THE MOA HUNTERS.

Grey River Argus, 26 June 1922, Page 4

THE MOA HUNTERS.

PRE-HISTORIC SAILORS. RELICS 500 TO 1000 YEARS OLD. Some highly interesting information regarding ihe original inhabitants of New Zealand s\ho hunted the lordly moa, and the prehistoric sailors who sailed the Southern Seas was given to the Otago Institute by Mr H. D. Skinner, lecturer on anthropology at O>ago University, last s\eek. There were, said Mr Skinner, three great methods of establishing the approximate age of the various races that had inhabited the earth, but the only he could see so far that had any application to New Zealand was the association of implements with the bones of animals that have long beep extinci. After a very interesting eiaß oration of this matter, Air Skinn-er pnjr ceedud to deal with extensive excav’aC tions that have been made in recent years at Shag Point, associating the early inhabitants of Otago with the moa. It svas true, he said, that authorities svere divided as to the period at which the moa became extinct, somo dating it very long ago, but others holding that it did not long precede the arrival of the white races in New Zealand. Actually, he thought that it i svould be found that the truth lay someI where belw-een. The great moa became (extinct very long ago. Then there follosved a period svhvn the moa seemed to leuover. a small speci-es becoming very numerous. No association had yet been discovered between man and the great moa; tin. re were absolutely no signs that he had ever hun ed it. The association with the ies-. r moa, however, was pronounced, particularly in the case of Shag Point, which apparently had been a favoured spot, the moa , flourishing to a greater extent there probably than anywhere else in New Zealand. Mr Skinner referred io early [excavations al this place by Sir Julius [von Haast, Captain Hutton, and others, ibut the ir labours had been to a great •. extent nullified by want of proper care,, and; had it not been for Mr Justice Chapman, who had preserved I certain specimens, svhich were pro-duu.-'l for inspection, no assured connection between the implements and i the moa hunters might have been es- | tablished. Excavations had been made on a very extensive scale in recent 5 ears by .\lr Teviotdale, of Palmerston who had always been interested in Maori relics, but who, as the result of a visit to the Otago Aluseum, had bcI come imbued with the necessity of the utmost care, and as a result an enormous collection, of material was now available, in tvhich the bones of the moa and the implements of the hunters svere associated in a manner that was beyond question. Not a tenth part of this collection could be arranged before the audience, but sufficient was produced to give a clear demonstration. Mr Skinner was particularly interested in regard to the spread of the Polynesian race. I took its origin in the Malayan Archipelago. Only a race highly skilled in navigation could have spread over the Pacific and Indian Oceans as the Polynesians had. XV kwr their knowledge pre-dated that of the more western nations, he could not say, but it was reasonable to believe that a race so near China, which gave the Avorld the compass, were early navigators. Malayans invented the double canoe and the outrigger. Some might [ question Avhether the Alaoris had the outrigger but the fact was set beyond dispute in the discovery of an actual outrigger in th-e Moa Bone Cave at Sumner, and, what was more, the outrigger was precisely the type used by thc° Polynesians. Mr Skinner rejected entirely Melanesian theory. Apart from o’-her proofs he gave, he stressed the absurdity of supposing that a race “too ignorant to get out of the rain” were skilled navigators, and there was every indication that the early inhabitants of New Zealand were such. Greenstone ornaments associated with the relics at Shag Point, and relics obviously from the North Island, proved" that the early communications must have been by sea. The concluding portions of the lecture were devoted to a demonstration of the close resemblance, and in many eases absolute uniformity, of the relics of the moa hunters with those from Hawaii, Tahiti, and the Polynesian races generally, bearing, in the other hand, no resemblance whatever to Melanesian records. A special treasure was a hook, discovered by Mr Teviotdale, with the point alongside which was formerly attached to it, and which lav in such a position that the method of attachment was beyond question completely upsetting all former theories. Investigation showed that, though tho Maoris themselves did not know how to attach it, the correct method was precisely that at Tah 't*Summing up. Mr Skinner said he coiiTH not state how old the relies were. They might be 1000 vears, or only 500 years, but from the geological nature of the coast where they were found he thought the moa hunters could bo placed ar a [period antecedent to 1000 years ago.