448 



ISLAND LIFE. 



[part 11. 



abundance — in recent fluviatile deposits, in old native cooking 

 places, and even scattered on the surface of the ground — that 

 complete skeletons of several of them have been put together, 

 illustrating various periods of growth from the chick up to the 

 adult bird. Feathers have also been found attached to portions 

 of the skin, as well as the stones swallowed by the birds to 

 assist digestion, and eggs, some containing portions of the 

 embryo bird ; so that everything confirms the statements of the 

 Maoris — that their ancestors found these birds in abundance on 

 the islands, that they hunted them for food, and that they 

 finally exterminated them only a short time before the arrival of 

 Europeans."^ Bones of Apteryx are also found fossil, but appar- 

 ently of the same species as the living birds. How far back in 

 geological time these creatures or their ancestral types lived in 

 New Zealand we have as yet no evidence to show. Some 

 specimens have been found under a considerable depth of 

 fluviatile deposits which may be of Quaternary or even of 

 Pliocene age ; but this evidently affords us no approximation to 

 the time required for the origin and development of such highly 

 peculiar insular forms. 



Past Changes of New Zealand deduced from its Wingless Birds. 



1 The recent existence of the Moa and its having been exterminated by 

 the Maoris appears to be at length set at rest by the statement of Mr. 

 John White, a gentleman who has been collecting materials for a history ©f 

 the natives for thirty-five years, who has been initiated by their priests into 

 all their mysteries, and is said to " know more about the history, habits, 

 and customs of the Maoris than they do themselves." His information on 

 this subject was obtained from old natives long before the controversy on 

 the subject arose. He says that the histories and songs of the Maoris 

 abound in allusions to the Moa, and that they were able to give full 

 accounts of " its habits, food, the season of the year it was killed, its 

 appearance, strength, and all the numerous ceremonies which were enacted 

 by the natives before they began the hunt, the mode of hunting, how cut 

 up, how cooked, and what wood was used in the cooking, with an account 

 of its nest, and how the nest was made, where it usually lived, &c." Two 

 pages are occupied by these details, but they are only given from memory, 

 and Mr. White promises a full account from his MSS. Many of the details 

 given correspond with facts ascertained from the discovery of native cook- 

 ing places with Moa's bones; and it seems quite incredible that such an 

 elaborate and detailed account should be all invention. (See Transactions 

 of the Neiv Zealand Institute, VoL VIII. p. 79.) 



