82 Transactions.— Miscellaneous. 
width of a man’s hand at the top, the top being flat like the feather of the 
tail of a peacock. I think in my MSS. I have the names which these 
feathers were called. 
“* Joun WHITE. 
“W. T. L. Travers, Esq., &¢., &c., Wellington.” 
In special connection with the valuable information given in the fore- 
going letters, I would call attention to those passages which bear most 
materially upon the extracts given from the papers previously cited. 
It will be noted that obsidian is always found in the kitchen middens in 
which the Moa was cooked, and this is strictly in accordance with what Mr. 
White says respecting the mode in which it was prepared for cooking. 
The term “ Moa” is said, by Dr. Haast to be translatable into “a bed 
ina garden ”—a fact referred to by Mr. White in connection with the form 
of its nest, which resembled, as he mentions, the mounds formed of weeds 
which had been collected from the Kumera grounds by the sacred men. 
The proverbs quoted by the Rey. Mr. Taylor, in reference to the use of 
the Koromiko for cooking the flesh, and the extinction of this bird, are also 
referred to by Mr. White, but in slightly different language. 
The use of the Koromiko for cooking the Moa’s flesh, and the beauty of 
its feathers, and their use as ornaments, are referred to by the Rev. Mr. 
Stack. 
The tracks observed by Dr. Hector on the mountains near Jackson’s 
Bay, are just such as would be made through serub by such birds, and 
along the sides of which the hunters could place themselves in ambush to 
attack the birds in the manner described by Mr. White, although it is 
probable that this would not be the only mode in which they would be 
killed. 
I need scarcely say a word as to the authority with which Mr. White 
writes on all subjects affecting the Maoris. He has been engaged for upwards 
of thirty-five years in collecting materials for the history of the race, and 
of their habits and customs, and has been initiated by their priesthood into all 
their mysteries, and is, in effect, ina position to give the most authoritative 
opinion on all points connected with these matters. Indeed, I am only 
repeating the opinion of a gentleman well qualified to pronounce on the 
subject, when I say that Mr. White knows more about the history, habits, 
and customs of the Maoris than they do themselves. 
Whether the foregoing communications will have any effect in 
inducing Dr. Haast to modify the views propounded in his papers, I 
cannot say ; but I think they completely dispose of the assertion that the 
present New Zealanders knew nothing of the Moa. I may conclude by 
expressing a hope that means may be placed at the disposal of Mr. White, 
