﻿100 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



of tlie Dinomis in pre-historic times, and tlie utter ignorance of the Maoris on 

 the subject. 



In my first essay I tried to explain that the Maoris, by comparing the 

 moa bones with those of other living species of birds, and finding that they 

 resembled most closely those of the Apteryx, might have traced in such a way 

 the near i-elationship of both genera ; however, as Mr. Colenso states in a 

 letter dated 1 3th July, even in this respect I went too far, because, alluding to 

 this subject, the reverend gentleman says, " Believe me, no Maori of thirty or 

 thirty-five years ago ever once supposed the moa bones to be those of a bird, 

 they always obstinately denied it. That they since have done so is entirely 

 owing to the pakehas." 



Mr. Colenso informs me, also, that he wotild translate differently the 

 Maori proverb, Te moa Jcaihau, to which I am indebted to the Rev. J. W. 

 Stack, although he does not give me his translation. 



My attention has been directed to a letter of Sir George Grey to the 

 Zoological Society of London, in March, 1870, in reference to my 6rst com- 

 munication to the same society concerning the moa-hunter encampment at the 

 Rakaia, in which that gentleman states, " The natives all know the word ' Moa,' 

 as describing the extinct bird ; and when I went to New Zealand twenty-five 

 years ago the natives invariably spoke to me of the Moa as a bird well known 

 to their ancestors. They spoke of the Moa in exactly the same manner as 

 they did of the Kakapo, the Kiwi, the Weka, and an extinct kind of Rail, in 

 districts where all these birds had disappeared. Allusions to the Moa are 

 found in their poems, sometimes together with allusions to bii-ds still in 

 existence in some parts of the island. From these circumstances, and from 

 former frequent conversations with old natives, I have never entertained the 

 slightest doubt that the Moa was found by the ancestors of the present New 

 Zealand race when they fii'st occupied the islands, and that by degrees the 

 Moa was destroyed and disappeared, as have several other wingless birds 

 from different parts of New Zealand." 



It will be seen from that extract that Sir George Grey speaks of allusions 

 to the Moa being handed to us in the poems of the Maoris, and it is therefore 

 very much to be regretted that none of these allusions are to be found in any 

 of the published traditions or poems, of which the classical volume of Sir 

 George Grey is considered the most reliable, because, as the Rev, James W. 

 Stack informs me, in none of them is any allusion made to moa-hunting, 

 though frequent references are made to kiwi and weka-hunting, and sports of 

 other kinds. 



In my first paper I alluded to two human skulls from the sandhills, sent 

 by me to the late Professor Dr. C. G. Carus, and which by that illustrious 

 anatomist were thought not to be of Maori oiigin. Since then Professor 



