Canterbury and Westland. 419 



that it was in their time, that the country around Invercargill is said 

 to have been submerged, the forests of Canterbury and Otago destroyed 

 by fire, and the Moa exterminated. 



From the fact, that events occurring in such distant eras are referred 

 to one and the same people, we can safely conclude that the traditions 

 respecting them are more than uncertain. The shell heaps which can 

 be traced from the mouth of the Waipara to Banks' Peninsula, occur 

 always in the more westerly portion of the sandhills. They exist often 

 in several rows, so as to suggest that gradually as new dunes were 

 formed along the coast, the Shellfish-eaters advanced also with their 

 cooking places, so as not to be too far from the seashore, where they 

 collected their food, and obtained the necessary firewood from the drift 

 timber. That the human occupation of this Island dates back for a 

 considerable period we have another clear evidence in the numerous 

 ovens lining the banks of the old Waimakariri channel, crossed by the 

 Southern Railway line about eight miles from Christchurch. The river 

 at that time was evidently falling into the large lake existing then 

 (Lake Ellesmere extension) . The channel in question must have con- 

 tained a large body of water, or the Natives would not have used it as 

 a favourable camping ground. There are several other localities at the 

 East coast, whence important evidence is offered to us as to the 

 character, and mode of life of the autochthones inhabiting New Zealand 

 during the Quaternary period. In several papers, the results of my 

 researches in the ancient Moa-hunters' encampments on both sides of 

 the River Eakaia near its mouth have been offered to the public (See 

 Transactions of New Zealand Institute, Vol. IV., page 66 and sequ?), 

 to which I have to refer the reader, as I can here only give a short 

 resume of the same. 



The principal and best preserved Moa-hunter encampment is situated 

 on the northern bank of the Eakaia close to its entrance to the sea, where 

 it is joined by the little Rakaia. The Canterbury plains run here un- 

 interruptedly to the banks of the latter tributary, forming vertical cliffs 

 about 12 feet high, whilst towards the main river they are bounded by 

 two terraces of four and eight feet altitude. This old dwelling place 

 of the Moa hunting population was therefore situated in the triangular 

 space thus formed, and covered an area of more than twenty acres, a 

 portion of the property of Mr Cannon, to whose courtesy and kind 

 assistance during my researches, I am much indebted. 



On the lower terrace, proofs of more recent, or as I may term it, 

 Maori occupation are chiefly to be found, but some ovens and kitchen 



