286 Dr A. Thomson on the Moa Caves of New Zealand. 



val of the New Zealanders in the island ; in other words, 

 about the year A.D. 1650. 



The Dutch navigator Tasman visited New Zealand in 

 ] 642, but none of his crew landed, or had any colloquial in- 

 tercourse with the natives, so that from this visit nothing 

 about the Moas can be gleaned ; and no other European na- 

 vigator, who has written an acount of his voyage, landed in 

 New Zealand until after the Moas had become extinct. Cap- 

 tain Cook was told about a gigantic lizard which had lived 

 in the country, but nothing about a gigantic bird. 



Causes of extinction. — Professor Owen is of opinion that 

 the Moas were exterminated by the New Zealanders using 

 them as food ; and he attributes their extinction in a country 

 destitute of large animals as one of the causes which led the 

 New Zealanders to adopt the horrid practice of cannibalism. 

 The first supposition is very doubtful, and the second is 

 not probable. I admit the advent of the New Zealanders in 

 New Zealand must have produced the destruction of a few 

 Moas, but I cannot bring myself to believe that their ex- 

 tinction was entirely brought about by this cause. Accord- 

 ing to the most authentic sources, the New Zealand popula- 

 tion, when at its greatest, never much exceeded two hundred 

 thousand souls ; and for one hundred and fifty years after 

 their arrival in the country, they could not have increased to 

 one hundred thousand. Now let us imagine this small po- 

 pulation spread over a country nearly as large as England — 

 a population fearful of trespassing on the lands of other 

 tribes — a population of indolent people — and we will have at 

 once a strong argument against the opinion that the Moas 

 were cut off from the earth entirely by human agency. 

 There are mountain ranges where the feet of men have 

 rarely trodden. I have walked through forests for thirty 

 miles without seeing the sign of a habitation ; in such places 

 the Moa could find ample shelter in the present day. The 

 middle island of New Zealand offers a still stronger argu- 

 ment ; on it the Maori population were scattered along the 

 coasts, and were few in number ; and yet, according to the 

 best information, no large Moa has been seen on that island 

 for upwards of one hundred and sixty years. It is only ne- 



