Wellington Philosophical Society. 417 



the party in a very cool manner. They comprised many varieties, some being 

 evidently collie or sheep dogs, and a bull terrier was also seen, but all of 

 breeds that had escaped from Europeans. As an instance in proof of this, 

 Mr. Buchanan mentions that a spotted coach dog that escaped from Mr. Jones 

 at Waikouaiti, gave rise to a numerous and easily recognized progeny of wild 

 dogs. These dogs are therefore not to be confounded with the true wild dogs 

 of New Zealand, of which only a few specimens have been obtained, and 

 always in dense bush such as the district between the Mataura and Waikava. 

 Rats were also present in this country, but did not form so conspicuous 

 a feature as in later years. 



In the wide extent of the Manuherikia and upper Clutha basins, which are 

 occupied by beautifully moulded terraces, the character of the vegetation was 

 different from that on the ranges. The terraces were covered by a smooth, 

 equal, but sparse growth of short green grass, that from a distance appeared like 

 the turf of a well-trimmed lawn, but on walking over it proved only to be a 

 thin scattering of grass plants with very light soil between, that rose in clouds 

 of dust on being disturbed. A fire had evidently only a short time previously 

 run over these plains, and from the total absence of all larger vegetation it is 

 very probable that, owing to the dryness of the soil, the fires had done their 

 work more thoroughly than on the ranges. It is therefore not to be wondered 

 at that no Moa bones were observed on these level terraces, although it is in 

 the recent alluvium and in the crevices of the rocks surrounding this very 

 district that all the freshest specimens have been lately obtained. Indeed, so 

 far as bones on the surface are concerned, the very dryness of the climate, 

 which might be suggested as a reason for their preservation, was the actual 

 cause of their more thorough destruction, by favouring the passage of fires over 

 the district. Near the rivers the level flats that are liable to be flooded and 

 altered during freshets were occupied by a very dense growth of scrub, chiefly 

 of Olearia virgata and Coprosmas. On the more open parts of the river-bed 

 Maori cabbage grew in great luxuriance, the stems forming thickets 4 or 5 ft. 

 high, through which it was difficult to force a path. In this river-bed scrub Moa 

 bones were abundant, and it is in sandy ground occupying this very position 

 that the remarkably perfect skeleton now in the York Museum, and more 

 recently the Moa feathers, were found. The only trace of natives seen by the 

 party was an old cultivation, about an acre in extent, in the Dunstan gorge, 

 which could not have been long abandoned, as the crop of Maori cabbage with 

 which it was stocked had not spread beyond the line of the fence ; but many 

 other traces of the visits of natives have since been discovered by the diggers. 

 Among other things, Mr. John Graham in 1865 found a roll of t;ipa cloth 

 under one of the overhanging rock caves which are so common in the district, 

 and I have myself found fishing appliances and bags made of kelp in similar 

 positions, but lower down the river. c 2 



