578 



NATURE 



\Oct, 26, 1876 



List of Objects found in the Upper Series of Deposits. 



,4.— Remains of Mammals. 



Bones of Man ... 



Ziphoid Whales ... 



Porpoise ... ... ... ... 



Dog 



Sea Leopard 



Fur Seal 



Small Fur Seal 



Rat 



B. — Remains of Birds. 

 (fl) Extinct Birds (Moas). 

 Small pieces of Moa bones, bleached and decomposed ... 

 (^) Becent Birds. 



Bones of Spotted Shag 



,, Graculus ?p. 

 ,, Grey Duck ... 



,, Harrier ... ... 



„ White Crane (^;'d?'(ffl c/<5<j:) 



,, Paradise Duck (Cajarro z/arin^ato) 



,, Large Kiwi... 



» Nelly .... 



,, Small Birds not yet determined 



Feathers of Spotted Shag 



,, Kakapo 



C— Remains of Fishes. 



Bones of Hapuku ... , 



,, other Fishes not yet determined 



Z?. — Remain.s of Molluscs. 

 Tray of Mussel {Mytilus smaragdinus), numerous 



,, Cock\& (Cockle si7itchburyi), mimKxou& 



,, Pipi [Mesodesma cJiemnilzit), numerous 



i ,, M. cnneatayrwirtitroMS 

 „ Vmw'm\i\e.{Ainphil>olaavellana),mxmttoviS 

 „ Kokotu {Lutraria deshayesii), about thirty lying 



together ... 

 ,, MactradiscorSf2t.ie.yT 



,, Voluta pacifca, z. iew 



,, Unio aurklandicus, w. i&vf ... 

 ,, Haliotis iris, a. i&yf ... 



.^.—Objects in Wood, Bone, or Fibre. 



Pieces of a Toa, a long thin spear made of Tawa, to shoot 

 birds with. At the upper end a barbed point, called 

 Tara, was fastened, made of human or bird's bone ... 



A Manga Oko-oko, a wooden fish-hook, made of Pukatea, 

 with a small piece of whale's tooth, called Mata, 

 standing backwards 



Patu aruhe, fern-root pounders, four made of Maire (Santa- 

 turn cunninghamii), a strictly Northern Island tree, 

 and one made of Akeake (C/ifrtr/asp.) 



Fragments of a Matiha Tuna, fork for spearing eels, made 

 of Manuka 



Portion of a Kaho, batten for a whare, made of Turepo 

 (Hoheria populnea), rihhonviooi. 



Portions of several Whaka kai, wooden dishes for pre- 

 serving fat and juice 



Taka ore kaka, parrot stands, made of Pukatea 



Pu-tatara, small trumpet, made of a Struthiolaria shell ... 



Mata, mouth of a flax bag, made of twisted thin sticks, 

 for preserving birds after being cooked 



Taka kai, matting used for covering the food in the 

 hangi, or oven, to keep it clean 



Parenga-renga, sandals made of flax, or Ti-tree leaves 



Pawa shells (Haliotis iris), in which the holes at the 

 exterior border were filled with flax, for keeping oil ... 



Pieces of nets : the floater of pumice-stone is called Poito 



Matao, fish-hooks, for catching Hapuku, made of Kaikai- 

 atua (Rhabdothatnus solandrt), a Northern Island tree 



Fish-hook, made of Rata (M'^wj/^«'(7j) 



Piece of timber, of Pukatea ... 



Karera, a wooden handle made of Totara, to fasten a piece 

 of greenstone to be used as a chisel ... 



Portion of a Patu-patu, a large wooden hammer 



Tahatiti-whaka, a squared piece of wood (Totara), to fasten 

 the sides of a canoe ... 



