Haast. — Researches in Sumner Moa Cave. 75 



songs to the weka, and if we would examine newer refuse heaps of the natives, 

 either on the coast or inland, I am sure that we could obtain ample evidence 

 from the presence of the remains of this bird that it constituted one of their 

 favourite meals. 



I have before observed that the line of demarcation between the surface of 

 the dirt bed and the overlying shell beds, in which no Moa bones were found, 

 is constant and very distinct, and goes far to prove that during a considerable 

 lapse of time no human occupation of the cave took place. 



This proposition gains in strength by the existence of a bed of drift sand, 

 deposited between these two beds, forming a layer of a thickness of about 1 2 

 inches at the entrance of the cave and gradually thinning towards the interior. 



As the cave was amply protected, not only by its position as well as by the 

 huge rock in front, but without doubt, also by dense vegetation, sprung up 

 when it was left undisturbed, after the Moa-hunters ceased to frequent it, the 

 discovery of this bed of drift sand between the two formations has im- 

 portant bearings. 



Excavations amongst the Sand Hills outside the Cave. 



Before proceeding to general conclusions to be drawn from the results 

 obtained during the excavations in the cave in question, I wish to offer a short 

 description of my researches, of which some date as far back as 1865, made 

 amongst the Moa-hunters and Maori kitchen middens in its immediate 

 neighbourhood. 



When speaking of the position of the cave, I alluded already to the two 

 lines of boulder deposits running from the western headland in an easterly 

 direction, and gradually diminishing in height and size. 



Between them and the foot of Banks Peninsula, near the cave, drift sands 

 very soon accumulated, by which a quarter of a mile to the east these boulders 

 were gradually covered. 



About 200 feet east of the cave. Banks Peninsula recedes nearly a quarter 

 of a mile to the south, the low ground being here also covered by drift sands, 

 many acres in extent, the highest points 30 feet above high-water mark. 



On this flat, first the Moa-hunters, and afterwards their successors, the shell- 

 fish eaters, had extensive camping grounds. 



Although in many places the kitchen middens of the older and newer 

 occupants, owing to the changeable nature of the shifting sands, have become 

 mixed up so as in many cases to make it impossible to fix a clear line of de- 

 marcation between them ; in other instances that peculiarity of the sands has 

 caused that they have been very well preserved, and the space between both 

 sets of beds sharply defined. 



