MAORI MIDDENS. 
415 
along tlie whole length of which there were several lines of 
old ovens,, covered over with sand, but indicated by frag- 
ments of bones still laid on the surface ; in various places 
along this bank we found large quantities of them, many 
of which were of considerable size and quite perfect ; 
these were taken for those of cattle, and thus had been 
left undisturbed, the officers of the redoubt who accom- 
panied us were not a little surprised when acquainted 
with their mistake : in a few minutes we collected a large 
heap of them ; several soldiers volunteered their services, 
and dug down in the sand, where they soon came to the 
old ovens ; the scene was quite an animated one — all, 
including His Excellency himself, being eagerly engaged 
in the search. The opening out of those ancient ovens, 
and the heaps of refuse on their sides, was in fact the 
recovering a page from the ancient history of the Maori 
race ; it presented a picture of their way of living, and gave 
convincing proof that when those ovens had been heated, 
the island was stocked with the various kinds of wingless 
birds, whose huge bones excited our wonder and aston- 
ishment ; they had evidently been used for a very long 
period, from the different strata of ashes which were found 
underlying one another, and only separated by an inch or 
two of sand ; this seemed to imply that sometimes a con- 
siderable period intervened between the different hunts. 
These numerous fire-places also indicated the assemblage 
of large bodies of men ; probably a moa battue required 
the co-operation of all the surrounding tribes ; whilst, at 
other times, a portion of these cooking places only were 
used by those residing there, who, unable to obtain the 
nobler game, were glad to take whatever else was to be 
had. The remains of almost every bird and fish found in 
the island were there met with : the skull of a seal, and 
the charred fragments of human bone, clearly revealed the 
character of their repasts, and from the broken egg shells 
of the moa also found there, it was evident that the eggs of 
those birds were carefully sought for. In our first exploration 
a large collection of a very miscellaneous character was made. 
