644 KANSAS CITY mvEVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



extinction of the Moa throughout the whole of New Zealand. He claims that it 

 became extinct before the occupation of the islands by the present Maori race, 

 and gives us a great deal of geological data in support of this position. At Moa- 

 bone Point cave he found a stratum "three or four inches in thickness, mostly 

 consisting of refuse matter from human occupation, and of ashes. It was es- 

 pecially in some localities, as for instance near the entrance of the cave, replete 

 with kitchen middens of the Moa-hunters," among which were found poUshed 

 and unpolished stone implements, a few small tools made of bone, personal orna- 

 ments, fire sticks, etc. . " And now as it were at once, the Moa-hunters disap- 

 peared from the scene," and the cave remained uninhabited for a considerable 

 space of time, as shown by "the clear line of demarcation between that layer 

 and the shell bed above it, in which no Moa bones were found," and by the de- 

 posit of blown sand between the two, about a foot thick at, the entrance of the 

 cave, and gradually thinning out as it advanced toward the interior. Below this 

 line, Moa bones and fragments of egg-shells were very abundant, and with them 

 were the bones of seals and a few other animals. Above this line, which doubt- 

 less represents a long interval of time, there were no remains of the Moa to be 

 found, and the deposits showed the cave to have been occupied for a long period 

 by a race who lived mostly upon shell- fish, a food which was apparently used 

 very little by the Moa hunters. Dr. Haast and others give us the details with 

 reference to a number of other localities which tell the same story, viz : That the 

 Moa and Moa-hunters flourished and passed away, and that another race, with 

 different habits, after a long interval, occupied the same places ; still after all it 

 may have been the same Moa-hunting race returned, after long wanderings, to 

 their former habitat. There being no more Moas to eat, they feasted on shell- 

 fish. 



The Reverends W. Colenso and J. W. Stack, gentlemen versed in Maori lore, 

 have reached nearly the same conclusions as Dr. Haast, from entirely different 

 data. According to these gentlemen, the old. traditions, songs, and poetry of the 

 New Zealanders furnish no evidence that they knew aught of the Dinornis. The 

 word Moa occurs but seldom in their songs and legends, and has various other 

 meanings besides that of a large bird, and it was sometimes used figuratively in 

 allusion to the myth that the Moa Uved on air. A love-sick maiden who mourn- 

 ed her lover and would not eat was christened Hinemoa (the young lady who 

 lived on air). 



Mr. Colenso has evidently given this whole subject a great deal of time and 

 careful study. In his paper, written in 1842, previously referred to, he says : 

 " From native tradition we gain nothing to aid us in our inquiries after the prob- 

 able age in which this animal lived; for although the New Zealander abounds in 

 traditionary lore, both natural and supernatural, he appears to be totally ignorant 

 of anything concerning the Moa, save the fabulous stories already referred to," 

 and thinks it certain that this would not be the case if such an animal lived within 

 the times of the present race, but in an exhaustive paper published in the Trans- 



