Hamilton. — Maori Traditions of the Moa, 121 



Art. IX. — Notes on Maori Traditions of the Moa. By J". W. Hamilton, 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 8th August, 1874.] 

 In 1844, at "Wellington, I was present, as Governor Fitzroy's private secretary, 

 at a conversation held with a very old Maori, who asserted that he had. seen 

 Captain Cook. Major Richmond, then the Superintendent of "Wellington, or 

 rather of the Southern Districts of New Zealand, was, I think, also present. 

 I cannot recollect who was the Governor's interpreter. This Maori,* so far as 

 my memory now serves me, I should guess was 70 years old, at all events he 

 was brought forward as one of the oldest of his people then residing about Port 

 Nicholson. Being asked had he ever seen a Moa, he replied, "yes, he had 

 seen the last one that had been heard of." When questioned as to what it was 

 like, he described it as a very large, tall, bird, with a neck like a horse's neck ; 

 at the same time he made a long upward stroke in the air with his i^ight hand, 

 raising it far above his head, and so as to suggest a very fair idea of the shape 

 of a Moa's neck and head, such as I have since seen them in the skeleton birds 

 of the magnificent collection which Dr. Julius Haast has gathered together in 

 the Canterbury Museum. 



There is no bird or animal of large size indigenous to New Zealand to 

 which the 'old Maori could liken the Moa. The horse was probably the only 

 creature imported by us in 1844, in which he could possibly find any kind of 

 likeness calculated to give us a fair general idea of the shape and height of the 

 bird's neck and head. Possibly the old man did not speak the exact truth. 

 But, if he had never himself seen a Moa, how — unless he had received its 

 description handed down from Maoris who had seen one — could he possibly 

 have hit upon such an idea as to refer us to the tall arched neck of the horse 

 for a likeness? The gesture which he made with his hand remains impressed 

 upon my memory as freshly as if seen only yesterday, as one that was 

 singularly descriptive. It was like a sketch being made, as it were, in the air. 

 Had the Maoris been noted for their curiosity respecting fossils or old bones 

 lying about the country, one might surmise that the tolerably perfect skeleton 

 of the bird may at times have been noticed by them on the surface. But, to 

 this day, I have never heard of any Maori taking the trouble to lay bare any 

 Moa skeleton partly or entirely covered up. 



In 1844, and for many years later, it was believed by our people for a 

 certainty that the Moa was still to be found alive in the South Island, of which 

 very little was then known, otherwise Governor Fitzroy, who was fond of 

 natural science, would, I am sure, have questioned the old Maori minutely and 

 at length on the subject. In those days the names of one or two old sealers, 

 who in the south, about Otago and Foveaux Strait, had, it was said, actually 



* Hamnatangi. — Ed. 



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