﻿Haast. — Moots and Moa Hunters. 75 



it was generally considered an undeniable fact tHat the Maoris had not only 

 been cotemporaneous with the Dinoi'nis, but had hunted it, and had also 

 reliable traditions about it. 



When I first observed the geological position of the moa bones in situ I 

 began to doiibt the accuracy of such statements, because it became clear to me 

 that the huge birds were the representatives of the gigantic quadrupeds of the 

 northern hemisphere in the post-pliocene period. I mean to say that they 

 have lived as far back from the present as the mammoth, the rhinoceros, the 

 cave lion, and cave bear, the bones of which are found in similar deposits in 

 Europe. And as even the highest civilized nations in Europe have no tradi- 

 tions of the occurrence of these huge animals, it seemed to me highly 

 improbtable that a far inferior race, having advanced only to the state of those 

 people representing the neolithic period in Europe, could have retained 

 traditions extending over such an immeasurably long period. The discovery 

 of a fossil bone of Dinornis Australis in New South Wales, also in post- 

 pliocene beds, and resembling very much the Dinornis crassus of New Zealand, 

 offers additional evidence of the great antiquity of these huge birds. 



Being occupied in examining the contents of the large encampment of moa 

 hunters at the mouth of the Rakaia, I applied to several of my friends in the 

 Colony, who, by their knowledge of Maori lore, had ample opportunity of 

 forming an opinion upon the matter. I wrote to the Rev. William Colenso, 

 who, as far back as 1838, or 33 years ago, began to devote much attention to 

 the subject, and requested his assistance. He kindly forwarded to me a copy 

 of the "Annals and Magazine of Natural History " of August, 1844, which 

 contains an exhaustive paper, written by himself, bearing the title " An 

 account of some enormous fossil bones of an unknown species of the Class 

 Aves, lately discovered in New Zealand," and with which I was not previously 

 acquainted. In this paper the author gives an excellent description of the 

 moa bones in his possession, assigning to them their correct place in the classi- 

 fication of the avifauna. Mr. Colenso also relates in the same publication the 

 principal traditions of the natives respecting the Moa — that there was still 

 one specimen in existence which lived in the Wakapunaka mountains, guarded 

 by two Tuataras, gigantic lizards ; that it was like a huge cock with the face 

 of a man ; that it lived on air and had wattles. The author, from the latter 

 assertion, is inclined to believe that the Maoris, of Malayan origin, had still 

 some tradition of the Cassowaiy, the only struthious bird having fleshy 

 appendages. I cannot refrain from giving from that imj)ortant paper the 

 following passages bearing upon the subject, page 89 : — " Erom native 

 traditions we gain nothing to aid us in our inquiries after the probable age in 

 which this animal lived; for although the New Zealander abounds in 

 traditionary lore, both natural and supernatural, he appeai-s to be totally 



