Description of the Anaotemoa Cave. 271 



Description of the Cave called by the New Zealanders Te 

 Anaotemoa) or the Cave of the Moa. — This cave is situated 

 near the summit of a small hill, about a mile and a half in a 

 south-westerly direction from the village of Parianiwaniwa. 

 The settlement is seventeen miles from Honi-Paka, a place 

 on the Waipa river. The country in the neighbourhood of 

 Parianiwaniwa is about a thousand feet above the level of 

 the sea. Parianiwaniwa signifies, in the Maori language, 

 " the precipice of the rainbow." The cave of the Moa is in a 

 limestone hill, with two openings, — one towards the north-east, 

 and the other towards the south-west. The north-east open- 

 ing has evidently resulted from the falling in of the roof, and 

 is apparently of a recent occurrence ; the south-west entrance 

 is fourteen feet high, and ten feet broad, and covered over 

 with trees and bushes, which we had to break down be- 

 fore we got an entrance. The cave is 165 feet long, the 

 greatest breadth 28 feet, and the height 60 feet. The roof 

 is oval, and numerous stalactites drop gracefully from it, 

 giving a cathedral-like effect to the whole. The cave is some- 

 thing in the form of a crescent ; one part of the floor is 

 covered over with calcareous spar ; another part with a large 

 deposit of soft stalagmites ; and that part of the floor farthest 

 distant from the south-west opening is covered with earth, 

 limestones, and mud, which appear to have fallen down when 

 the roof of the cave gave way, which now forms the north- 

 east opening. 



It is under this earth, and the soft deposit of carbonate 

 of lime, that the Moa's bones are found. At the south-west 

 entrance there is a mound of earth which has either fallen 

 from the roof, or been washed in. The air of the cave is 

 colder than the atmosphere, and the bottom or floor descends 

 as you proceed from this entrance. There was not much 

 dropping of water from the roof when we were there, but 

 this must have been very considerable at one time, to have 

 produced the large deposit of soft limestone which we saw in 

 some places. The limestone in the cave is of a dark colour, 

 and there is a shallow pool of water in one of the side gal- 

 leries. All the bones we got were obtained from under the 

 earth, which had fallen down, and partially imbedded them 

 in the soft limestone ; but it would require several days' 

 labour of a number of men to clear out the bottom of this 



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