84 Transactions.— Miscellaneous. 
length, and in its ocellated appearance ; its great beauty altogether was 
exactly that of the feather of the Peacock." 
9. (July 18, 1879.) “This is in answer to your new and repeated 
questions to Hawea concerning the said feather called Te rau-o-piopio (—the 
plume of Piopio) and Te Kowhakaroro; this is what he says :—I will first 
speak of the body whence came that feather. Ihave heard formerly the old 
men talking and saying that the Moa fed on air (or wind); that it never 
walked about, but kept its head always turning. The Moa race was killed 
through the overturning of the Earth by (or in the time of ) Mataoho ; 
therefore it is that only the bones are now found. Another saying of 
theirs, that one Moa only escaped from that destruction, and this one 
dwells within the cave at the mountain Whakapunake ; but this (saying) 
perhaps is false, and this is my reason for saying so:—In my time (early 
days) a travelling party went thither, and I saw how they were teased about 
it on their return. A feather, however, was found stuck fast on a white 
pine tree (Kahika), which was brought back. When Matawhaiti died, (the 
ancestor of Tukuwaru,*) this said feather was stuck in his hair, and it was 
afterwards reserved for that purpose of decorating the heads of deceased 
chiefs when laid in state upon the bier. I, myself, saw that feather on that 
occasion ; and so did (many of) the men of Te Wairoa and of Te Whakakii 
(in Hawke’s Bay), they also saw it. That one feather bore two names—Te 
rau-o-piopio, and Te Kowhakaroro. It was like the feather of the Peacock, 
that is in its ocellated appearance ; very likely if that bird, the Peacock, had 
been a native of this island, then that feather would be certainly said to be 
a Peacock’s feather. All those are Hawea’s words.” 
4. (July 21, 1879.) ** Shortly after my last letter to you was written, 
a visiting party arrived here from the neighbourhood of the mountain Wha- 
kapunake, and we again talked about the Moa, on account of your enquiries. 
Those men say, in addition to what I have already informed you,—that the 
famed Moa of Whakapunake bore twelve of those beautiful round-eyed 
feathers, resembling those of the Peacock. From (signed) Hawea.’’+ 
Il. Proverss. 
1. He koromiko te wahie i taona ai te Moa. 
The firewood with which the Moa was baked was of Koromiko (Veronica 
salicifolia ). 
* An aged chief still living here in Hawke’s Bay. 
t I have been careful to be exact in making those translations of, and extracts from, 
Hawea’s letters to me, even to the repeating of some portions, as I wished to give them as 
I received them ;—it may be for future reference. I had purposed the giving them also - 
in their original Maori, in the Appendix to this paper. Hawea, being aged, very rarely 
writes himself, but employs constantly a middle-aged Maori, named Hamuera, to write 
for him ; who, I know, is to be relied on for accuracy: hence it is that Hawea is generally 
spoken of in the third person. 
