Haast. — Researches in Sumner Moa Cave. 81 



sary for the achievement of such important alterations, worked out by the 

 action of the sea and the rivers entering it. 



And as in other portions of this island the deposits in which the kitchen 

 middens of the Moa-hunters occur are of similar antiquity, I have no doubt 

 that my views expressed on this subject some years ago will gain general 

 acceptance in due time, although I know that erroneous notions to the con- 

 trary, when they have once become popular prejudices, are difficult to eradicate; 

 especially when they are supported by one or two scientific men in New 

 Zealand, notwithstanding that their assertions never stood the test of critical 

 examination, and have been refuted over and over again. 



That after the deposition of the dirt bed the cave remained uninhabited for 

 a considerable space of time, is not only proved by the clear line of demarca- 

 tion between that layer and the shell bed above it, in which no Moa bones 

 were found, but also by the deposit of blown sands about a foot thick at the 

 entrance, and gradually thinning out as it advances towards the interior of the 

 cave. Moreover, if we consider that at least these lower shell-beds in the cave 

 are of contemporaneous origin with those which are situated outside on the 

 dunes to which Maori tradition assigns such a high antiquity, it is evident, 

 judging from their situation in such a distant and well-defined position above 

 the bed containing Moa bones, that the extinction of our gigantic birds, 

 reasoning from this fact alone, is thrown back for a considerable space of time. 



Of course it is impossible to calculate this time by even hundreds of years, 

 but as polished stone implements have been found in New Zealand, buried in 

 littoral beds, 15 feet below the surface in undisturbed ground, over which 

 extensive forests are growing, containing trees of enormous size, there is no 

 doubt that the use of polished stone implements dates far back in pre-historic 

 times; I mean to say, to a period to which even the most obscure traditions 

 of the aborigines do not reach. 



Moreover, it has been proved by philological researches, that the Polynesian 

 race, to which the Maoris belong, is of high antiquity, and that since their 

 location in the Pacific Ocean, great physical changes must have taken place in 

 this part of the earth's surface. 



The similarity of the language spoken on numerous small islands situated 

 at such considerable distances from each other, is no argument against such a 

 hypothesis, because, under certain conditions, even without accidental or 

 intended migrations, languages may remain nearly unchanged for a considerable 

 space of time, I may even venture to say for thousands of years. In support 

 of this view I wish only to refer here to the great resemblance of the Coptic 

 with the language of the old Egyptians, as revealed to us by the translation of 

 the hieroglyphic inscriptions on the oldest monuments of that wonderful race 



still standing proudly on the banks of the Nile. 



M 



