CoLENSo, — 0?? the Moa. 73 



detritus of the deluge. In this opinion I, with some degree of diffidence, 

 venture to differ from that of a respected and talented friend of mine, who 

 supposes them to be of a much later period, and brought down from the 

 mountains by the winter torrents ; but, if they were thus conveyed from the 

 mountains by the waters, the incessant rolling and friction to which they 

 would have inevitably been exposed, would not only have broken off their 

 finer parts, but would have also much battered and worn what remained. 

 In all the specimens which I have yet seen, this, however, is not the case ; 

 for though broken and imperfect, they never appear to have been worn nor 

 battered by friction, nor subject in any way to the action of water. 



It has been alleged, that it is " in situations beyond the reach of river 

 deposits that the fossil bones of ancient animals are usually found." Whilst, 

 however, for the avoiding of unnecessary argument, I grant this as a general 

 rule, I would remark, that I do not for a moment suppose that the bones of 

 the Moa are deposited in the beds of those rivers in which they have hitherto 

 been met with. No ; they show by their appearance that their place of 

 concealment is not in water ; and they equally, I think, indicate that their 

 deposition has been in places effectually excluded from light and air, a fact 

 which is, in my opinion, incontestably proved by the natives never meeting 

 with them but when washed up or appearing on the beds of gravel in the 

 rivers. We should not forget that the immense Mei/atherium was originally 

 discovered by M. Sellon on the banks of the Arapey ; and the greater part 

 of an entire skeleton of that animal (which was brought to England by 

 Mr. Paris, the English Consul at Buenos Ayres), was foimd by a peasant, 

 half covered with water, in the river Salado. 



From native tradition we gain nothing to aid us in our enquiries after 

 the probable age in which this animal lived ; for although the New Zealander 

 abounds in traditionary lore, both natural and supernatural, he appears to 

 be totally ignorant of anything concerning the Moa, save the fabulous 

 stories already referred to. If such an animal ever existed within the times 

 of the present race of New Zealanders, siu-ely, to a people possessing no 

 quadi'uped,* and but very scantily supplied with both animal and vegetable 

 food, the chase and capture of such a creature would not only be a grand 

 achievement, but one also, from its importance, not likely ever to be forgot- 

 ten ; seeing, too, that many things of comparatively minor importance are 

 by them handed down from father to son in continued succession, from the 

 very night of history. Even fishes, birds, and plants (anciently sought 

 after. with avidity as articles of food, and now, if not altogether, very nearly 



* The only quadrupeds indigenous to New Zealand are a dog, a small rat, a few 

 Saimans, a bat, and, on the coast, one or two species of seal. [This note is a long one 

 of nearly two pages in the original monograph, describing those animals. I omit it here. 



