Southland Institute.

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 13, 1880, Unnumbered Page

Southland Institute. First Meeting. 5th July, 1880. J. T. Thomson, F.R.G.S., President, in the chair. New Members.—Henry G. Mussen, Norman Prentice, T. Brodrick, Thos. Denniston, Hanan.

Abstract. In inaugurating a Scientific Society in this most remote city of Her Majesty's Dominions, it becomes me to say something of the rapid and successful progress of similar Institutions in New Zealand, which will be an incitement for the members of this one to persevere. The Wellington Philosophical Society was incorporated with the New Zealand Institute on the 10th June, 1868; the Auckland Institute on the same day and year; the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury on the 22nd October, 1868; the Otago Institute on 18th October, 1869; the Nelson Association for the Promotion of Science and Industry on the 23rd September, 1870; the Westland Institute on the 21st December, 1874; and the Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute on the 31st March, 1875. Our incorporation we have taken steps to accomplish. All these Societies have done good service by promoting intellectual enquiry, and by the bringing of persons engaged in the same studies and observations together, who would otherwise not meet; also, by the discussion of subjects of utility, or of special and general interest,—a record of the procedings of which is to be seen in the twelve volumes of “Transactions of the New Zealand Institute.” The papers published in these volumes are of a diverse nature, but few can be considered out of place, and many display deep reflection, and laborious investigation; altogether the establishment of such a medium of communication between local as well as distant practical and scientific workers in the colony may be said, to the thoughtful enquirer, to be one of the most auspicious events in the social history of our colony. That this city should now become a centre for meeting, and for the interchange of thoughts and ideas, as well as for the illustration of applied science in the several and many projects and industries, is not too early. Its ready promotion by so many respectable citizens is confirmatory of this sentiment, and we have a large field before us in the extensive and fertile district to which we geographically belong. Nor need our members' range of investigatton be confined to the land, our extensive sea-board, and outlying islands, yet but little explored, abound with interest for the several branches of scientific enquiry, and if we look beyond this, seeing that we are the nearest city to the Antarctic Continent, it may yet be our fortune to assist in the unravelling of the mysteries of that unknown land; a glimpse of which was given us by Sir James Ross, over thirty years ago.

In perusing the addresses of gentlemen who have had the honour of election to presidencies, I perceive that it is a common practice to confine themselves to one topic with which they are specially conversant, with your permission I shall therefore follow their example and treat on this district before settlement had taken place, following it up by the more enlarged subject to which it naturally leads. It was in September, 1856, that I started from Dunedin to select the sites for the principal townships of the Southern districts—at that time known by the general public as the Bluff Country, or by Maori experts as Murihiku. There were no metal roads in those days, and at that time of the year the tracks were a continuous mass of quagmire. On arriving at Popatuna, these even disappeared, and the remainder of the journey had to be made over an untrodden wilderness. At Tuturau we came upon a small native settlement, and were thrown on the hospitality of a Maori named Reko. His accommodation was scanty, nor were the usual lively torments of the native but less abundant; but we made the most of it, and our host, in order to wile away the long hours, enlivened them with a war dance, which yet to my memory appears to be the most horribly savage and revolting episode I have ever witnessed. We had great difficulty in crossing the Mataura, which was at that time in flood, nor were our difficulties at an end on the plains, spending, as we did a whole day in attempting to cross the long blind swamps which intersected them. As it turned out, with all the expedition we could use, it took us eight days from Dunedin to reach the embouchure of the Pooni Creek, where it joins the Waihopai estuary, on which point the principal part of the town of Invercargill is now built. The great southern plains of New Zealand were at that time in a state of wilderness, and it is now curious to note the subjects which were at that time of interest, but which have long since been forgotten, and are now despised as trivial in the more advanced state of our civilization. In illustration of this state of things, one or two extracts may be made from my old journal:— Pooni Creek, Waiopai, 15th January, 1857.—Drummond brought me some gold scales, mixed with iron sand, which had been washed out of the sands of the Mataura; the former I tested by aqua regia. Various parties have been digging in different parts of the Waiopai Plains, and found earth giving indications of gold. In passing, it may be noted that this was four years before Gabriel Read's great discovery. Waiopai Plains, 29th January, 1857.—To-day I noticed on the path a Maori oven, and this may be a good opportunity to take notice of the relics of by-gone days, as the kettle and pot of Birmingham have taken their place. The oven consists of a round hole dug in the ground about four or five feet in diameter, and the same depth. Around the edges pebbles and stones are arranged. The system of cooking in these ovens appears to have been the same as often described by voyagers in Polynesia, so need no remarks at my hands. What I have to do with is the oven, a remnant of by-gone days. These with the mounds of earth—another feature in the landscape thrown up amongst the roots by the fallen trees of the forest seem to be the only surface monuments of the past of New Zealand, at least in this southern portion of it, and pigmy as they may appear when considered by those who have viewed the collosal monuments of ancient Egypt and Rome, yet to the present occupier of this distant corner of the earth they read a lesson fraught with the most intense interest. The mounds of red earth to be seen all over the prairie lands, in every state of preservation or delapidation, from the freshly prostrate

