680 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



as him. But I am afraid he is dead long ago for want of his 

 sealskin clothes. 



I was doubtful about these being Maori habitations when I 

 could not find the stones for fireplaces in the centre of the 

 floors, but they could not have had a fire in this hut. It must 

 have been only a sleeping-place, and they may have had a big 

 kitchen. The smallness of the huts suggests temporary camps, 

 as if they only came here in the season for seals ; but they 

 could not flourish here without plenty of canoes, so that the 

 large population had either grown up here or come by sea, and 

 Cook's description of the canoe does not suggest a sea-going 

 craft. 



I shall take a spade when I go out there again, and will 

 write to you if I have anything worth writing about. 



I have been several times to Pickersgill Harbour, and 

 Captain Cook's clearing is quite easily traced by the old stumps 

 and fallen trees on the hill, where no one else had any business. 

 Even some of his small cut totara firewood is there yet, but of 

 course no one would believe that. However, I am sending you 

 a piece of totara older than that in a case going to Mr. Mait- 

 land — part of a side board of a canoe which we found under a 

 cliff 100 ft. above and a quarter of a mile from the sea. The 

 board was about 6 ft. long. 



Art. LXXI. — Bed Cats and Disease. 



By K. Henry, Eesolution Island. 



Communicated by Sir James Hector. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 14th March, 1899.] 



In 1881, at Manapouri Station, there were a good many wild 

 cats out on the run ; red ones were also common, but I heard 

 that they were always males. I found several nests of tabby 

 kittens during my two years there, but most of them were half- 

 blind and sickly, so that I thought the disease would prevent 

 them being of any great use among the rabbits. I also saw 

 several half-grown dead ones that had apparently died of dis- 

 temper. However, the reddish ones always looked big and 

 healthy, but it took me ten years to realise that there might 

 be some relationship between that colour and the liability to 

 disease, which was very hard on dogs up there at that time. 



I tried to rear some pups then, but they all died except 

 two red ones that hardly got sick at all, and grew into fine 



