CorENso.—On the Moa. 67 
Leaving Waiapu, and proceeding on by the coast towards the south, 
I arrived at Poverty Bay, where the Rev. W. Williams resided. This 
gentleman had had the good fortune to proeure a nearly whole tibia of an 
immense bird, without, however, the entire processes of either end. This 
bone measured about eighteen inches in length, and was proportionably 
thick. Mr. Williams wishing to send this unique relic to Oxford, I left a 
pair of femora to accompany t, in order, if possible, to obtain from that 
seat of learning some light on these increasingly interesting remains. 
At Poverty Bay I made several enquiries after Moa bones, but to little 
purpose, as I could not obtain any. 
Quitting Poverty Bay, and still travelling in a southerly direction, I 
soon came within sight of Whakapunake, the mountain celebrated as the 
residence of the only surviving Moa. As natives lived about its base, 
among whom my route lay, I looked forward with no small degree of 
interest to the chance of obtaining some relies of the Moa in this 
locality ; in this, however, I was disappointed. At the close of the second 
day's travel we arrived at Te Reinga (a village situated at the foot of the 
mountain), where, as opportunity offered, I enquired of the natives relative 
to the Moa. They, in reply to my reiterated queries, said that he lived there 
in the mountain, although they had never seen him; still the Moa bones were 
very commonly seen after floods occasioned by heavy rains, when they 
would be washed up on the banks of gravel in the sides of the rivers and 
exposed to their view ; at this time, however, they had not any by them. I 
offered large rewards for any that should be found hereafter, and which were 
to be taken to Mr. Williams, at Poverty Bay. Here, as at Waiapu, no one 
person could be found who possessed the hardihood positively to assert that 
he had seen this Moa, although this neighbourhood had ever been the dwel- 
ling-place of this tribe. The mountain, too, it appeared was by no means 
unknown to them ; for, during a war between themselves and the Urewera 
tribe a few years ago, they had fled for refuge to their stronghold on the 
top of Whakapunake, where they had lived for some time, and where many 
of their relatives eventually fell into the hands of the enemy, who starved 
them into a surrender and took the place. Here, then, was still further 
proof, if proof were wanting, that no such colossal animal could possibly 
at this time be existing in this place. The spot, however, was well chosen 
for the fiction of such a creature's residence: a huge, table- -topped and lofty 
mountain, covered with primeval forests of gloomy pines; its brow singu- 
larly adorned with a horizontal stratum of whitish sandstone, which ran 
continuously and precipitously for more than two miles. At the base of the 
mountain ran the river Whangaroa, down which we paddled in canoes for 
some distance. This river is a branch of the Wairoa river, which disem- 
bogues into Hawke's Bay. 
