MOA BONES.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18659, 7 April 1926, Page 2

MOA BONES.

IN CAVE AT CUTTING. DISCOVERY RECALLED. tFSOM OUR OWN COftnESrOXPKNT.) LONDON, February 12. In "Nature" of November '-'lst last, reference is made to an interesting discovery of Maori rock-carVings announced by .the Wellington (a..Z.) correspondent of "The Times'' in its issue of November 11th. In that account there occurs the following passage: '•Further exploration in this region (.the Ngatihotu country J it is hoped may yield . . . possibly even a. picture of a Mca which would establish the connexion of the Maoris or their predecessors with this rjroat wingless bird . . . Some authorities consider that the Moa was extinct before the first Maori migration, though it is admitted that the p people who wemi here before the Maoris saw the bird in the flesh." Commenting on the above message, Mr Henry 0. Forbes states: In the year 1889 it fell to me to explore the Sumner cave, near Cbristchurch (N.Z.). The cave was concealed by a landslip (probably due to an earthquake) which had occurred before the colonisation of Canterbury province. Its existence was quite unsuspected until the quarrying for roadn"enfling of the stone supposed to be continuous with the live-rock of the hill of which it formed the forefront, which had been going on for many years, suddenly broke into it. ,0n crawling in as soon as the orifice permitted, I found on the floor of the cave—a cavity fit to shelter a score of people perhaps—a fireplace with halfcopsumed wood projecting radially, from it in an undisturbed position, just as left by the occupants who had hurriedly escaped, leaving tlieir fire alight until it had burned out. They were evidently fisher-folk, for they left behind them fish hooks, net sinkers, paddles, numerous lengths of fishing-line of plaited human hair, and in their kitchen-midden broken shells, bones of seal, dog, Moa (partly-burned, partly broken), and of other bird bones, among them those of an extinct species of swan (Chenopis sumnerensis) unknown to Maori tradition. Evidence more important to the question being here considered, however, I found lying around the fireplace and in other parts of the cave, in the form of Moa egg-shells so disposed as to leave little doubt that their contents had been partaken of as a meal. Such portions of these shells as had not suffered by the fire, still retained their internal membrane, indicating that the eggs, when gathered, were still fresh —or sufficiently, so. • Other Objects obtained from the cave were a boat-bailer with quite characteristic Maori ornamentation, a carved curl-tailed dog (? head of a paddle), a tiki, one or two other greenstone objects, .and a few obsidian flakes. The cave-deposit consisted of sterile strata separated by well-marked hearts containing charcoal, shells, and fragments of bone, indicating, an intermittent occupation 'of a very long ' duration. The fall of material from the roof had been extremely slow since, the. closure of the cave, for "the bailer, which lay on the surface hollow, up, was practically empty. The - occupants of the cave, as identified by their cultural ob;, jects, must he held to be of the- same race as the present natives—unless the pre-Maoris practised a similar style; of carving and of greenstone manufacture were obviously acquainted .with the living Dinornis. The contents of ttye caye were .placed in the Canterbury Museum, Ohristchurch, of which I.was then Director, and a hasty. preliminary.}..account appeared i^ the Transactions of the' New Zealand Institute for 1890, less detailed, however, than the contemporary record, with photographs, preserved in my journal. My departure from New Zealand and multifarious imperious duties since, have prevented the publication of the fuller details. I hope, however, with continued improvement in health, to make good my default shortly.