DISCOVERT OF INTERESTING RELICS.

Wairoa Bell, Volume V, Issue 274, 23 November 1894, Page 9

DISCOVERT OF INTERESTING RELICS.

Our Hua'ki correspondent writes : —An interesting discovery is said to have recently been made'bn the MurUvai gumfield. some seven or eight miles from here, by some of the Austrians digging there, who at a depth of nine feet below the surface found stone axes, and also stones, which, had evidently been used to sharpen taese axes. Wooden spears, clubs, and other articles of Native workmanship were also found, together with stones which had been used in the construction of cooking ovens. Unfortunately the Austrians, who appear to have no idea of the value or interest of such finds, carelessly reburied them in their diggings, and probably nothing would have been known of the discovery but for a Colonial digger, who accidentally saw the point of one of the spears projecting out of the heap of mullock that had been thrown over it by 7 the ignorant finders. The spear aroused his curiosity, and in reply to his enquiries the aliens told him that they had found numerous similar articles but had flung- them away and had | covered them rip under workings. However, by | careful search some were again found and given | to the Colonial, who, it is said, intends sending 1 them to the Auckland Museum.

A block of charred kauri gum, which was os i,s weichi two hundred pounds, is state'! to have been found in the same spot. Only llOlbs of good gum was got out of it, the remainder of the nugget having been destroyed by fire. The gum, lam told, was found seven feet deep, and the Native relics two feet deeper. The find was made half way between the Bluff and Kawerua, close to the sea coast, and will very probably lead to further discoveries of the same kind.