﻿78 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



We could not be mistaken as to the animal, for witli his own hand he drew a 

 very good representation of a lizard on a piece of paper, as also of a snake, in 

 order to show lis what he meant." I cannot stop now to inquire what 

 animals Tawailmrua may ha\^e meant, hut it shows us clearly that he was an 

 intelligent man, whose drawings were so well executed that the animals 

 could be readily recognized. Queen Charlotte Sound, being in easy communi- 

 cation with the more southern portion of this island, and in close proximity to 

 the Wairau Plains, where moa bones have been found repeatedly, mixst we 

 not assume that the natives of those days had no traditions of the Moa, or 

 this chief would certainly have spoken of it, and drawn it also, as the most 

 wonderful animal of New Zealand ? In any case, this is certainly very 

 important negative evidence in support of my opinion. 



Proceeding now to an examination of the traces left by the moa-hunting 

 population, I believe that it was also the Plon. W. Mantell who first drew the 

 attention of scientific men to the fact that there was ample evidence to prove 

 convincingly that man had been co-temporaneous with the Dinornis. He 

 describes the occurrence of small circular beds of ashes with charcoal very 

 ancient, and such as are generally left by the native fires that have long been 

 burning on the surface. They contained calcined bones of men, dogs, and 

 Moas. Fragments of obsidian, flint, two fishing-line stones, and a small whale- 

 bone tnere were also dug up. The Maoris informed Mr. Mantell that the 

 sand-flat of Te Rangatapu, where he obtained these relics, was one of the first 

 spots on which their ancestors located.* A similar account is given by the 

 Rev. J. Taylor, who has examined some localities in the valley of the 

 Wanganui river abounding in old cooking places. If further investigations of 

 these interesting localities would prove beyond a doubt that really the bones 

 of man, moa, and dog, with flint chips and true Maori implements, occur 

 together, and have not been mixed vip accidentally, the present indigenous 

 race having chosen the same favourable spots for their camping grounds as 

 the moa hunters did before, the question, as far as the Northern Island is 

 concerned, would soon be settled. However, I venture to assert that more 

 careful and systematic researches than Mr. Mantell, owing to the troublesome 

 interference of the natives, was enabled to make, would prove that the Moa 

 kitchen middens ai'e quite distinct, and that where Maori ovens with indica- 

 tions of cannibalism occur, they have been formed over, neai', or within those 

 of the older race. In the course of this address it will be my duty to show 

 why I believe that such a result would be gained, and which would confirm 

 my observations made in this province upon the subject. 



Another important qixestion which remains still to be answered is, whether 

 the human skeletons found amongst the sandhills, which, by the shifting of 



* "Petrifactions and their Teachings." 



