416 
MAORI MIDDENS. 
comprising not only bones of the various kinds of birds 
and fisk, but also what were supposed to be rudely-formed 
knives of chert, chipped so as to form a sharp edge, also 
pieces of obsidian ; and on another occasion, the Governor 
met with several well-made and polished stone axes, and 
even the toys of children, such as tops formed of pumice- 
stone, as well as carved bone handles of hatchets. 
Brunner and Heaphy, in a journey of exploration along 
the western coast of the Middle Island in 1 846, speaking of 
the way the natives there managed to cut the greenstone, 
said, Amongst the primitive rocks of the Middle Island, 
stones are not wanting of sufficient hardness to cut even the 
pounamu, and the Arahura natives lay in a large stock of 
thin pieces of a sharp quartose slate, with the edge of which, 
worked saw fashion, and with plenty of water, they contrive 
to cut a furrow first on one side and then on the other, until 
the piece may be broken at the thin place.” What more 
probable than that this affords a solution of the question 
about chert knives ; the working of greenstone would be 
their amusement while seated round their fires, and thus 
the stones when worn out would be left in the spot where 
they had been used. 
Whilst the Danish middens and Abbeville gravel pits 
are exciting such interest, and giving rise to so many con- 
jectures as to the antiquity of our race, a few remarks may 
be offered on the probable age of those remains. 
The stone knives of the Maori so closely resembled those 
of the ancient inhabitants of Denmark, that a casual 
observer might be led to the conclusion that both belonged 
to the same period and people. It was certainly equally 
the stone age with both, but one thing seems singular in 
each case ; if the skill of the age each belonged to could 
not contrive an implement more advanced or better finished 
off than those rude stone knives, one would suppose that 
they would have been too much prized to have been 
abandoned and thrown out on the midden in such numbers. 
The very fact of their having been thus cast away, seems to 
prove that they had not much value attached to them, and 