tree with, its tons of earth and pebbles sticking to its exposed roots, to the simple mound and companion hole, prove over the whole of the interior of this part of New Zealand that dense massive forests once waved their sombre branches. The gradual destruction of the forest may be seen to be going on at this present day by any observer. The grass by which the plains are covered catches fire, and spreads to the edges of the forest, when the dense surrounding copse igniting, assists to destroy a fringe of the premival trees. Now, i.e., at the time I made thé notes, Maori ovens are also seen in all parts of the plains, in places where, ten miles around, no bush exists, but also they are found close to it. This is another indication that the extirpation of the forest is gradual, owing to the introduction of man and by his handiwork. The Maori oven was necessarily placed close to the forest for the sake of fuel. This being the case, we may safely argue that when the ovens were found near the bush these may be accepted as of recent construction, and those that are far distant from the same are of antient date. This, I conceive, will hold generally to the true, though in the case of ovens being found at seven to ten miles distant from the bush, it may be suggested that clumps of trees had been there recently, and of this we saw indications on one ridge in the remnants of rotten roots and trunks. It may be here noticed that small heaps of white or variegated pebbles, in most cases not exceeding a handful, were very plentifully found in all directions. This feature was a subject of much attention and controversy amongst the early settlers of Otago and Canterbury; many suggesting that they were remnants of the crops of the Moa. My own view is that they had been dug out of the soil by native-rats in making their holes, having myself detected one newly formed in this manner. Oturumika, 2nd February, 1857.—Wood-hens in great abundance. The Maoris krill the birds, at night, in this manner,—they kindle a fire in the forest, which attracts them, then, taking advantage of their pugnacious propensities, they place a red rag tied to the end of a stick before the bird, this it attacks, when the Maori, unobserved, strikes it down with a stick. Tomogalak, 13th February, 1857.—Many Moa bones were found about, some having a diameter of fully two inches. It is supposed that these bones are collections of the birds killed by the Maoris. The remnant of their whatas (store-houses) are yet to be seen, and do not appear to be more than thirty or forty years old. Leaving my notes I may say, to-night, that Moa bones were also found abundantly on the Waiau, more particularly in excellent preservation in the limestone-caves near the Gorge; and after leaving Southland and coming to the interior and Northern Districts of Otago, they were in yet greater abundance. On the Maniatoto plains the ovens were literally surrounded by Moa bones and chert-stone chips, which the natives had evidently used in cutting or scraping the flesh from the bones. At Maruwhenua, on the Waitaki, Moa bones were strewed in all directions, indicating that in this well-sheltered and warm locality the bird had collected in great flocks, and I estimated at the time that many could not have lain over thirty years. And so much was I convinced of the recent occupation of the country by the moa, that when I explored the Waiau district, I half expected to have met with them, and one of my men, an old sealer from Jacob's River, from information derived from the Natives, supported the suggestion. Before settlement, it may be remarked, that the various native grasses covered the plains in undisturbed luxuriance, while thorns and spear grass choked up the gorges and