3 

 12 



9 

 SI 

 II 



37 



19 



3 



104 



17 

 8 



3 

 2 



3 

 2 

 I 



37 

 62 



49 



164 



37 



Puru, made of Manuka, a pin to stop the holes of a canoe 



for letting water out ... ... ... ... ... 2 



Kauhuhua, a wooden pin, made of Manuka, to fasten the 



battens across the canoe ... ... ... ... 2 



Tokai, a thin long stick, used to keep the mouth of the 



fishing-net open ... ... ... ... 2 



Ripipawa, a knife made of Manuka, to loosen pawa shells I 



Pieces of Matiha, fighting spear, made of Manuka ... 6 



Pieces of timber, portions of mats, cordage, &c. . . , ... 53 



Portion of Korapu, net for catching Inangas or Whitebait i 



F. — Objects in Stone. 



Portions of polished stone implements 3 



,, ,, greenstone ... ... ... ... i 



Among the objects belonging to the era of the beds of the 

 Upper Series, though to a comparatively modem portion of it, 

 was a human skeleton which had been carefully interred. It 

 was detected a few feet from the south-western wall of the 

 First Chamber. The grave had been dug through all the de- 

 posits then existing, several feet deep into the underlying marine 

 sand. The body was in a sitting posture, tied together with 

 flax, the face toward the south-west, and it was covered with 

 part of the sand which had been thrown out of the grave ; the 

 remainder, as well as the overlying beds which had been dis- 

 lodged, being thrown around the spot. It was clear that the 

 ground had afterwards been levelled, and that about six inches of 

 s;iell-bed, level and continuous in all directions beyond the dis- 

 turbed area, had been subsequently deposited over the grave, 

 whilst over this again lay the European bed, three inches thick. 

 The skeleton is that of a man nearly six feet high, and certainly 

 not young. 



It was evident from the accumulations deposited after the 

 interment that the burial had taken place before the arrival cf 

 Europeans, and that during the interval the natives continued to 

 frequent the cavern and to take their meals there. The 

 latter fact leads to the inference that its occupation was not 

 constant or even regular, but occasional only and by different 

 tribes ; for, judging from the character and superstitions of the 

 existing natives it may be safely concluded that after the burial 

 of one of them the cave would have become strictly iapu to all 

 those having any knowledge of the fact, at least so far as taking 

 a meal there is concerned. 



On comparing the lists of objects found in the two sets of 

 deposits, the facts which probably most strongly arrest attention 

 are, (i) the presence of Moa bones in the Lower Series, but not 

 in the Upper ; and (2) that whilst the upper beds consist very 

 largely of estuarine shells, it may almost be said that in the lower 

 there are no traces of .shells introduced by man. When tb.e 

 mind is in addition directed to the condition of the bones of 

 the various species of Moa, as well as to the further fact that the 

 valves of the bivalve shells were almost invariably disunited, 

 there can be no hesitation in accepting Dr. Haast's name of 

 Moa-hunters for the men of the Lower Series, and of shell-fish 

 eaters for those of the upper. The Spotted Shag and the Dog 

 appear to have been favourite dishes in each period. 



The human remains mentioned in the second table were two 

 pelvic bones of a full-grown male, and the ninth dorsal ver- 

 tebra of a subject not quite mature. As they were all entire, 

 and were the only relics of the human frame found throughout 

 the whole thickness of the beds, Dr. Haast is of opinion that 

 during all the time the shell-fish eaters were in possession of 

 the ground they were either not addicted to cannibalism, or 

 their relations with neighbouring tribes were of so peaceful a 

 character as to afford them no opportunity to indulge in that 

 horrible practice. Looking, however, at the great lapse of time 

 represented by the shell accumulations, and the insecurity of 

 life amongst savage tribes, he believes that had they been can- 

 nibals when, at least, the lower shell beds were formed, there 

 would have been some evidence of the fact. 



Excepting the Fur Seal (Arctocephalus lobatus) as of doubtful 

 identification, the two lists of mammals differ only in the occur- 

 rence of the rat in the shell beds, where, however, there were 

 but three of its bones. Its presence was further attested by its 

 teeth-marks on many of the bones, and by its holes passing 

 through the upper beds, A few of the bones had been gnawed 

 by dogs, whence it may perhaps be inferred that the shell-fish 

 eaters had effected its domestication. 



Dr. Haast supplements the description of his cavern researches 

 with a brief account of his labours amongst the sand dunes 

 in the adjacent plain. Numerous cooking ovens occurred 



