46 Transacttons.— Miscellaneous. 
and the best living anthority on Maori traditions in the South Island, 
it appears that these paintings are attributed to the Ngapuhi, the oldest 
inhabitants of this island of which there are any traditions. In fact, 
the Ngapuhi are a somewhat mythical people, to whom, besides these 
drawings, the destruction of the moa, or anything the origin of which 
is unknown, is always attributed. I may here observe that Matiaha is 
one of the authorities for the statement that the moa has been extinct 
in very ancient times, and that there is a total absence of reliable tra- 
ditions about them amongst the Maoris, which tallies perfectly with the 
geological evidence lately brought forward. Besides the extinction of the 
moa and the red paintings, Matiaha also attributes to them the heaps of 
pipi shells (Mesodesma nove-zealandie) which are found far back in the 
mountain ranges, and which were carried to such a distance by this people, 
who, according to the aged Maori chief, were great travellers. I have 
much pleasure in adding, in Appendix No. 1, a fuller account of their 
ancient traditions from the pen of Mr. Stack. 
In my papers on the Sumner Cave* I have alluded to that question 
more fully. 
It has been ascertained that there are several caves and rock-shelters in 
this island in which paintings of similar character are preserved on the 
walls, of which, as before observed, those of the Takiroa rock-shelter 
near the Waitaki were published in our “ Transactions," but none 
of the paintings are like those from the Weka Pass, except, perhaps, 
the sparks rising from the figure in the right-hand corner. More- 
over, one of the drawings is a scroll work and thus approaches the 
designs of the Maoris of the past few centuries. There are others at the 
Opihi, at the Levels, Tengawai, and at Pareora, and, as I have just been 
informed, in some other places in the Weka Pass Ranges, and doubtless in 
many other localities. It would be of the highest interest to have these 
carefully copied, as, no doubt, they will throw considerable light upon the 
history of the ancient inhabitants of this island. 
My friend, the Rev. James W. Stack, has given me a copy of a drawing 
from a rock-shelter near the Opihi River, painted in black, which differs 
considerably from the Weka Pass paintings, and, as it appears to me, 
approaches more the designs of the Maoris. I add the same (fig. 8) 
with Mr. Stack’s note as Appendix 2. 
In examining the paintings under review, it is evident, at a first glance, 
that they are quite distinct from those of the Maoris, which always consist 
of curved lines and scroll-work, although in former days the traveller 
* « Trans. N.Z. Inst.," VIL, Art. 2. 
t Mantell, ** Trans. N.Z. Inst.," L, 18, 2 ed., 5. 
