White. — On the Neio Zealand Dog. 595 



Moas and Moa-hunters," by Monsieur A. de Quatrefages, in 

 which occurs the following : — 



" The Maori dog, which came from the Islands of Manaia, 

 belonged to this Polynesian race, which all travellers describe 

 as being vegetarian, and must have retained its natural habits 

 in New Zealand. Besides, if the dogs had taken to eati'ng 

 vieat their masters would have quickly discovered that this 

 food affected in anything but an agreeable manner the flavour 

 of their flesh, and they would not have failed to guard the 

 observance of the habitual course. It is quite natural, there- 

 fore, that the Maori dogs did not behave like those which 

 accompanied the old Danes of the kjaikkenmceddings, and that 

 they did not leave, as these latter did, the trace of their teeth 

 on the refuse bones around them."'^^ 



Note (86) : " The dog was called kuri by the Maoris. This 

 local race was small in size, of a hroiun or yclloivish colour, 

 long ears, and bushy tail. It is extinct now, and replaced by 

 the European dog." 



Note (87) : " The flesh of our European dogs, who all more 

 or less eat meat, has a particular flavour, reminding one of the 

 odour of a badly-kept kezmel, as was only too well known 

 during the siege of Paris." 



I may remark here that the Chinese are said to keep the 

 dogs they eat in pens, as we do our pigs ; but the Maori did 

 not do so. We know that the dog is naturally a carnivorous 

 animal and a general scavenger. For this latter purpose dogs 

 are highly valued in eastern cities of Europe, as Constanti- 

 nople, Cairo, &c. As for the Maori dog being a vegetable- 

 feeder, the idea is absurd. Can we suppose that the Maori 

 would toil at digging fern-root, cooking, and pounding it, and 

 then giving it to his dog? Nor could he grow kumaras or 

 other esculents in sufficient plenty to supply even his own 

 requirements. Fish, flesh, and fowl were undoubtedly the 

 main staple food of these people, more especially to those 

 living in the frosty climate of the south. For flesh we may 

 read dog and human flesh. 



From fear of making this paper too lengthy I did not give 

 the following entry of Captain Cook's, but possibly it may be 

 of special interest: "During my last voyage, when we were 

 continually making inquiries about the ' Adventure ' after 

 our separation, some of the natives informed us of a ship 

 having been in a port on the coast off Teerawitte, but at that 

 time we thought we must have misunderstood them. The 

 arrival of this unknown ship has been marked by the Maori 



* I do not myself see how kitchen-middens could be formed where 

 domestic dogs were present. Would they not carry the bones all about 

 the place ? 



