75 
letter! addressed to him by the Rev. Wm. Williams, a zealous and successful Church 
Missionary long resident in New Zealand, on the occasion of transmitting to Dr. Buck- 
1 ** Poverty Bay, New Zealand, Feh, 28th, 1842, 
* Dear Sir,—It is about three years ago, on paying a visit to this coast, south of the East Cape, that the 
Natives told me of some extraordinary monster which they said was in existence in an inaccessible cavern on 
the side of a hill near the river Wairoa; and they showed me at the same time some fragments of bone taken 
wut of the beds of rivers, which they said belonged to this creature, to which they gave the name of ‘ Moa.’ 
When I came to reside in this neighbourhood I heard the same story a little enlarged, for it was said that. the 
creature was still existing at the said bill, af which the name is ‘ Wakapunake,’ and that it is guarded by a reptile 
of the Lizard species, but I could not learn that any of the present generation had seen it. I still considered 
the whole as an idle fable, but offered a large reward to any one who would catch me the bird or its protector. 
At length a bone was bronght from a river running at the foot of the hill, of large size, but the extremities 
were so much worn away that I could not determine anything as to its proper relationship. About two months 
ago a single bone of smaller size was brought from a freshwater stream in this bay, for which I gave a good 
payment, and this induced the natives to go in large numbers to turn up the mud at the banks and in the 
bed of the same river, and soon a large number of bones was brought, of various dimensions. On a comparison 
with the bones of a fowl, I immediately perceived that they belonged to a bird of a gigantic size. The bones 
of which the greatest number have been brought are the three bones of the leg, a few toe-bones, and one claw, 
which is one inch and a half in length, a few imperfect pelves, and a few yertebrie of different dimensions, and 
one imperfect cranium, which is small. There are also a few broken pieces, which seem to be ribs. In the 
case now sent you will receive the largest specimens J have obtained, and also a few of smaller size. The length 
of the large bone of the leg is two feet ten inches. I have a second case, which I shall send by another vessel, 
to make sure of your receiving them, If the bones are found to be of sufficient interest, I leave it to your 
judgement to make what use of them you think proper; but if the duplicates reach you, perhaps one set may 
with propriety be deposited in our museum at Oxford. 
‘ The following observations may not be devoid of interest :— 
“1st. None of these hones have been found on dry land, but are all of them from the bed and banks of fresh- 
water rivers, buried only a little distance in the mud; the largest number are from a small stream in Poverty 
Bay, Wairoa, and at many inconsiderable streams, and all these streams are in immediate connexion with hills 
of some altitude, 
‘Oud. This bird was in existence here at no very distant time, though not in the memory of any of the in- 
habitants, for the bones are found in the beds of the present streams, and do not appear to have been brought 
into their present situation by the action of any sudden rush of waters, 
“3rd. That they existed in considerable numbers. 1 have received perfect and imperfect bones of thirty 
different birds, 
“4th, It may be inferred that this bird was long-lived, and that it was many years before it attamed its full 
size: out of a large number of bones, only one leg-bone now sent is of the size two feet ten inches; two others 
are two feet six inches, one of which I shall send hereafter, The rest are all of inconsiderable size. 
“5th. The greatest height of the bird was probably not less than fourteen or sixteen feet. The leg-bones 
now sent give the height of six feet from the root of the tail. I am told that the name given by the Malays to 
the Peacock is the same as that given by the natives to this bird. 
Within the last few days I have obtained a piece of information worthy of notice. Happening to speak to 
an American about the bones, he told me that the bird is still in existence in the neighbourhood of Cloudy Bay, 
in Cook's Straits; he said that the natives there had mentioned to an Englishman of a whaling party that there 
was a bird of extraordinary size to be seen only at night on the side of a hill near there; and that he, with the 
native and a second Englishman, went to the spot; that after waiting some time they saw the creature at some 
little distance, which they describe as being fourteen or sixteen feet high. One of the men proposed to go 
nearer and shoot, but his companion was so exceedingly terrified, or perhaps both of them, that they were satis- 
L2 
— 
