The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 1892.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4055, 5 March 1892, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 1892.

Lately there was given in our columns, particulars of the discovery of moa bones in the Makuri Gorge, near Pahiatua. IVe are now more recently indebted,to the kindness uf'Professor Hutton for considerable information regarding moas, much of itnew to us, ■ which we epitomise in the belief that the subject opening up, as it does, a vista into the past of awesome won» derment and into the future a range for. interesting speculation, will not be without its modioum of attraction to our readers, There are, it seems, twenty-six species of moa, all peculiar to New Zealand. They mostly were from three to six feet high; those of twelve and thirteen leef being rare, Possibly .their ancestors- were allied to the South American Tinamous, and somehow got over when New Zealand was part of a large island. Then this country was depressed, the higher parts forming an archipelago on which the twenty-six species were evolved Subsequently the land rose again and the species mixed; onse more it sank, and they were driven to the higher parts. Their bones ate found in peat beds in enormous quantities. Perhaps they wore killed by the winter snows, and washed down in the spring. They were finally exterterminnted by the ancestors of the Maoris; say five hundred years ago, The remains found in the South Island sometimes had skin and ligaments attached, seeming only about twelve year old. It is supposed that something in the air or the soil oaueed this good state of preservation, as it is almost certain that the Maoris living where these remains were found, whose traditions went back two hun dred years, never saw the birds alive As to the age of Moa bones, they have been found in very recent deposits and also in deposits as old as." newer pliofiene," jvjiatever that is, The Moa, w)iio» pljye, piust have been something like an ostfich. Birds: are divided into ratjt|p pijrjnatte. The latter term means keeled, You may see on the breast bone of a fowl when being carved a very high keel, which serves to attach the great muscles that move the wings. Almost j Mi® ty't* commonly' known, incluauigtlieyejM, belong to the car-, inal.it!." Ratitic iiieankra/ted,." or jflat. In these birds, the wiiigihelng l ,either absent or at'.anyrate'not' usedi jfor flight, tjbe bp is flat, and: jve suppose there is .very meat, ion jt,; They include'" twfl" or three' ,three rlieas'ini Mjj' tm«»•' 'J 1 '? 'mi" : and, s Qtmmj !.n eight; cassowaries fo ' 0 a few kiwis In New We do not know whetlior in other ' [ countries fossil mtitie are found; but jfo lev 2.ea)and, as we have Been, there are already twenty-git species ' catalogued. -They probably led a : sluggish easy life, having no enemies, ; until the Maoris came, when!they j were killed for food and exterminated" j

and'"the .wings probably lust through disuse. This seams a very long history fo evolve out of a few discoloured re» mnioa, a cise, we suppose, of " sermons in stones." Much more might, however, be said. To us it is all interesting, as lifting the corner of a curtein, and disclosing something of the history of the earth before man interfered. It seems to convey the idea of almost indefinite age. Wo can remember, as a schoolboy, being asaured that the. earth was really 1 all created brand now 4004 years before the Christian era, How all our ideis have changed since then I We know now that Egypt was about that time very highly oivilised, some tools resembling our "diamond" and " tabular" drills being in use. And, then, when we oonsider how long it took to develop a quite recent bird like the moa, what illimitable ages must have been , required to evolve their ancestors, and indeed the whole tree of animal life, It makes one giddy to ' think of it I It all throws very little light on the future of man, Other animals hare been exterminated by enemies; but man is supreme, and is now filling up every corner of the globe. Will he multiply until the sevoresi toil and the most elaborate science will not avail to produce him enough food? And will his physique then degenerate until he becomes a prey to microbes; and, if so, what will replace him? * "