82 Transactions.— Miscellaneous. 
gives his son as Rongokako, whose son was Tamatea, whose son was 
Kahungunu, and from this man (the founder of their tribe) down to the 
present generation are just twenty-one generations. In another old story 
we have the following :—‘* When Tamatea arrived, he burnt up the tangled 
mass of herbage and scrub from the surface, then it was that man, possessing 
useful land, dwelt and lived well." 
3. Of the ** Feathers,” etc., of the Moa. 
On my reading the first part of my paper on the Moa,* a discussion 
ensued ; when Mr. Locke, who was present, said that he had formerly heard 
when travelling in the interior among the Urewera tribe, a very similar 
relation from them in reply to his enquiries respecting the Moa; and that 
he had also heard more than once from the old chiefs on the East Coast, 
south of Hawke’s Bay, that they had themselves seen the feathers of the 
Moa, which were anciently used for head decoration. As this, about the 
feathers and their use, was new to me (as coming from these persons), I 
lost no time in making further enquiries in that direction, and the following 
(extracted from several letters) is the result :— 
1. (May 7, 1879.) “This is a return to your questions concerning the 
Moa. I have made diligent enquiry of the chief Hawea and others. At 
that very time, too (when the letter arrived), the chief James Waiparera 
was here staying; he had come from his place at Patangata to conduct 
hither certain visitors from Rotorua and from Tauranga. They all heard 
me read to the chief Hawea your long letter of enquiries, even unto 
the end of it. Then they said, to take up each question separately; and 
this was also done. Then they all, including Hawea, said to me: Write to 
him (Colenso), and say, No man of old ever saw the Moa ; the last of men, 
perhaps, who ever saw the Moa, was in the time of Noah ;t because it was 
at the time of the overturning in the days of (or by) Mataoho} that the race 
of Moas died, whose bones are now seen. The men of the after times did 
not (see it); the men also who preceded Wahotapaturangi$ did not see it, 
down to the times of Te Heheu; and now here also am I, an old man, 
relating this. All those men never saw the Moa, also myself I never saw it. 
* Trans. N. Z. Inst., Vol. XI., p. 568. 
T This, of course, is from Genesis, and refers to the Deluge. 
} Thus referred to in the very old legend of Tawhaki :—“ Tawhaki, having recovered 
from his wounds, left that place, and went and built a fort on the top of the mountain for 
himself and tribe, where they dwelt. Then it came to pass that the rain was let down 
from the sky, and the land was overwhelm d, and all men died ; from which cireumstance 
(that flood) was named— The overturning of Mataoho ; and so they perished.” (See this 
amplified in ** Polynesian Mythology,” p. 61.) 
§ This was Hawea’s grandfather, who, with his son Te Heheu, saw Cook. Te Heheu 
died about thirty years ago, old and full of days. 
