THE JOURNAL OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. DECEMBER 13TH, 1887. FRANCIS GALTON, Esq., F.R.S., President, in the Chair. The Minutes of the last meeting were read and signed. The following presents received since the last meeting were announced, and thanks voted to the respective donors : FOR THE LIBRARY. From the AUTHOR.-Études ethnographiques et archéologiques sur l'Exposition Coloniale et Indienne de Londres. Par le Dr. E. T. Hany. Una gita fra i Calabro-Albanesi. Di Giulio Barroil. From the PUBLISHERS.-Ratones y Orugas: origen y extinción de las especies. Por Enrique Heriz. From Dr. GUGLIELMO KITCHMAN.-L'Ateneo :-periodico letterario, scientifico, scolastico, mensuale organo dell'Istituto GalileoGalilei. Anno xii, Fas. 1 e 2. From the ACADEMY.-Actas de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias VOL. XVII. X From the INSTITUTION. Journal of the Royal, United Service A Brief History of the Royal United Service Institution. By From Prof. ALEXANDER AGASSIZ.-Annual Report of the Curator of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, for 1886-87. From the UNIVERSITY.-The Journal of the College of Science, Imperial University, Japan. Vol. i. Part 4. From the ROYAL SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.-The Scottish Geographical Magazine. Vol. iii. No. 19. From the SOCIETY.-Journal of the Society of Arts. Nos. 18271829. Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society. 1887. Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archæology. Vol. x. Nos. 275-277. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Japan. 6, 7, 8. Mittheilungen des Vereins für Erdkunde zu Leipzig. 1886. From the EDITOR.-Nature. Nos. 943-945. Science. Nos. 250, 251. Revue d'Ethnographie. 1887. No. 3. L'Homme. 1887. No. 21. Bulletino di Paletnologia Italiana. 1887. N. 9 e 10. The following paper was read by the Secretary :— The MAORI and the MOA. By EDWARD TREGEAR, F.R.G.S. THERE has been considerable discussion among scientific men for some years on the question as to the knowledge possessed by the Maori in regard to the gigantic extinct bird of New Zealand, called the Moa (Dinornis). There is a general tradition current in the South Seas that the fair Polynesians (or Maori) were immigrants, arriving at the different groups of islands in canoes; the New Zealand Maoris having particularly clear remembrances of this event, so far as the statements in ancient legend and tradition can be relied on. If we accept these legends (confirmed by other evidence) as having a basis of fact, two interesting branches of enquiry present themselves. One is ethnological; if the Moa became extinct many centuries ago, yet was seen by the Maoris, some clue may be gained as to the time this race of men has been in New Zealand. The other is of interest to students of natural history; if the time of the arrival of the Maoris could be fixed, and it could be proved that they had seen the living bird, we might then be able to ascertain how long ago it is since this unique creature was exterminated. Those who take interest in the subject, range themselves in two parties; one affirming that the Maori not only knew of, but hunted and ate the Moa; the other side asserting that the present inhabitants of the island are the descendants of men. who were perfectly ignorant of the habits, use, or even existence of a huge struthious bird. I will endeavour to state in the most concise and impartial manner, what evidence, direct and indirect, has been brought forward to substantiate these opinions. Mr. The direct evidence is that of geology. The bones of the Moa were first found in river beds and fluviatile deposits. These bones may have occurred in strata either ancient or recent, but the identical formation has not yet been decided. Colenso, Mr. Mantell, Mr. Taylor, and others are agreed in pronouncing that the bones have also been found in vast quantities near the surface of the ground, sometimes a whole plain being dotted with the small mounds formed by the bones. In the Southern Island Moa skeletons have been discovered without any superincumbent material whatever; although in a few years after the arrival of the Europeans the bone deposits had disappeared, having been destroyed by the numerous fern fires, &c. But the remains of the Moa have been excavated by the late Sir Julius Von Haast, Dr. Hector, and other geologists from native ovens buried many feet deep in soil accumulated over them apparently in the course of centuries. These bones so found have traces of gnawing and the marks of fire, and are mixed with the remains of dogs and other animals cooked at the same time. This would seem to denote that geologically the evidence preponderates greatly in favour of the opinion that the Maoris had seen and eaten the Moa, especially as stone weapons similar to those formerly used by the Polynesians are found near the Moa bones. It would seem improbable that such unresting wanderers as the Maoris, men who explored and named the most inaccessible parts of the North Island, who had thinly peopled the South Island, and who certainly visited it to get the greenstone (jade) for their ornaments and weapons, should have omitted to notice this huge bird, of great importance to a people with whom meat was a luxury, and con sidering that the Moa skeletons were on the surface of the ground