152 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



and who has devoted a considerable time to the study of these ethnological 

 questions. 



Eetiu'niug from this digression to the Otokai Creek Islet, I may observe 

 that it consists of mica schist, with numerous segregations of quartz, by 

 which the rock has become so hardened that it has resisted successfully the 

 fm-y of the surf breaking here against the coast. These rocks rise at an 

 average of fifteen feet above high-water mark, and are covered by five to 

 six feet of loess, above which about twelve hiches of vegetable soil has accu- 

 mulated. 



At the junction of the two last-mentioned beds, quite a thick layer of 

 cores, implements, flakes, and chips exists, all manufactured from hard ba- 

 saltic boulders, having been collected along the beach, derived from Cragg's 

 Hill and the other basaltic cones in the neighbourhood. This deposit is 

 fii-om three to six inches thick. 



Besides this manufactured material, some large flat boulders of basalt 

 were lying amongst it, having doubtless been used as working tables by the 

 savage artificers, while long, thin, and roundish boulders of mica schist, 

 close to them, had evidently been employed as flaking-tools or fabricators. 

 No signs of polished stone implements, nor of polishing material of any 

 kind were discovered in the ditch, about two feet broad and thirty feet 

 long, which I dug in that locality, in company with my friend, Mr. Eobert 

 Gillies, F'.L.S., of Dunedin, whose hospitahty and assistance I enjoyed last 

 summer, during the time these excavations were undertaken. 



However, only a small portion of this ground was examined, and I have 

 no doubt that a great deal of valuable information is still hidden from us m 

 that spot. There is great probability that many, if not all the more perfect 

 specimens in the form of adzes, were destmed to be polished at a more pro- 

 pitious season and in a more favourable locality. On the other hand, the 

 form and finish of a number of knives, saws, drills, and spear-heads, suggest 

 that they were used in this more primitive condition. Only a few shells 

 and bones were mixed with these remnants of the stone manufactory, but 

 immediately above them, and reaching to the roots of the luxuriant sward 

 of grass covering the ground, and often to a thickness of six to eight inches, 

 kitchen-middens had been deposited. 



They consist of bones of seals, dogs, and of a variety of birds and fishes 

 of all sizes, even the smallest kinds having evidently been used as food. As 

 stated in the beginning, not the least sign of Moa bones was met with. 

 Amongst these kitchen-middens two portions of a human femur belonging to a 

 young individual were found , the bone had evidently been broken when fresh. 



As there was not the least sign of any other human bone amongst the 

 large amount of kitchen-middens exposed and examined, it would be ])i"ema- 



