain brave man kill a tuatara lizard, and 

 would the fact be recorded as a great victory ? This is hardly 

 likely : yet the tuatara is a ngarara. Is it not more probable 

 that creature was one or more of the larger species of the moa, 

 which were at that time becoming scarce ? In support of this 

 view, Dr. Dieffenbach makes the pertinent remark: "I had 

 been apprised of the existence of a large lizard, which the 

 natives call tuatera or ngarara, with a general name, and of 

 which they were much afraid, .... and the natives 

 killed it for food " (vol. ii., p. 205) ; also of animals they con- 

 sumed—fishes, dogs, the indigenous rat, crawfish, birds, and 

 iguanas (vol. ii., p. 18). 



I would draw attention to the fact that the Maori, in the 

 early days of their acquaintance with the pakeha, would 

 seem to have spoken of the ngarara and the moa as if they 

 were allied in partnership, or companions. Although we have 

 read of the small bird (plover?) which fearlessly enters the 

 open mouth of the crocodile inhabiting the district of the Nile, 

 and feeds on the leeches which trouble the ugly saurian, 

 yet we can see no reason to suppose that the ngarara and 

 the moa should find a mutual benefit to be derived from their 

 living together. The Eev. W. Colenso was told a story of a 

 moa residirg on a certain hill guarded by one or more 

 ngarara. Dr. Dieffenbach says, " The natives could not 

 understand what induced me to ascend Mount Egmont ; 

 they tried much to dissuade me from the attempt by saying 

 that the mountain was tapu — that there were ngarara 

 (crocodiles) on it, which would undoubtedly eat me. The 

 mysterious bird moa, of which I shall say more hereafter, 

 was also said to exist there. But I assured them I was not 



Te-roto-atara. 



