Hurron.—On Maori Cooking Places, Shag River. 105 
mation regarding the Maori, or ‘‘ Moa-hunter,”’ feasts to make it unneces- 
sary for me to wait until the whole collection has been examined before 
laying the results before you. 
The deposits of shells and bones generally extended to only four or five 
feet from the surface ; but, in one place, Mr. Booth found bones of dog, 
seal, and moa, mixed with shells, at a depth of twelve feet. This deposit 
was covered by four feet of clean sand. On the summit of the highest 
hill we obtained bone fish-hooks, flakes of chert and obsidian, ground stone 
implements, fishing-net sinkers, and ornaments manufactured out of Dent- 
alium giganteum—a fossil abundant at the Waitaki. With these were moa 
bones of several species, bones of fish, and immense numbers of the follow- 
ing shells, viz., Haliotis tris, Amphibola avellana, Chione stutchburyi (partly 
coloured), and Mytilus dunkeri (still retaining its colour). All the ornaments 
manufactured from Dentaliwm, the obsidian flakes, and the ground imple- 
ments were got close together round one oven, at about two feet from the 
surface. Above them was a heterogenous mixture of bones (including 
many belonging to the Moa), and shells ; and a similar mixture extended 
for another two feet below them. 
In the deepest deposit found (twelve feet), besides bones of seal, dog, 
moa, penguin, and fish, there were shells of Haliotis iris and large quantities 
of Chione stutchburyi, still partly retainmg their colour. These shells of C. 
stutchburyi, however, differed from those of the same species found in all 
other parts of the midden, by their being much larger. This may, perhaps, 
be accounted for by the Maoris at that time having collected their pipis on 
a different bank from the one they afterwards used; for we know that 
C. stutchburyi has survived from the Miocene period without decreasing in 
size. 
It is quite unnecessary for me to give lists of all the remains at each 
of the excavations made by Mr. Booth, for they were all nearly alike. Moa 
bones were never found unassociated with beds of shells, and although 
shell beds did occur without moa bones, these just as often underlaid beds 
with moa bones as overlaid them. 
The following is a list of the animals, remains of which were found in 
the midden, so far as I have examined the collections :—Seal, dog, rat, 
Dinornis casuarinus, D. crassus, D. elephantopus, and D. gravis. Albatross, 
penguin, and many other birds not determined. Fish-bones were very 
abundant, the commonest species being Thyrsites atun. The following shells 
were the only ones found :—Calyptrea maculata, Imperator cookii, Turbo 
smaragdus, Haliotis iris, Amphibola avellana, Mactra discors, Mesodesma nove- 
zealandia, Chione stutchburyi (the most abundant of all), and Mytilus dunkeri. 
No bones of Harpagornis nor of Cnemiornis were found. 
N 
