76 Transactions. —Miscellaneous. 
natives. I was most anxious to obtain a skull of the bird. I was told 
there was a great one in a swamp some miles inland. I promised a large 
reward for it, and though they said I should have it, they did not keep 
their word. 
“In reply to my questions about its size, they told me it was quite as 
large as that of a horse, a sure proof that the bird had never been seen by 
any of those I spoke to. They, however, told me that these huge birds 
were formerly very abundant before the Europeans came, but they 
gradually diminished and finally disappeared. Their nests were made of the 
refuse of fern root, on which they fed, and they used to conceal themselves in 
the koromiko (Veronica) thickets, from which they were driven and killed 
by setting the thickets on fire; hence originated the saying, Te koromiko te 
rakau t Tunu ai té Moa (the Veronica was the tree which roasted the Moa). 
The koromiko, when burnt, emits a kind of resin from its bark, which looks 
like grease, hence the origin of the saying, as all suppose the Moa to have 
been a very fat bird, which I should think was very questionable. When I 
next visited Waingongoro, expecting to carry off another load of Moa 
bones, I found to my surprise that they had disappeared. I afterwards 
heard that Mr. Mantell had passed that way after me, and had cleared the 
place of all worth taking. 
‘The last visit which I paid to Waingongoro was in 1866, in company 
with Sir George Grey. On our arrival there, he asked me to show him the 
place where I discovered the great deposit of Moa bones in 1843. I took 
him at once to the place, and to my astonishment I found the hillocks 
almost as thickly covered with bones as when I first saw them; the wind 
had uncovered a lower stratum since my former visit. Several officers 
stationed at the neighbouring redoubt expressed their surprise when told — 
the bones were those of the Moa. They had seen them times without 
number, but, supposing them only beef bones, passed them without further 
notice. Several soldiers volunteered their services, and a great number of 
these old ovens were opened ; all worked in good earnest, and no one more 
heartily than the Governor. It was quite amusing to see His Excellency 
grubbing up the old ashes, and carefully selecting what he thought worth 
carrying away. 
“A large cloth was spread on the ground, and the various articles 
found were piled upon it; these were of a very miscellaneous character, con- 
sisting not only of bones of the Moa, and fragments of its eggs, but of almost 
every other bird indigenous to these islands, including those of the Kakapo and 
Kwwi, with chert flakes, fragments of highly polished axes, and other articles. 
These ovens seem to have been made in a double line, and to have been 
used for many years, as each layer of ashes was _— by a thin 
