Travers.—.Votes on the Extinction of the Moa. 65 
hunting, had they ever engaged in it. And these traditions, did they 
exist, would not be confined to particular localities, but would be met with 
in every part of these islands in which the remains of the Dinornis are 
found. I have occasionally heard in the North Island stories of Moa hunts, but 
they were regarded by all, but perhaps those who related them, as pure fabrications. 
In common with most people, I was long under the impression that the 
extinction of the Moa was an event of recent date, and hastened by the 
Maori. I took it for granted that the natives only required to be questioned 
to afford every information regarding its nature and habits, and the causes 
of its disappearance. Further enquiry, however, has led me to think that 
the Maoris were not Moa-hunters, and that the bones that strewed the 
plains of Canterbury were lying there at a period anterior to the last 
migration from Hawaiki.”’ 
He, however, says :—* 
“But how are we to account for any allusions to the Moa at all in Maori 
poetry and proverbs, unless the people were familiar with it ? Dr. Thomp- 
son, as quoted by the President (Dr. Haast), says, ‘ That the Moa was alive © 
when the first settlers came, is evident from the name of this bird being 
mixed up with their songs and stories.’ But Dr. Thompson was probably 
not aware that the Maoris were familiar with a large land-bird, which they 
called the Moa before ever they came to New Zealand. The name by which 
the Cassowary is known in the islands is Moa, and as it somewhat resembles 
the Dinornis in form, an exaggerated description of it would be a sufficiently 
accurate description of that gigantic bird to mislead any one not fully 
prepared to question the knowledge of the Maoris on the subject, into 
supposing that they were perfectly familiar with its form and habit. I 
remember hearing, when a child, of the beautiful plumes that were found at the 
top of the cliff which overhung a cavern somewhere on the East Coast of the North 
Island, where the last of the Moas hid itself. But no one I ever met had seen 
them. Those who described them had only heard of them from others. It 
is quite possible that Moa feathers may have been found and used as ornaments ; 
but it is not necessary to believe they were so, to account for the description the 
Maoris give of them. The feathers of the Cassowary are used as ornaments 
in the islands where they exist, and probably the ancestors of the Maori 
brought some away with them. These, from their rareness, would be 
highly prized and carefully preserved, and when all recollection of the 
Hawaikian Moa had faded away, would be thought to belong to that Moa 
of which remains were everywhere visible. In the same way we may account 
for the saying regarding the toughness of the Moa’s flesh, which could only be 
acsearle 
* « Trans. N. Z. Inst.,” Vol. IV., p. 108.” 
H 
