Hood. — On Changes in the Physical Geography of N.Z, 119 



to be even unacquainted with the art of polishing stone weapons, neverthe- 

 less, having in after times returned to agricultural pursuits, and taken to 

 cannibalism, regained most of the remnants of that peculiar phase of civiliza- 

 tion once prevailing amongst their still remoter ancestors, as well as amongst 

 the allied races in the Samoan, Friendly, Sandwich, and other groups of islands 

 tenanted by the Polynesians — such as the system of taboo — the inheritance of 

 lands passing through females, etc., — and presenting on the arrival of the 

 Europeans equally fine physical characteristics, with a language little altered, 

 and retaining the same or very similar traditions ; those strangely interesting 

 monuments of the more advanced state to which the progenitors of this widely 

 scattered race had attained in the country from which they originally came. 



It is considered by many of the ablest students of ethnology that the Poly- 

 nesian belongs to one of the most ancient and well marked families of man, 

 and certainly if the ancestors of this branch from the main stem were settled 

 here before the islands were severed, a far more exalted antiquity is probably 

 claimed for the Maori than even Mr. Hale proposes. 



In adverting to the subjects touched upon in this paper, it is also with the 

 hope that whilst some of the old men remain, with whom traditions may have 

 lingered, affording valuable evidence possibly of the more ancient as well as 

 recent changes in the configuration of the country which may be of service 

 to our engineers, and also respecting its natural history, those who have the 

 opportunity may endeavour to obtain all the information to be gathered 

 bearing upon these interesting subjects, ere the chance of doing so is gone for 

 ever, and more of its ancient denizens have passed away unknown — as the 

 Notornis would have done but for Mr. Mantell. 



Within the last seven years, in the wooded ranges behind Opotiki, a bird 

 was killed, which, the natives say, used to be common and esteemed, unluckily 

 for itself, a great delicacy; it resembled a goose in shape, with rufous plumage ; 

 being unable to fly, it was caught with dogs. My informant, who casually 

 mentioned the circumstance, was there at the time, and never having heard of 

 the Cnemiornis, and not taking* particular interest in such matters, was 

 surprised at my evincing so much interest in his report of the existence of this, 

 its probable still living congener. Very lately, too, at the edge of the forest, on 

 the upper Whanganui, it is rumoured that a strange bird was seen which may 

 belong to the same species. 



In the recesses of the vast forests of the North Island, impenetrable to man, 

 unless with time and labour expended in cutting a pathway through the dense 

 undergrowth, it is quite possible that wingless birds may still survive, once 

 familiar to the natives, but not mentioned by them to us in consequence of 

 their being nearly forgotten from their rarity — being chiefly nocturnal in their 

 habits they seldom stand the risk of being disturbed by the few chance 



