Booth. — Descriiytion of the Moa Swam]? at Hamilton. 125 



part of the deposit, there was a patch of pelves, with very few other bones 

 mixed with them. This I shall account for farther on. 



A great quantity of quartz gravel and smooth pebbles occurred amongst 

 the bones and in the shallowest parts of the deposit, under a pelvis or breast 

 bone, which had not been disturbed j they lay in bunches, just as though they 

 had been placed there with a pint measure. 



There was no gravel in the lagoon except amongst the bones, and no small 

 gutter or water-course could be found by which it might have come in. There 

 were five or six smooth quartz stones, from one to two pounds each, lying 

 under the bones on the soft clay, and one piece of rock, 10 lbs. or 12 lbs. weight, 

 lying higher up on a firmer bottom. Also several pieces of split sticks were 

 found on the bottom, which I laid by, but some person must have taken 

 them away for fuel. 



So numerous have been the opinions given and theories advanced re- 

 garding the cause of this deposit, that I shall be obliged to make a passing 

 note of them all, in order that I may the more clearly lay before you my 

 humble views on the subject. 



As being brought together by water appears to be a favourite theory, I 

 shall first endeavour to show, by the following reasons, that such is not within 

 the bounds of probability. 



It is quite patent that water could not have lodged them there without 

 there having been a channel and a strong current, and even so, they must have 

 been brought a long distance for such a large number to be collected together. 



There being no inlet through the rim of the basin, and no watercourse to 

 be traced in any direction as a feeder, I cannot see how water could possibly 

 have lodged the bones there. It certainly would have left some trace as to 

 where it came from. 



The pit being on nearly a level flat, it would be an outrage on human 

 reason to suppose the bones to have come tumbling in from every direction to 

 this one small hole, and none of them have lodged in any of the numerous 

 lagoons surrounding it, all of which I have searched in vain to find bones or 

 the red oxide. Water moving with force enough to carry and place these 

 massive bones in such a heap would not have allowed the light silt or sediment 

 to have precipitated, but would have cairied it onward, and instead of light 

 silt, we would have found amongst the bones coarse shingle, roots of wood, 

 every description of debris^ and even boulders. 



The greater part of the bones would have been ground to dust, and those 

 that remained would have shown unmistakable signs of having travelled a 

 rough journey; but the bones presented not the slightest appearance of having 

 been waterworn, or even moved from the place where they first fell. Even 

 bones not larger than a sail-needle were quite perfect, and would it not be 



