272 Transactions. — Zoology. 



have no reliable mention, at an early date of the settlement of 

 New Zealand, of the killing of the moa by the Maori, and I 

 think therefore that the following extract from Dieffenbach's 

 " New Zealand " must have been overlooked (see vol. i., p. 396) : 

 " On questioning the natives, as I usually did, relative to the 

 natural history of their country, I heard a curious tradition 

 connected with a totara-tree in the neighbourhood [Eotorua ?] . 

 Near this tree they said their forefathers killed the last moa. 

 From the few remains of the moa that have been found it has 

 been declared by Mr. Eichard Owen to be a struthious bird of 

 large size." 



This story was told to Dieffenbach between the years 

 1839-41, and he most likely did not know Professor Owen's 

 decision, given 12th November, 1839, until he returned to 

 England — that is, some time after he had noted this story of 

 the last moa killed in the north of New Zealand by the 

 Maori. 



Surely this authentic story is above the suspicion of the 

 stereotyped assertion " that the Maoris invented it to suit the 

 occasion." Further, it is remarkable that in other mention 

 by the Maori of this bird to Dieffenbach it is a monster still 

 to be met with, and seemingly more likely to kill men than to 

 suffer itself in an encounter. You will see the justice of 

 assuming that this is a story of the killing of the last moa by 

 the Maori, and not as proving that the Maori said it was the 

 last living moa at that time. It was the last that they them- 

 selves had killed, and the Maori, even in 1840, thought that the 

 moa was still to be met with in out-of-the-way places, such as 

 the higher parts of Mount Egmont, and other unexplored or 

 tapu places. 



Addendum. 



Possibly the following might be the correct derivation of the 

 word ngarara when used to denote the Diuomis. The prefix 

 nga is the plural article of te, the — as for example, te manu, 

 the bird ; he manu, a bird ; nga manu, birds. So, te rara, 

 the roar ; he rara, a roar ; nga rara, much or many roarings — 

 i.e., the one of many roarings, or loud cries. In the South 

 Island dialect the plural article nga becomes ka, which change 

 is also shown in ngarara-hua-rau and karara-hua-rau, the 

 name of a monster of mythical fame killed by Euru-teina and 

 his brothers when returning home with his bride. This name 

 might therefore be rendered " the one who loudly calls his 

 numerous progeny." 



In verbs we have the following examples : loha, to be 

 revealed ; ko-wha, tawha, and nga-whd, to burst open ; and 

 vga, used as a suffix to the obsolete word kara, to call — which 

 is probably a variant of rara — in kara-nga, to shout. 



