489

455

parts of New Zealand. For instance, in page 9 of 'Ko nga Moteata, me nga Hakirara
o nga Maori' (one vol. 8vo, New Zealand, Wellington, 1853), you will find a man
seaking of the death of his sons, who says, 'Ka ngaro, i te ngaro, a te moa' ( 'they have
disappeared as completely as the Moa ')" 1.

This testimony is confirmed and supplemented by the devoted missionary, the
Rev. Richard Taylor, in a paper read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 6th
November, 1872 :- "Early in 1843 I removed from the Bay of Islands to Wanganui,
and my first journey was along the coast of Waimate. As we were resting on the
shore near the Waingongoro stream, I noticed the fragment of a bone, which reminded
me of the one I found at Waiapu. I took it up, and asked my natives what it was.
They replied, 'A moa's bone, what else ? Look around and you will see plenty of
them.' I jumped up, and, to my amazement, I found the sandy plain covered with a
number of little mounds entirely composed of Moa-bones ; it appeared to me to be
a regular necropolis of the race. I was struck with wonder at the sight, but lost no
time in selecting some of the most perfect of the bones. I had a box in which my
supplies for the journey were carried ; this I emptied, and filled with the bones instead,
to the amazement of my followers, who exclaimed, 'What is he doing ? What can he
possibly want with those old Moa-bones ?' One suggested, 'hei rongoa pea' (to make
medecine, perhaps ) ; to this the others consented, saying 'koia pea' (most likely) " 2.

The specimens so collected, which reached me through the kindness of Capt. Sir
Everard Home, Bart., R.N., are acknowledged in my third communication on Dinornis
(June 23rd, 1846 ) to the Zoological Society of London (ante, p. 118). Most of the spe-
cimens yielded acceptable confirmation of the species, founded on the collection of bones
previously transmitted by the Rev. William Williams, the present Bishop of Waiapu
(ante, p. 75). "They told me," proceeds Mr Taylor, "that these huge birds were for-
merly very abundant before the Europeans came, but they gradually diminished and
finally disappeared. Their nests were made of the refuse of fern-root, on which they
fed, and they used to conceal themselves in the koromiko (Veronica) thickets, from
which they were driven and killed by setting the thickets on fire : hence originated the
saying 'Te koromiko te rakau i Tuna ai te Moa' (the Veronica was the tree which
roasted the Moa )."

Sir George Grey adduces a similar testimony from another Maori source. In one of
the native poems which he had collected in the valuable volume above cited, p. 324,
are the following lines :-
"Kua rongo 'no au,
Na Hikuao te Korohiko
Ko te rakau i tunua ai te Moa."

1 Proceedings of the Zool. soc. 1870, p.116.
2 Transactions of the New-Zealand Institute, vol. v. (1872), p. 98.
4 A 2