446 Geology of 



by freshets from what rnay have been the crossing place a little higher- 

 up. This small creek in all its ramifications and with its deposits 

 has been traced for a considerable distance during my excavations 

 and it has been found that the floor of the former lagoon was very 

 uneven, so that even near the centre, the bottom clay beds rise 

 sometimes to the surface. It is near these localities where the 

 greatest harvest of Moa-bones was made, the carcasses or portions of 

 birds having evidently been washed here against the banks and 

 deposited in considerable quantities. I may here add that in that 

 portion of the turbary deposits examined by me, the upper portion 

 consists generally of from 4 to 7 feet of black peat, very pure and 

 scarcely mixed with any other matter ; below it 2 to 3 feet of more 

 impure peat follow, reposing on a clay bottom. These lower peat 

 beds have a somewhat reddish hue — principally when large quantities of 

 Moa-bones are imbedded in them. They contain also large quantities 

 of flax leaves, seeds, and stems of Eaupo, and pieces of drift timber- 

 of various kinds. There are however other spots situated in several 

 directions amongst the turbary deposits explored, where other causes 

 have been in operation to form also considerable accumulations of 

 dinornithic remains. 



If we consider the nature of such a swamp as the GJ-lenmark valley 

 must have possessed at one time during the Moa age, there is all 

 probability that it resembled closely some still at present in existence 

 in New Zealand, where amongst the more solid ground already formed 

 a great number of deep water holes are scattered over its surface. 

 These deep stagnant pools, as ample experience has shown, are very 

 dangerous to cattle and horses. "When once a beast has fallen into 

 them, there is no chance for it to escape from drowning. It is 

 evident, looking at the physical features of the country, that the Moas 

 had in this neighbourhood one or several crossing places to go from 

 one side of the valley to the other, where a rich vegetation on the low 

 ranges offered them doubtless ample food. Occasionally during this 

 crossing one bird or another may have fallen into the water holes, 

 and it would also not be too hazardous to assume that, when from 

 some cause or other, a drove of Moas took fright, they have 

 been driven or rushed across the same locality, where in their 

 headlong course a great number of them may have perished in the 

 same manner; the confirmation of such an hypothesis is furnished 

 by the fact, that over the whole area under consideration are found 

 what may be called regular nests of Moa-bones ; bones of 20 to 30 



