MORE MOA MARKS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3537, 30 May 1912, Page 5

MORE MOA MARKS.

A FURTHER SEARCH ON THE WAIKANAE.

MR GOFFE FINDS SOME CLEAR IMPRINTS.

A CHAT WITH COLONEL PORTER,

The sceptics who hold that the moa marks found on the Waikanae are the work of the human hand, are surely confounded'. Yesterday a valuable link was added' to the lengthening chain of the J victory of the moa, the removal of a ten-inclx layer of sandstone strata, on the western side of the groyne disclosing five more clean-cut imprints, calculated to gladden the heart of the gravest geologist. The prospector was Mr W. E. Goffe, interpreter to the Native Land Court, who set out early in the morning with wedge and crowbar. His labors were neither long nor in vain. Following the strata on which Mr Black found the markings the previous day, he happened first, upon a heautifi\ily-formedi impression, evidently that,.-of a bird belonging to a ■fairly stout species. More tapping unearthed a similar stamp, directly alongside the first, ■one. as though, to judge from the depth and completeness of the footmarks, the big bird had ■ stood erect-. Spurred l on to further finds, Mr Goffe continued to dig and an hour’s work resulted in the uncovering of the next three steps of apparently the' same bird, there being a striking' similarity about the marks. One was about ten inches ahead of the pair and the next two like distances apart. From the direction of the footprints, Mr Goffe is confident that he is on the track of a bird and will find the continuation of the moa’s journey. The results of his inquiries will be awaited with interest.