452 Transactions. 



contains some references to the placing of dead bodies in boxes or 

 coffins, wliich were sometimes placed in trees, sometimes on the 

 top of tall posts. But it appears to me that these leceptaclcs 

 are of quite a different nature, being plainly temporary, and 

 only intended to hold the decomposing body until the time of 

 the hahunga. The only mention made by Mr. Best respecting 

 coffins to hold the bones after the hahunga refers to the speci- 

 mens I am now about to describe. 



The first examples of carved wooden coffins that came under 

 my notice were two obtained by an Auckland dealer some years 

 ago. These were of precisely the same pattern, as those now in 

 the Museum, and had been originally carved all over the surface, 

 but owing to their great age, and the consequent decay of the 

 wood; the details of the carving were to a considerable extent 

 obliterated. The better one of the two is now in the Melbourne 

 Museum ; the other one was purchased by Mr. A. Hamilton, 

 and now forms part of his collection deposited in the Colonial 

 Museum. A photograph of this is reproduced in Mr. Hamilton's 

 " Maori Art " (page 158). 



In the autumn of 1902 two Europeans were pig-hunting in 

 a rough and rugged part of the Waimamaku Valley, a few miles 

 to the south of Hokianga. While so doing they accidentally 

 discovered two small caves situated on the face of a precipitous 

 cliff. Entering these, they found that they were literally packed 

 with human skeletons, and that they also contained no less 

 than eight carved burial-chests, most of them full of bones. 

 The caves being on Government land, the finders reported the 

 discovery to the Commissioner of Crown Lands at Auckland, 

 with the result that Mr. Menzies, Government Road Inspector, 

 was instructed to proceed to the caves and take charge of the 

 chests, impressing on the Natives the desirability of presenting 

 them to the Auckland Museum. 



One of the discoverers, Mr. Louis Morrell, has kindly furnished 

 me with information as to the position in which the burial-chests 

 were found. He states that all the chests, except one carved 

 on the back to resemble a lizard, were found in the largest cave, 

 which is really a shelf of conglomerate rock about 20 ft. long 

 by 10 ft. wide, situated on the face of a clifi, the cliff overhanging 

 and keeping the floor dry. The cave faces the north, and the sun 

 shines into it for most of the day. The chests were standing up 

 with their backs against the wall, and most of them were fall 

 of bones. Those that were not were evidently empty because 

 the lashings which had fastened the lids to the back of the chests 

 had given way, the bones falling out. The small carved box with 

 square ends and perforated sides, and painted with kokowai, 

 also had bones in it, and was resting on its lid at the western 



