74 COLLECTOR'S RAMBLES 



" Now, for Heaven's sake, go on I Hurry up ! You 

 can get across sooner than you can go back." 



He was so eager, and his tone so irresistibly funny, 

 that I began to laugh, and, to make matters worse, he 

 slipped another inch or two down my back. I bent 

 forward to make it easier for him, but thereby only 

 succeeded in helping his downward progress. 



" Here, what the Devil are you doing ? Straighten 

 up ! You are pushing me off . Go ahead ! Hurry up ! 

 Stop laughing, and we'll get there all right." 



A step or two forward brought me into mud, and to 

 move another foot was impossible. By this time I was 

 speechless, and almost breathless with laughter. 



" What's the matter with you now ! Go on ! Oh, 

 I can't hang on any longer ! " and with a series of 

 groans, resembling the chromatic scale for the clarinet, 

 he dropped off my coat-tails into the water. 



Remains of the gigantic Moa (Dinornis giganted), 

 an extinct bird, standing from twelve to fifteen feet 

 high, are sometimes found at Motenau. Several days 

 previous to our arrival, a bed of their bones had been 

 discovered on a ranch not far from Mr. Hall's house. 

 They were found embedded twenty feet deep in stiff 

 clay, and a small stream wearing away the earth on 

 one side had exposed them. 



With the aid of a Scotchman, whom we employed, 

 we set to work early one morning to exhume if possible 

 some perfect bones. Our man dug away the earth 



