472 Transactions. 



Mr. Elsdon Best has referred me to a description, made by W. Best, 

 of Otaki, about thirty-four years ago, of a hoanga, or Maori sharpening- 

 stone, in the Miniiha Creek at practically the same spot. The description 

 appears in the Dominion Museum Bulletin No. 4, p. 90, and in the Monthly 

 Review, 1890, p. 481 ; but, whilst the locality is the same, there are several 

 differences that make it fairly evident that two different stones are in 

 question. Best's is described as an enormous rock which had fallen from 

 the cliff above, and was of sandstone, 20 ft. by 10 ft., and projecting 7 ft. 

 or 8 ft. out of the water. Burt's stone is not half that size, is flush with 

 the ground, and not near the stream, which, however, may have changed 

 its course in thirty years. Best's rock was later on entirely covered up 

 and disappeared, while Burt's has been uncovered and known for many 

 years. It must be noted, however, that Best's stone was sometimes 

 uncovered, sometimes covered with silt. In Best's the grooves were 3 ft. 

 long, and 10 in. to 12 in. in depth ; while in Burt's I should say from 

 memory they were no more than 3 in. to 6 in. long, and 1 in. to 2 in. deep. 

 Best's stone was sandstone ; Burt's seemed to me to be hard like andesite, 

 or like a meteorite. The sandstone cliffs appeared to me to be very soft 

 and not at all suitable for grinding. Captain Mair, in referring to this 

 hoanga, said that the Maori asserted that they knew nothing about it, 

 and that the grooves were the work of pre-Maori days. 



The stone now lies almost on the road-line, and it is desirable that it 

 should be carefully fenced in and made into a little reserve ; or, better 

 still, the whole stone should be lifted bodily, if possible, and removed to the 

 Dominion Museum, Wellington, for it is certain that when the railway is 

 opened and the stone cleared from surrounding vegetation it will very soon 

 be chipped and broken by tourists and others endeavouring to remove 

 portions as curios, and eventually destroyed. 



As this stone has not heretofore been described, I felt the matter was of 

 sufficient importance to bring forward, so that steps might be taken to 

 have the stone carefully examined by geologists and ethnologists after it 

 has been placed in a position of security. 



Art. LI. — The Food Values of New Zealand Fish: Part II. 



By (Mrs.) Dorothy E. Johnson, B.Sc. in Home Science. 

 Communicated by Professor J. Malcolm. 



[Read before the Otago Institute, 7th December, 1920 ; received by Editor, 31st December, 

 1920 ; issued separately, 12th August, 1921.] 



The investigations described in Part I (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 52, p. 20, 

 1920) have been continued along similar lines and by use of the same 

 methods of analysis. An attempt was made to follow the seasonal varia- 

 tion of composition in groper and kingfish ; some new varieties were 

 examined (whitebait, red cod, &c.) ; and some further analyses were made 

 of fish already reported on in Part I. The results are shown in the 

 following tables. 



