RONGAKAKO'S FOOTPRINTS
Sir, -On his second visit to., the East Coast in 1841 Colenso, the well known missionary-explorer, noticed .that "the clayey rocks along the Te Araroha coast had been so acted on by the sea as to be worn quite flat at many places." Near high tide mark the Maoris "showed him the impression ofthe foot of the illustrious Rongakako, the print of his other foot made in striding hence being near Poverty Bay, a distance of more than 50 miles." Little was known of Rongakako except that he lived a long, long time ago. Rongakako’s footprints are still there, and formed the subject of an article in The Listener of December 12, when they were erroneously attributed to a large reptile. It is good to know that Rongakako’s other footprint _ near Poverty Bay still clearly. shows on the north coast of Tolaga Bay in clayey rocks similar to those at. Te Araroha. The rocks at both places contain the: same marine shells, and according to geologists who deal with happenings in the time ef Rongakako are of Miocene age and some ten million years old. They even ,suggest that the marks are not footprints but borings made by some animal or worm that lived in the bed of the Miocene sea. But who can believe that the illustrious Rongakako is merely a Miocene worm!
TAMATEA
(Lower Hutt).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19530320.2.12.6
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 714, 20 March 1953, Page 5
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229RONGAKAKO'S FOOTPRINTS New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 714, 20 March 1953, Page 5
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