Extracts.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VIII, Issue 490, 15 July 1857, Page 3

Extracts.

TECTUBE ON SOUTH NEW ZEALAND f THE GIGANTIC BIRDS. /From a Brighton Paper.) A lecture of unusualinterest and value I delivered on this subject to the memu'. s of the Mechanic's Institution, on Thursday evening, by Mr. W. Mantell, son f the late Dr. Gideon Mantell, who has recently returned from the country of which he had undertaken to treat. The Rev. A. j Boss presided : there was a good atteni a The na me of Walter Mantell will ever be indissolubly associated with the paleontology | j the and Pleistocene j Lposits "of New Zealand, as is that of his } illustrious father (Dr. Gideon Mantell) with ' the Paleontology of the Wealden Formation of the south-east of England. Mr. Mantell is the discover of the only living specimen known of a new genus of birds— the Notornis —and of vast collections of bones of birds of various species and genera. Some of these having been placed in the hands of the eminent Professor Owen for examination, he has pronounced them to be the remains of birds, mostly of gigantic form, belonging to the great natural families Dinomidoe and Struthionidcs. Of these . men tion was made in the lecture, which partook largely of a scientific character, and related, for the most _ part, to the physical geography and fossil fauna of the Southern isles. Its originality rendered it exceedingly acceptable, Mr. Mantell being the narrator" of his own discoveries and explorations. The Lecturer observed that 17 years ago a single ) lecture would have sufficed for all the information which could possibly be conveyed respecting New Zealand ; but the case was now very different, that period being as prolific in changes and discoveries in a new colony as 17 centuries in European history. Now, therefore, it was necessary to treat only of a portion of the subject. He proceeded to remark on the six provinces of southern New Zealand, namely, Auckland, Wellington, New Plymouth, Nelson, Canterbury, and Otago, the respective positions of which were pointed out on a map. The three islands—the North, Middle, and South—of which the whole country is constituted,—two being larger than England, and one, the South, about the size of the Isle of Wight,—contain a population of about 64,000 natives, and 41,000 Europeans. The geological peculiarities of the country were described, and this led to an account of the discovery of the bones of the gigantic bird, the dinornis, with which Mr. Mantell's name is closely associated. He produced some specimen pieces of bones, which evidently belonged, to a bird some nine feet in height.^ The largest yet found was originally estimated by Professor Owen,—who so justly occupies a place at the head of our comparative anatomists, —at 16 feet in height; but this had since subsided to 12 feet. The bones are found with difficulty. It was only at the ebb of the spring-tide, when a north-east wind had been blowing for some, that they could be obtained. When first discovered, the natives seeing the interest they created, thought they must be required •to make medicine of, and they, therefore, dug them up on their own account, with reference rather to quantity than quality. (Laughter.) While they were digging away, it would often happen that the natives would come upon the opposite ends of the larger bones, "when they would saw them in half, each taking] his share. Skulls and some of the smaller bones, so long desiderated by Professor Owen, they threw away as not heavy enough. (Laughter). They kept the bones in their huts for some time, but, finding that the disease they were to cure was not epidemic among the white men at that time, and that they could not get a pound a-piece for them, they at last threw them away. (Hear, hear). These bones were now found, not only in the ancient deposits to which he had alluded, but were frequently dug up with the soil, often in conjunction with a handful of quartz pebbles, admitted, even by Professor Owen, to be from the gizzard of the birds. When travelling northward, he had the good fortune to discover a quantity of these bones, which had evidently ! been cooked by the natives, for the burnt stones remained. He also found some fragments of egg shells, which he had put together most laboriously, a single piece often taking an hour to place it, and had thus re-formed the original eggs, one of which he had the pleasure of exhibiting to-night for the first time in England. He believed these were the largest eggs ever seen in this country, for, of the eggs of the large Madagascar bird, now in Paris, we have only casts. The largest of these eggs measures .11 in. by Bin. in diameter: they

are excessively thin compared even with the eggs of the ostrich. Hopes were formerly entertained that it might be possible to recover the skin of one of these extinct birds; but the colony has been so thoroughly explored now, that all hopes of finding anything of the sort are at an end. Some general facts relative to the country next received attention. Of the earthquakes which had created so much alarm among those having friends in New Zealand, he had witnessed one. He was not so fortunate as to witness that of 1848, being about 90 miles south of the furthest point at which it was felt in that direction. But he was in the midst of that of 1853. Both earthquakes occurred in a space which included those portions of the North and Middle Islands lying nearest each other; but the area over which the earthquake of 1853 was felt was -by far the largest. He was in a house with friends, and did not expect to leave it alive. In fact, the only course open to them appeared to be to wrap their togas round them like the ancient Roman, and die with as little noise as possible, seeing that the earthquake made so much. Slight shocks are of frequent occurrence. The only animals in the country are a kind of rat; and the natives have a tradition of what they call a cowrie, but no specimens of it have been seen. Birds are very numerous. There are remains of many varieties of extinct birds, and also some very curious specimens of living productions. One curious bird has no.wings and a very long beak, which he uses like a walking-stick.|(Laughter.) The gentle robin of England is found there ; but he has not a red breast. The breast is of a dirty white, as if he had been quite white, but had been up a chimne3 r. (Laughter.) The robin is very tame; but the natives have not the respect for it which a proverb teaches us to have in this country. They knock them over by the dozen. The natives themselves form an interesting study. Their early history is of little interest, being simply like that of so many other countries, an an interminable narrative of who killed who, and which eat which, with some interesting particulars respecting the latter ceremony. (Laughter.) When the Europeans came among them they obtained possession of the land on the most absurd terms. In one case a whaler obtained 2,400 acres of what will become town land for an old blue jacket. (Laughter.) But the English Government,in time became the greatest purchaser, and obtained about thirty millions of acres of the southern part of the country for £6,000, a negotiation in which he (Mr. Mantell) was concerned, but of which he did not speak with much pride, for the Government promised, in addition, schools for the children and hospitals for the sick, which had never been provided, and there now appeared a disposition to repudiate the engagement altogether. There seemed to be no doubt that the natives were originally cannibals, that is to say, when they had eaten all the gigantic birds, and acquired a taste for flesh, which they could not otherwise satisfy, they fell to eating men. He had an ivory pin before him, made from the thigh bone of a chief, whose death caused great anger, which was only appeased by a present of one of a rival chief's wives, nicely-cooked. (Laughter.) They now assimilated to the English in their dress and manners, and even mixed English with their language in such a manner that it became almost unintelligible to those who had studied it some years. The lecture was brought to a close by some anecdotes illustrative of the native gratitude, honesty, &c, but as the subject was not exhausted Mr. Mantell kindly promised a second evening, when lie would, he said, touch upon such points as would be of special interest to persons emigrating, or having friends living in the colonies. (Applause.) The Rev. A. J. Ross moved a vote of thanks to the Lecturer, which was cordially given.