Canterbury and Westland. 429 



tlie conclusion, that the peculiar figures above alluded to, consisting 

 either of three circles near each other, or two joined circles, the so- 

 called spectacle ornament, are Oriental pre-christian symbols and not 

 letters, and as such, carrying with them the evidence of high antiquity. 

 He considers them to be the Trinity symbol, the pictorial expression 

 of the ancient religious creed of India, and which was carried by the 

 Buddhist Missionaries all over the world. Mr. Cameron states that 

 these symbols are found alike on great Buddhist Temples in India, on 

 the Bhilsa topes, on the standing stone of Aberdeen, and on the 

 Dingwall stone in North Britain. 



From a linguistic and ethnological examination of a few words 

 associated with the oldest New Zealand traditions, Mr. Cameron 

 aduces further arguments to associate the so-called mythical races in 

 this Island with some of the oldest inhabitants of India. An examina- 

 tion of similar rock paintings in this Island, not uncommon in some 

 parts in the interior, and a study of their contents, will doubtless throw 

 considerable light on the former inhabitants of the'se islands, and clear 

 away some of the haze.by which the ancient history of the autochthone 

 race of New Zealand has been surrounded. 



Erora the material collected in the Moa-bone Point Cave, and at 

 the Bakaia Moa-hunter Encampment, on both sides of the river, and 

 at some other localities, we can form a good conception of the mode of 

 life of the people at that distant time. Owing to the perfectly dry 

 soil in the Moa-bone Point Cave, many objects have been preserved, 

 which, under ordinary circumstances would have decayed. Thus we 

 obtained several portions of canoes, of totara piles belonging to a 

 "Wata (provision store), and of spears ; their apparatus for obtaining 

 fire, both by circular motion, and rubbing lengthwise, and a fork made 

 of manuka wood. Of smaller or ornamental objects, the following 

 are worth noticing : — the canine tooth of a dog, and some marine 

 gasteropod shells bored at the base, a few pieces of Moa bones, partly 

 prepared for fishhooks, a needle made of the humerus, and an awl made 

 of the distal end of the tibia of Ossifraga qigantea, and ornaments 

 made of the humerus of the albatross, probably to be suspended from 

 the neck ■ also a number of polished and chipped stone implements and 

 flakes were obtained. 



To sum up the evidence as to the presence and mode of life of 

 quaternary man in this part of New Zealand, the following points may 

 fairly be considered to have been so far proved : — 



