426 Geology of 



It is very peculiar that the traditions of the Kahui Tipua or ogre band,. 

 speak only of "Weka hunts, whilst the shell heaps, much younger in- 

 age than the kitchen middens of the Moa-hunters, are said to have 

 been. formed by the second set of inhabitants, TeEapuwai. Although 

 •a number of human skeletons hare been found in sandhills, swamps, 

 or covered with a deep layer of soil, having to all appearances been 

 long in the ground, there is no sufficient evidence to conclude that they 

 date back to the time when the Moa was still in existence. There is 

 however, strong probability that the burial place near the Moa-bone 

 Point Cave, described in Tol. YTI. of the " Transactions of the Xew 

 Zealand Institute " was used by the Moa-hunters having their encamp- 

 ment on the other side of the outrunning ridge close by, but there is 

 no direct evidence to form such a connection. 



Moreover, the two skulls obtained in this burial place are very 

 defective, and have undergone such prolonged maceration, that they 

 have become much deformed by the weight of the superincumbent soil. 

 However, so much is certain, that they possess some characters in 

 many respects different from true Polynesian skulls. Besides these 

 skulls, the Canterbury Museum possesses several others obtained from 

 similar localities, but unfortunately they are in the same defective state ; 

 some of them, are brachycephalic, others dolichocephalic, but all of 

 them of small size, in that respect approaching the Negrito type. The 

 skeletons were, with one or two exceptions, found in a sitting position, 

 the knees close to the chin, and generally having several (mostly three) 

 polished stone implements with them, always placed near the middle 

 of the body. It is evident that the Melanesian or Papuan affinities in 

 some of these skulls must be very great, because this has not only been 

 pointed out repeatedly by some of the most experienced craniologists, 

 but even their being Maori skulls has been denied altogether. In the 

 year 1S6S, I sent to the late Professor C. G-. Carus, two Maori skulls 

 obtained from some sandhills near the Selwyn ; but that eminent 

 physiologist upon examining them, informed me that I must have made 

 some mistake ; as these skulls could not be of Maori origin, but must 

 have belonged to some other race. Unfortunately, before my answer 

 arrived in Dresden, the illustrious octogenarian had in the meantime 

 passed away, but Professor Leuckart, in Leipsic, was kind enough to 

 compare them with (what he calls) a genuine Maori skull, and has 

 informed me that they cannot be distinguished from the latter. 

 However, it may be possible, that the Maori skull in question when 

 compared with a large series of others, may also prove to be of a 



