WHAT WE KNOW OF THE MOA.

Otago Witness, Issue 3757, 16 March 1926, Page 80

WHAT WE KNOW OF THE MOA.

Br Cbyptos. (Fob the Witness.) I. It is hardly necessary to emphasise the fact tnat of all the extinct or existing birds of our land the moa is at one time the most interesting and the most difficult to study. The strange change in habit of the kea from an innocent vegetarian to a flesh eater and a killer of sheep; the origin and relations of the kiwi, a bird which Sir R. Owen says “appears to have borrowed its head from the long-billed waders, its legs from the gallinae, or scratchers, and its wings from the struthious birds (such as the ostrich, emu, and cassowary); the gradual increase in sombre plumage among many groups of our existing birds and many other interesting problems are difficult to solve, but in these cases we still have opportunity of studying the problem with living specimens reacting to the presenttime changes in environment. With regard to tne moa, the position is much more difficult, since no European has seen a live bird, and even the accounts derived from the Maori, though valuable, are legends of great age. I have already mentioned how Professor Owen, in 1839, from part of a tibia, or leg bone, deduced the existence of a race of struthious birds of larger and more colossal stature than the'ostrich or any other known bird. The fragment which Professor Owen examined was one of the earliest fossil discoveries, but in the years that followed innumerable finds proved the truth of his statement. Many early workers spent much time investigating. and much was written concerning their conclusions, but it was not till 1831, when Captain Hutton summed up the very considerable amount of knowledge gleaned from his own investigations and from the work of others into ;; most admirable paper, “The Moas of New Zealand” (Vol. 24, Transactions of N.Z. Institute), that a full and accurately detailed work was attempted. Since that time, though much fresh material has come to hand and awaits investigation, no large-scale attempt has been made to review the data available, and Captain Hutton’s work remains to-day the moa classic.

The material used by investigators is derived from two main sources—fossil remains and Maori legends. The work of Captain Hutton and others makes clear that, when man first, colonised New Zealand, not more than 2,000 years ago, and probably less, though in numbers the moas had passed their maximum point, many species still existed, and the extermination of these came about at the hands of the first colonists. A theory advanced in recent years, based upon traditional information published by T. Whataporo, that a pre-Maori race of low culture and negroid type were the first colonists in New Zealand, and exterminated the moa, has very little evidence to support it, and it is practically certain that the earliest Maoris were the only men who ever saw or killed a moa. In the North Island it is only by tradition that we can connect the Maori and the moa, and, further, it is only in the very earliest tales and songs that any reference is made, and most of these allude to the moa as already extiuct. Mr W. Colenso, who was one of the earliest workers on the moa remains, says that earliest traditions show distinctly that the ancestors of the Maori knew of the moa, but, further, says that this knowledge dates from “very long ago, in almost pre historic times, before the beginning of the genealogical descent of the tribes which, as we know, extended back for more than twenty-five generations.” He also points out that the word moa is incorporated in many words handed down from early ancestors, such as moa-white (startled moa), moa-kiwi (red or brownish moa), ota-moa (moa eaten raw), and in names of persons such as Hinemoa. The Rev. J. W. Stack says that the saying “Ka ngaro: te ngaro ate moa,” (lost as the moa is lost), which occurs in a very ancient Maori poem called the “Lament of Ikaherengatu,” shows that the moa was extinct at the time when this ancient song was composed. These and other examples quoted by Captain Hutton led him to conclude “that in tlie North Island the moa was exterminated by the Maoris not very long after their arrival in New Zealand—that is, not less than four or five hundred years ago.”

In the South Island, luckily, we haw> much better and much more direct evidence to work on. In many places the actual camps of the moa-hunters nave been discovered; but here it is clear that these camps and the associated remains are among the earliest Maori camps in the districts in question. It is unfortunate that out of the considerable number found very few ave been examined with any attempt at scientific accuracy, and much valuable evidence has thus been lost to us. The most important of these are the deposits of moa bones at Point Cave, near Sumner, Christchurch, and the camp at Shag River mouth, excavated carefully by Mr D. Teviotdale. Practically the whole of his large collection has been presented to the Otago Museum, and forms probably the most important collection ever recovered from a single site. Even so, this very fine location has been very much disturbed, and in some cases rudely

so, before Mr Teviotdale commenced his careful work. In 1872 Von Haast directed excavations of considerable extent; in 1874 Mr B. S. Booth, at Captain Hutton's request, dug there for three months and sent away ten boxes of material. The next delvers were not moved by the spirit of scientific research, but collected several truck loads of bones, which were sent to the Dunedin bone-mills. However, these were refused and were destroyed. In the late eighties, Mr A. Hamilton again carried cut extensive work. It is remarkable that when Mr Teviotdale commenced his excavations in 1915 anything of value was left for him to find. Nevertheless, he worked systematically. first mapping out the areas concerned and carefully noting the position and relations of each article found. Thus many middens or Maori ovens were unearthed, many instruments of hunting, fishing, and domestic nature were discovered, while the numerous moa bones left after the many which had previously been taken away gave additional support to Sir Frederick Chapman’s theory that the simple, stupid moas had bee . herded to this soot and slaughtered there. In all, Mr Teviotdale deserves much praise for his methodical and careful dinging- Not only has he added much material of value to the collections relating to Maori life, but he has given T-s some invaluable evidence as to the habits of the moa, and the method of hunting it, and from the results of his work much will be gained when the material nc./ at hand is more fully investigated. Amy who make sizable discoveries of moa remains would be well advised to communicate with some authority, say, the curator of the nearest museum, before they disturb the remains or commence to excavate. Each discovery is of value, but in most cases only when the facts of the relation of the find to the surroundings as the position of the bones, the type of soil in which they lie, any evidence as to the cause of death, and a host of other details noted by the trained excavator but generally missed by the amateur) are accurately recorded as well. For instance, although thousands of discoveries of remains have been made there have been very few complete skeletons secured, so few indeed that Auckland Museum recently paid a large sum for > cast of a complete moa skeleton in one of the English museums. In this respect the Otago Museum leads the world, having no fewer than ten complete individual skeletons. Nevertheless, they are rare. (To be continued.)