168 M. de Quatrefages on 



Before proceeding to the chase when Moas were to be attacked, 

 the Maoris pronounced one of those incantations or prayers 

 which with them preceded all actions of more or less impor- 

 tance, Mr. White was unable to remember the terms exactly, 

 but he gives the sense of one of them, and tells us that the 

 mists of the hills* where the chase was to take place are 

 supplicated so to act that the fat of the birds may flow like 

 the drops of dew which fall from the leaves of the trees at the 

 dawn of a summer-day ; and the god of silence is prayed to 

 keep the Moas free from apprehension and fright. 



The last Moa-hunt of which the memory is preserved, 

 according to Mr. White, took place in the North Island, in 

 the neighbourhood of Whakatane, in the Bay of Plenty. The 

 feathers of the birds killed there were, until recently, in the 

 hands of a chief named Appanuif. 



Several material facts testify to the truth of the details 

 given by Mr. White. Thus all the memoirs relating to exca- 

 vations executed near the ancient Moa-ovens mention flakes 

 of obsidian which had evidently served to cut the flesh of those 

 birds ; and all of thera remark upon the great number and 

 the close resemblance of these primitive knives. Mr. Thorne 

 has, moreover, found one of those blocks which the Maoris 

 carried with them as a matter of precaution, and recognized, 

 by the quantity of fragments, the point where the temporary 

 manufactory of these instruments was established \. At an 

 elevation of 4000 feet, on a mountain-plateau near Jackson 

 Bay, Dr. Hector has discovered numerous tracks cutting 

 in all directions through a dense thicket. These tracks 



* It is evident that the Spirits of the mists are here referred to. Con- 

 trary to assertions which have been too often repeated, the Maoris had a 

 very complicated mythology and a very numerous Olympus, although, 

 perhaps, not so well hierarchized as that of the Tahitians (see Mreren- 

 hout, ' Yoj'age aux lies du grand Ocean '). Of this, the publications of 

 the New-Zealand sacants are bringing fresh proofs every day. Among 

 others, the natives believed in a kind of gublins, gnomes, or sylphs, whom 

 they represented as innumerable, and to whom thej' attributed the great 

 part of their good or ill fortune. It was therefore necessary on every 

 occasion to render them favourable. Hence arose that multitude of prayers 

 or invocations which are constantly spoken of in the Maori traditions. 

 Upon all these questions the following works maybe consulted with advan- 

 tage : — Grey, ' Polynesian Mythology ;' J. F. Wahlers, " Mythology and 

 Traditions of the Maoris" ('Transactions' &c. vol. viii. p. 108) 5 Colenso, 

 " Historical Incidents and Traditions of the Olden Times, now for the 

 first time faithfully translated from old Maori Writings and Recitals "' 

 (ibid. vol. xiii. p. 38, and vol. xiv. p. 8) ; Colenso, " Contributions 

 toward better knoAvledge of the Maori Race " {ibid. p. 33) ; Taylor, 

 " Te ika a Maoui, or New Zealand and its Inhabitants." 



+ Mr. White adds the name of another known individual, and enters 

 into details which it is unnecessary to reproduce here. 



X Loc. cit. p. 86. 



