Hamilton. — Notes from Mtirihilcu. 173 



Duntroou end I found a very perfect moa-feather, quite black — 

 quite a new colour in moa-feathers. In different parts of the 

 Maori level were found the following items : A tooth of the 

 sea-leopard seal (StenorJiynclms) ; the whole of the natural 

 surface had been polished off, and the fang-end rubbed thin to 

 permit of the hole being bored in it : three fragments of bird- 

 bone worked down to a sharp point : several cut pieces of 

 Haliotis shell and three valves of Mytilus, the latter probably 

 for preparing flax, the former for carrying paint in for the 

 adornment of carvings or weapons : a few small lumps of red 

 oxide of iron (kokoivai) : a few small Patellas and some valves 

 of the small Unio from the neighbouring river : several (five) 

 small thin sticks, about Sin. long, with thin strips of flax-leaf 

 tied on to them in a peculiar knot, probably parts of bird- 

 snares : four small chert flakes, with sharp edges. 



I was not able to examine the talus slope by making a 

 cross-section through it, as I should have liked to have done. 



From the character of the part of the floor I examined it 

 appears to have been used as a temporary resting-place for 

 parties travelling up and down the river. 



The only special note that I made about the paintings was 

 that one very long figure was executed on a portion of the 

 rock quite close to the present surface, and it appears that 

 that portion of the shelter must have had the floor at a lower 

 level when the figure was painted. 



Eeaching Duntroon in the evening, I went for a stroll to 

 the limestone cliffs on the Maerewhenua, just where it touches 

 the railway, and there I found a number of other pictographs, 

 some having the appearance of great age, and others in a cave 

 some distance up the cliff very fresh and vivid. Those on the 

 lower level near the road have been nearly obliterated by 

 smoke and time, but those in the higher cave have been dis- 

 figured by Europeans. I made sketches only of these, as I 

 had used all my photographic plates on the Takiroa ones. 

 The figures occur in various places on the cliffs, and there is 

 one at the very end of the cliff towards Oamaru. 



A road passed just in front of the great shelter-cave, 

 which is about 120 yards long, and the process of cutting the 

 ditches for draining it has made a convenient section of the 

 talus slope in front of the shelter. I was pleased to find 

 many moa-bones and broken and cut fragments of moa-bone, 

 and was fortunate enough to pick out from the bank a well- 

 made bone fishhook-barb, dropped or lost — who shall say how 

 long ago? I believe that a systenmtic exploration of this 

 cave and the bank in front would yield interesting results. 

 For many years the cave has been used as a place for storing- 

 old reapers-and-binders and worn-out machines, and for a 

 shelter for horses. 



