Fraser.— On the Eurnsclough Moa Cave. 103 
carried away a very large collection of the best preserved Moa bones J have 
ever seen, and I have been a collector for many years. Several of these bones 
have bunches of sinews attached to them, and are in other respects so perfect, 
showing neither abrasion nor the slightest indication of having travelled even 
the shortest distance, that I could come to no other conclusion than that the 
gigantic birds to which these various sized bones belonged must have perished 
within the cave. 
Very shortly after my arrival at Earnsclough I proceeded to visit the 
cave, accompanied by my son. We crossed the lower end of the Dunstan 
basin, and entered by a narrow gorge the once beautiful valley of the Conroy, 
now a hideous chaotic mass of alluvial workings. This valley contained rich 
auriferous deposits, and in course of the workings vast quantities of Moa bones 
were discovered at varying depths, from one to fifteen feet. 
We passed Pipeclay Gully, in which was found the lower jaw of a Saurian 
in a perfect state of preservation. It is now in the possession of Dr. Thomson, 
of Clyde. The jaw is somewhat larger than, but in other respects similar to, 
that which was found in the Glenmark swamp, and at present in the Canterbury 
Museum. About four miles from the gorge we turned suddenly to the right, 
and crossing the Conroy we commenced a gradual but oblique ascent of a spur 
of the Umbrellas, After attaining a height of about 800 feet above the 
Conroy we found our further course in this direction stopped by a wide and 
deep gully, the edge of which bristled with huge castellated-looking dark rocks, 
large slabs from which had slipped down and lay on the side of the gully. At 
the foot of one of the largest of these rocks, and in the centre of a platform 
about twenty yards square, one side of which formed the edge of the gully, we 
found the entrances to the cave, which are about twenty feet apart. We lighted 
our lamp, and descended by the perpendicular entrance, and, after some 
scrambling, we found ourselves on a landing place which was lighted from the 
other entrance, which was of an easy gradient, but so low that when we made 
our exit from it we were compelled to go on all fours. The roof between the 
entrances is composed of a rock, the upper surface of which is covered with a 
well-grassed turf. The stone shows no sign of recent displacement, and may 
have been in its present position for a thousand years. The floor of the 
landing place is composed of rubbish of various kinds, including partially 
charred Moa bones. It was not difficult to account for the charred bones ; the 
shed from the scrub at the entrances had accumulated in the dry caye until 
such time as it fell a prey to our great grass fires. There was not the slightest 
indication of man having inhabited the cave. After leaving the landing place 
we entered what I may call the true cave. Here we found the gradient so 
steep that the fine dust which covered the floor of the cave to a considerable 
depth slipped down from under our feet like sand. And I may here remark 
