22.4 Transactions.— Miscellaneous. 
presently, after I have described the other similar deposits which we found 
nearer the Wanganui river. These occur at about ten different places in a 
distance of about three and a-half miles, and are of greater or less extent. 
Some of theni have, like the first group, been buried in the natural surface 
of the ground, while others have, clearly, been sunk in the surface of the 
sand after it had attained a depth of several feet, as we found one cache in 
process of destruction, owing to its occurring on the slope of the back end — 
of a sand-hill which was being blown off, and the clay surface immediately 
in rear of this sand-hill was strewn with stones and other articles that had 
evidently been buried in caches already destroyed. There were bones of 
similar kinds to those we had previously found, pieces of the adze stone, 
more or less shaped, and a great many stone knives, mostly of grey or black 
basaltic stone, though some were of obsidian. I also found a slightly 
curved club, of grey stone, having its transverse section oblong, with rounded 
edges, and its handle ground oval, so as to fit comfortably into the hand : 
and a large round stone, with a groove cut round it, which was probably 
intended as a sinker for a fishing line. In several cases the articles are 
scattered on the clay surface on which the stumps of the highest layer of 
forest trees are standing; but I could not find any indication of their having 
been actually deposited at that level: on the contrary, we observed that 
in each such case the marine deposit which had covered the stumpsto a depth 
of several feet (as was evident from its remaining at that level close by), was 
of a soft friable nature, and broke up and wore away rapidly when exposed 
to the sun and wind and the trampling of animals, and we judged that the 
cáches had been formed on the natural surface when it consisted of this 
marine deposit, overgrown by vegetation ; and that their contents had been 
scattered, and fallen to the level at which we found them, as the deposit 
wore away. 
Now, as regards the origin and date of these deposits, and the persons 
by whom they were made: The first and most obvious idea that occurred 
to us was, that the spots at which they occur mark the sites of ancient camp- 
ing places. But several considerations seem to show that this is not the 
true solution of the first question. In the first place, it is unlikely that 
persons travelling up or down the coast would have had so many different 
camping places in so short a distance, and all in such close proximity to an 
important settlement like Putiki pah. In the next place, Putiki is three 
miles inland, and as there is no tradition of any pah having existed lower 
down, and there was therefore no ferry below that point, the track leading 
towards Kai Iwi started at once from opposite the pah, and passed consider- 
ably inland of these deposits. If, therefore, these places were camps, they 
were used, not by persons travelling to and fro, but by some who stopped 
