﻿Haast. — Moas and Moa Htmters. 81 



outlets of which, and from several springs a little higher up tlie plains, a creek 

 is formed, now called the Little Rakaia, which, after a short southerly course, 

 empties itself into the Rakaia lagoon. Consequently, a large triangiilar block 

 of country, surrounded on two sides by ground almost impassable to man or 

 beast, is formed, whilst a similar block exists on the southern side of the river, 

 with this difference, that the sea coast forms one of the sides, which was also 

 available for hunting purposes. 



Referring more especially to the encampment under consideration, we find 

 that here the Canterbury Plains run without any break to the banks of the 

 Little Rakaia, where they form cliffs ten to twelve feet high, whilst towards the 

 main river two terraces occur of an altitude of eight and four feet respectively. 

 It is chiefly on the lower terrace that proofs of Maori occupation are to be found, 

 but ovens of the moa-hunters also occur in the same locality. On the plains 

 above the terraces, distant about sixty yards, both from the first terrace and 

 from the bed of the Little Rakaia, Mr. Cannon, the owner of the land, to 

 whose courtesy and kind permission to collect and to make further excavations 

 I am much indebted, in ploughing the ground uncovered a mass of former 

 cooking-places and kitchen- mid dens, the latter consisting mostly of broken 

 moa bones, and extending over an area of about fifty acres. When on a visit 

 to Mr. Edward Jollie, whose property is in the neighbourhood, I was 

 accidentally informed of this interesting fact, and in his company I devoted 

 several days, with the active co-operation of Mr. F. Fuller, to a careful 

 examination of this remarkable spot. The old ovens, generally covered by three 

 to six inches of silt and vegetable soil, are found all over the ploughed ground, 

 but most of them are situated near the centre of the field, where also the 

 greatest amount of kitchen-middens occur. They are about 150 yards from 

 the banks of the Little Rakaia, and nearly an equal distance from the first 

 terrace sloping down towards the main river. This circumstance is more 

 surprising, as the moa-hunters had to carry stones and water for their cooking 

 ovens a great distance, a labour they might have avoided had they selected 

 some locality close to either of the two watercourses. When passing, however, 

 along the perpendicular banks, ten to twelve feet high, of the Little Rakaia, 

 before it joins the Rakaia lagoon, we obtained in the silt, four to six 

 inches below the surface, a large piece of flint, about seven inches long and 

 three to four inches broad and thick, from which pieces had evidently been 

 chipped for knives. In other spots, in the same layer, moa bones, either 

 broken or entire, occurred, but isolated, suggesting that they had more 

 probably been thrown away by man in passing, or dropped by dogs, than 

 that they were the remains of a regular kitchen-midden. No moa bones, 

 as before stated, were found by me anywhere on the surface. All of them 

 had been covered by silt, or at least by thick layer of vegetable soil ; but I 