in our own day. The party who take the negative side of the question answer, that although it is almost certain that the Moa has been hunted and eaten by man, there is nothing to show that the hunters were of the fair Polynesian race. Tradition speaks of a people exterminated or driven into the interior of the country by the Maori; it is commonly supposed to have been a Papuan or Melanesian tribe of men, probably using stone weapons similar to those of the Polynesians. Even in these weapons there is somewhat of difference, for in some of the old deposits (notably in the kitchen-middens, containing Moa bones, at the mouth of the Otakai Creek, Otago), are found rude chipped fragments of tools, axes, &c., left unfinished, these having been struck from flint, chert, quartz, &c., remnants left by a people using palæolithic weapons ruder than the polished stone weapons, &c., of the Maori.1 The indirect evidence is that which is given by the traditions, songs, proverbs, &c., of the Maori people, and by the etymology of words, whether used simply or as compounds, names of places, or of persons. Mr. Colenso, F.R.S., in his articles on the Moa (Vol. xii, “ Transactions New Zealand Institute," 1879,) has collected almost all the facts to be ascertained in New Zealand in this indirect manner. Those who can find interest in the subject will do well to turn to the book (to be found in most large English libraries), and read the full result of Mr. Colenso's researches set forth in his own scholarly words. As a brief summary of his work, I offer the following précis. The affirmative :-There were well known (although vague) notions current among the older Maoris concerning the former existence of a gigantic bird. Although some of these accounts were mere marvels, some stating that the creature had the face of a man, that it "lived on air," that the last living specimen dwelt on a mountain peak guarded by two great lizards (Tuatara), yet they identified the bones shown to them as being true Moa bones. References to the Moa in legend, song, and proverb, (though rare) may be found (I will refer to these in detail further on), and the Maoris vouched for the possession of a Moa feather used for decorating the hair of dead chiefs at their obsequies, and regarded as a precious relic. The negative:-Although every bird, animal, &c., to be found in New Zealand is mentioned in the old legends again and again, its quality as food spoken of, its habits described, its uses for ornamentation, &c., 1 It is recorded in legend that when the "Rangi-ua-mutu” (one of the canoes which brought the ancestors of the Maoris to New Zealand), arrived at Rangatapu, the immigrants noticed the flint-flakes (knives) and Moa bones there; apparently as if unaccustomed to them. dilated on, only a very few scant allusions can be found as to the great edible bird. So also in regard to the hunting scenes, the combat of demi-god and monster, while many legends narrate conflicts with great lizards, water-creatures, &c., there no stories concerning the chase or capture of the huge feathered biped. While the tale-teller often speaks of the numerous pets and tame animals the Maoris delighted to have near them (some monstrous pets, such as the whale of Tinirau and the saurian of Tangaroamihi), the Moa is never spoken of as being the playmate or property of any hero or deity.1 The so-called Moa feather as described by the Maoris (and not forthcoming) is represented as being ocellated and of beautiful colours, like a peacock's feather, while the feathers, which are almost certainly Moa's feathers, found by the Europeans with the Moa's eggs, are hairy feathers of a dull grey colour resembling somewhat those of the emu. The feather, according to the Maoris' own statement, had been found by them either blown on the wind, or else (by another account) stuck fast in a whitepine tree; there is therefore no ground except mere guessing to associate this feather and the Moa. The Maoris who had beautiful cloaks of albatross and kiwi (Apteryx) feathers, heirlooms of many generations, had no cloaks of Moa feathers. They had many weapons of various materials, clubs made of stone, hard wood, the ribs of the whale, &c., but none from the huge leg bones of the Moa. Thus far tradition and possessions: the evidence of names is as follows:-The word Moa, besides indicating (a) the bird, means (b) a drill for boring hard stone; (c) a raised plot or bed in a cultivation; (d) a coarse-growing or a sea-side grass; (e) a certain kind of stone or layer of stone. In composition the word occurs sometimes in names of places; Te kaki o te moa=the neck of the Moa; Moawhiti = startled Moa, &c. As names of things, such as raumoa = Moa's feather, a kind of grass; taramoa = the bramble: maimoa = a decoy bird. The old chiefs with whom Mr. Colenso conferred, state that the only information they possess is "anciently the land was burnt up by the fire of Tamatea; then it was that the big living things together with the Moas were all burnt." This Tamatea was a very ancient mythical hero, the fifth lineal descendant from Rangi, the sky. Other old chiefs write thus: "No man of old ever saw the Moa; the last of men, perhaps, who ever saw the Moa was in the time of Noah; because it was at the time of the overturning in the days of Mataoho2 that 1 See, however, Sir Walter Buller's note, p. 304. |