valleys so much as to make them troublesome to be traversed by horses. The native quail was also at that time abundant, rising before you at every hundred yards. The several species of duck, including the paradise one, were plentiful in all the streams and lagoons, while the pigeon was to be shot in all the clumps of the forest. There were no paths or tracts to be seen, and the explorer in threading his way over the country had to be guided by his own experience—either in avoiding the swamps, or in crossing the fords of the mountain torrents. Such is a short account of the interior of this district in 1856–7, at which time I undertook the reconnisance survey of Otago, of which at that time Southland formed a part. The settlers under the Otago scheme, the first of whom arrived in 1848, were at that time locating themselves along the coast line from Oamaru to Popatuna, and in 1856 a few stragglers were finding their way as far as Waiopai and New River. It is true the whalers had, here and there, preceded them by many years, probably dating as far back as the beginning of this century, but these held their locations by sufferance, at the will of the Natives, and not for permanent colonization. Their object was whaling, and all they at that time coveted was in each case, a site suitable for looking out for the fish, and for boiling it down when brought in. In the late Mr. John Jones' settlement at Waikowaite, I know the only exception to this state of things. In the old maps of Fouveaux Straits (there called Favorite Strait), we recognize the presence and influence of the Sydney whalers and sealers. Thus the Waiau is named the Knowsley River; Jacob's River, Port Macquarie; the Bluff, Cape Bernardine, etc. The Bluff Harbour was not at that time known, and the New River is just indicated. On this subject, Dr. Arthur S. Thomson, in his story of New Zealand, states of the sealers of this district, that “these men commenced their intercourse with the Natives in the southern parts of the Middle Island about the beginning of the century, being landed from whaleships for the purpose of killing seals, then very numerous all round the coast. Disputes at first arose between the sealers and the natives relative to property and women, and in such conflicts the sealers adopted the New Zealand war custom of slaying the first native they encountered, but both races soon became sensible of the benefits of peace, and the savages, to promote this great object, gave the strangers wives and Codfish Island as a residence. Here they built houses and cultivated the soil, and when their numbers increased they spread themselves round the coasts. Between 1816 and 1826 100 sealers were permanently settled in New Zealand, and in 1814 a vessel of 150 tons burden was built by them at Dusky Bay. Sealers in character resembled whalers, and Stewart, who first discovered the insularity of the Southern Island, was a good specimen of the sealer class. By birth he was a Scotch Jacobite, who had seen the world and drunk Burgundy. After residing many years in New Zealand, he returned to Scotland to see his forlorn wife; but she, conceiving him dead, had long before wedded another, and now denied his personal identity. “Danger, long travel, want, and woe Soon change the form that best we know.” Affected with this reception in the house of his fathers, he returned to New Zealand, took up his abode amongst the natives, and in 1851 died at the age of eighty-five years in a destitute state in Poverty Bay. To the day of his death Stewart wore tartan of his royal clan, and was occasionally seen sitting among the natives passing the pipe from

mouth to mouth, and relating tales of his fishing adventures, which in length and variety resembled those of Sinbad the Sailor. The President then proceeded to review at some length the question of the “Whence” of the Maori race.

Second Meeting. 3rd Auyust, 1880. J. T. Thomson, President, in the chair. New Members.—Dr. Hanan, Rev. James Henry. papers.

Third Meeting. 1st September, 1880. J. T. Thomson, President, in the Chair. New Members.—T. Wakelin, W. Hay, W. Darley, J. Gurr, R. Tapper, paper. 1. “On the Cause of Gravitation,” by T. Wakelin, read by the Secretary. (Transactions, p. 122.) Fourth Meeting. 13th October, 1880. J. R. Cuthbertson, in the chair. paper.