102 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 



lying a deposit of finely laminated sand, which covers a thick 

 stratum of blue clay full of shells. The conglomerate con- 

 sists of pebbles and large boulders of an infinite variety 

 of volcanic rocks : the clay is the lowermost visible bed ; the 

 shells it contains are marine, and resemble species existing 

 in the South Pacific Ocean ; but I suspect many will be 

 found specifically distinct from any recent forms. 



" Between the two bluffs near the embouchure of the river, 

 there is a sand-flat, about 200 yards across, and this on my 

 first visit was strewn with bones of men, moas and other 

 birds, and two species of seals. I had some deep openings 

 made near the foot of the ancient cliff, on the top of which 

 is the Pa, or native village of Ohawetokotoko ; and at the 

 same level as the flat on which I had observed the strewn 

 fragments of bones, I came to a regular ossiferous deposit. 

 The bones, however, though perfect, were as soft and plastic 

 as putty, so that if grasped strongly they changed as it were 

 by magic into pipe-clay, and it was necessary to dig them up 

 with great care, and expose them to the air and sun to dry, 

 before they could be packed up and removed. 



" Unfortunately the natives soon caught sight of my opera- 

 tions, and came down in swarms, men, women, and children, 

 trampling on the bones I had carefully extracted and laid 

 out to dry, and seizing upon eveiy morsel exposed by the 

 spade. My patience was tried to the utmost, and to avoid 

 blows, I was obliged to retreat and leave them in the posses- 

 sion of the field; and to work they went in right earnest, 

 and quickly made sad havoc. No sooner was a bone per- 

 ceived than a dozen natives pounced upon it, and began 

 scratching away the sand, and smashed the specimen at once. 

 It was with great trouble, and by watching the opportunity 

 of working in the absence of the Maoris, that I procured 

 anything worth having. 



" The natives told me, and their assertion was borne out by 

 the appearance of the place, that within their memory the 

 entire area had been covered by drift-sand ; in fact the bones 

 seemed always to be imbedded on or beneath an old surface 

 level. Columns of vertebrae, when the sand was carefully 

 removed, were lying in situ and perfect, with, in rare in- 

 stances, the skull and pelvis; but to preserve these precious 



