6 New Zealand Institute. 
always evidence that they were dragged into these caves by beasts of prey ; 
but New Zealand caves have failed to show any such cause for the presence 
of Moa bones in them, or that any animal existed beyond larger forms of 
those now inhabiting the islands. These cave Moa bones, and probably 
those found in certain alluvial deposits, he considered to belong to-a period 
before the arrival of the aborigines. He then described the several cireum- 
stances under which the remains of the Moa are found associated with works 
of man in such a manner as to leave no doubt that they co-existed with the 
earliest aborigines, and were largely used as food, along with seals and a 
variety of other animals. From the examination of the umus, or Maori ovens, 
there was evidence that cannibalism prevailed at the time the Moas were 
used for food, but only in the North Island. Certain works of art 
associated with bones in: these early deposits appeared to indicate a period 
when many of the implements in common use among the Maoris, and sup- 
posed to have been brought with them from Hawaiki, were unknown to 
these early aborigines. The highly prized pounamu, or greenstone, appears 
also to have been discovered in New Zealand at a later date. The most 
ancient of these ovens which he had examined were scooped out in the 
surface of marine deposits, generally blue clays or sands, such as those 
deposited in estuaries or tidal lagoons, and were never covered by other than 
fresh water or blown sand deposits. 
Those at Waingongoro, in the North Island, and at Awamoa, in Otago, 
were the oldest he had „Seen, and contained fragments of stone used as 
cutting implements, of kinds which showed that even at that early period the 
natives had extensively explored the interior of these islands. In Otago, 
especially, it is probable that the interior was their usual dwelling place, and 
that they only paid occasional and periodical visits to the sea coast. He 
referred to certain rude figures which he discovered drawn on the walls of a 
cave in the Waitaki Valley (see illustrations) —among which was rudely 
depicted the likeness of a Moa by some early aboriginal artist—and proceeded 
to describe the causes which led to the extermination of those birds. The 
lecturer said that this must have taken place within a very short period 
after the appearance of man, adducing the very slight and obscure allusions 
in the most ancient Maori traditions to their existence as proof of this. 
After alluding to the probable habits and mode of life of the Moa, and to 
the present representatives of the class of birds to which they belong, 
Mr. Mantell concluded by saying that in his lecture he confined himself to 
the subject of the Moa, the native word including these birds as a whole, 
. leaving the different species of Dinornis, Palapteryx,and other genera which 
have been made, to p e mew ui they have the necessary data. For 
are 
his par he did n of the very fresh skeleton 
