﻿MuRTSON. — Notes on Moa Remains. 123 



kindled on tlie flat surface of the terrace, showed tliat numerous fragments of 

 egg-shell were mixed up v/ith the chips. This looked as if those who were 

 watching the stones, which were being heated to be broken up for knives, 

 had passed away the time by cooking omelettes. There can be no doubt that 

 the egg of the Moa formed a favourite article of food with those hunters, 

 from the frequency of the occurrence of egg-shells in the ovens, and this 

 circumstance very naturally suggested the idea that the extermination of the 

 bird may have been brought about by this cause. The nests would be easily 

 discovered, as the country generally was open and grassy, with patches of low 

 scrub at the foot of the hills. The encampment I have referred to was in the 

 midst of a clump of horoJdo, burnt patches of which were found on the Ioav 

 grounds in many parts of the interior when the first European settlers occupied 

 the country. Chert knives, some of which bore signs of having been used, 

 have been found scattered over a lai-ge area of ground in the vicinity of the 

 encampment, and I should add that several polished stone axes have been 

 found on or near the surface of the ground in the immediate neighbourhood. 

 Upon the whole, my observations have led me to arrive at different conclusions 

 from those of Dr. Haast, Mr. Colenso, and the Rev. Mr. Stack. The former 

 admits, in referring to certain researches of Mr. Mantell in the ISToi'th Island, 

 that "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 iip accident- 

 ally, the present indigenous race having chosen the same favourable spots for 

 their camping ground as the uioa-hunters did before, the question, so far as 

 the Northern Island is concerned, would soon be settled." I contend that, so 

 far as the interior of this province is concerned, an analysis of the Puke-toi-toi 

 cooking places has proved that the Moa has lived in comparatively recent 

 times, and that the moa-hunters were, in all probability, the progenitors of 

 the race now inhabiting the island. I do not attach much importance to the 

 argument that if the Moa had been alive when Captain Cook visited New 

 Zealand a hundred years ago, such a careful inquirer as the great navigator 

 was must have heard of its existence, and would have alluded to it in his 

 works. This argument can only hold good if it can be shown that Captain 

 Cook visited a locality where moa remains have been found under conditions 

 that would lead to the supposition that they were of comparatively recent 

 date. I think, from the evidence we are in possession of, there is every reason 

 to suppose that the Dinornis has existed within the last hundred years. In 

 some woi'k on New Zealand, I have seen it mentioned that the captain of a 

 whaler who visited the mouth of the Molyneux River about the commencement 

 of the present century, reported that he had seen the bones of the Moa, with 

 the flesh adhei'ing, in the possession of the Maoris, and I think that the 



