﻿108 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



descended from a chief of that name, who arrived from Hawaiki in the canoe 

 ' Arawa,' twenty generations ago. Ngai Tahu having incorporated the 

 remnants of the two preceding tribes, the traditions of these tribes would 

 become the property of Ngai Tahu, and be handed down with the rest of theii 

 tribal lore to posterity. Now, while these traditions are full and distinct in 

 everything else to which they relate, and extend as far back as to events that 

 occurred before the migration from Hawaiki, they only contain very vague 

 and meagre references to the Moa. It is inconceivable that an observant and 

 intelligent people like the Maoris should be without traditions of such exciting 

 sport as moa-hunting, had they ever engaged in it. And these traditions, did 

 they exist, would not be confined to particular localities, but would be met 

 with in every part of these islands in which the remains of the Dinornis are 

 found. I have occasionally heard in the North Island stories of moa hunts, 

 but they were regarded by all, but those perhaps who related them, as pure 

 fabrications. In common with most people, I was long under the impi-ession 

 that the extinction of the Moa was an event of recent date, and hastened by 

 the Maori. I took it for granted that the natives only required to be 

 questioned to afford every information regarding its nature and habits, and the 

 causes of its disappearance. Further inquiry, however, has led me to think 

 that the Maoris were not moa-hunters, and that the bones that strewed the 

 plains of Canterbury were lying there at a period anterior to the last migration 

 from Hawaiki. I am strongly confirmed in this opinion by the fact that Mr. 

 Colenso, after careful inquiry thirty-three years ago — when circumstances were 

 more favourable for the collection of reliable traditions — came to the same 

 conclusion. I may remark, in passing, that Sir George G-rey published a col- 

 lection of traditions gathered from all parts of New Zealand. In none of them 

 is any allusion made to moa-hunting, though frequent references are made to 

 kiwi and weka-hunting, and sport of other kinds. But how are we to account 

 for any allusions to the Moa at all in Maori poetry and proverbs, unless the 

 people were familiar with it 1 Dr. Thompson, as quoted by the President, says 

 " That the Moa was alive when the first settlers came, is evident from the 

 name of this bird being mixed up with their songs and stories." But Dr. 

 Thompson was probably not aware that the Maoris were familiar with a large 

 land-bird which they called a Moa before ever they came to New Zealand. 

 The name by which the Cassowary is known in the islands is Moa ; and as it 

 somewhat resembles the Dinornis in form, an exaggerated description of it 

 would be a sufiiciently accurate description of that gigantic bird to mislead 

 anyone not fully prepared to question the knowledge of the Maoris upon the 

 subject, into supposing that they were perfecrly familiar with its form and 

 habits. I remember hearing, when a child, of the beautiful plumes that were 

 found at the top of the cliff which overhung a cavern somewhere on the East 



