6 New Zealand Institute. 



always evidence tliat they were dragged into these caves by beasts of prey ; 

 but New Zealand caves have failed to show any such cause for the presence 

 of Moa bones in them, or that any animal existed beyond larger forms of 

 those now inhabiting the islands. These cave Moa bones, and probably 

 those found in certain alluvial deposits, he considered to belong to a period 

 before the arrival of the aborigines. He then described the several circum- 

 stances under which the remains of the Moa are found associated with works 

 of man in such a manner as to leave no doubt that they co-existed with the 

 earliest aborigines, and were largely used as food, along with seals and a 

 variety of other animals. From the examination of the uiims, or Maori ovens, 

 there was evidence that cannibalism prevailed at the time the Moas were 

 used for food, but only in the North Island. Certain works of art 

 associated with bones in these early deposits appeared to indicate a period 

 when many of the implements in common use among the Maoris, and sup- 

 posed to have been brought with them from Hawaiki, were unknown to 

 these early aborigines. The highly prized pounmnu, or greenstone, appears 

 also to have been discovered in New Zealand at a later date. The most 

 ancient of these ovens which he had examined were scooped out in the 

 surface of marine deposits, generally blue clays or sands, such as those 

 deposited in estuaries or tidal lagoons, and were never covered by other than 

 fresh water or bloAvn sand deposits. 



Those at Waingongoro, in the North Island, and at Awamoa, in Otago, 

 were the oldest he had seen, and contained fragments of stone used as 

 cutting implements, of kinds which showed that even at that early period the 

 natives had extensively explored the interior of these islands. In Otago, 

 especially, it is probable that the interior was their usual dwelling place, and 

 that they only paid occasional and periodical visits to the sea coast. He 

 referred to certain rude figures which he discovered drawn on the walls of a 

 cave in the Waitaki Valley (see illustrations)— dcmong which was rudely 

 depicted the likeness of a Moa by some early aboriginal artist — and proceeded 

 to describe the causes which led to the extermination of those birds. The 

 lecturer said that this must have taken place within a very short period 

 after the appearance of man, adducing the very slight and obscure allusions 

 in the most ancient Maori traditions to their existence as proof of this. 



After alluding to the probable habits and mode of life of the Moa, and to 

 the present representatives of the class of birds to which they belong, 

 Mr. Mantell concluded by saying that in his lecture he confined himself to 

 the subject of the Moa, the native word including these birds as a whole, 

 leaving the different species of Dinornis, Palapteryx, and other genera which 

 have been made, to those who believe that they have the necessary data. For 

 his part he did not believe that, with the exception of the very fresh skeleton 



