46 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



and the best living antliority on Maori traditions in tlie South Island, 

 it appears that these paintings are attributed to the Ngapulii, the oldest 

 inhabitants of this island of which there are any traditions. In fact, 

 the Ngapuhi are a somewhat mythical people, to whom, besides these 

 drawings, the destruction of the moa, or anything the origin of which 

 is unknown, is always attributed. I may here observe that Matiaha is 

 one of the authorities for the statement that the moa has been extinct 

 in very ancient times, and that there is a total absence of reliable tra- 

 ditions about them amongst the Maoris, which tallies perfectly with the 

 geological evidence lately brought forward. Besides the extinction of the 

 moa and the red paintings, Matiaha also attributes to them the heaps of 

 pipi shells (Mesodesma novcB-zealandicB) which are found far back in the 

 mountain ranges, and which were carried to such a distance by this people, 

 who, according to the aged Maori chief, were great travellers. I have 

 much pleasure in adding, in Appendix No. 1, a fuller account of their 

 ancient traditions from the pen of Mr. Stack. 



In my papers on the Sumner Cave"-'= I have alluded to that question 

 more fully. 



It has been ascertained that there are several caves and rock-shelters in 

 this island in which paintings of similar character are preserved on the 

 walls, of which, as before observed, those of the Takiroa rock-shelter 

 near the Waitaki were published in our " Transactions,"! but none 

 of the paintings are like those from the Weka Pass, except, perhaps, 

 the sparks rising from the figure in the right-hand corner. More- 

 over, one of the drawings is a scroll work and thus approaches the 

 designs of the Maoris of the past few centuries. There are others at the. 

 Opihi, at the Levels, Tengawai, and at Pareora, and, as I have just been 

 informed, in some other places in the Weka Pass Eanges, and doubtless in 

 many other localities. It would be of the highest interest to have these 

 carefully copied, as, no doubt, they will throw considerable light upon the 

 history of the ancient inhabitants of this island. 



My friend, the Eev. James W. Stack, has given me a copy of a drawing 

 from a rock-shelter near the Opihi Eiver, painted in black, which differs 

 considerably from the Weka Pass paintings, and, as it appears to me, 

 approaches more the designs of the Maoris. I add the same (fig. 3) 

 with Mr. Stack's note as Appendix 2. 



In examining the paintings under review, it is evident, at a first glance, 

 that they are quite distinct from those of the Maoris, which always consist 

 of curved lines and scroll-work, although in former days the traveller 



* " Trans. N.Z. Inst.," VII., Art. 2. 

 t Mantell, " Trans. N.Z. Inst.," I., 18, 2 eel., 5. 



