from the tertiary rocks that form the sea cliffs south of the Shag River to the mouth of that river; these hills, being about sixty feet in height near their southern end, and decreasing in altitude towards the river. Inland of the sand-hills there is a low flat, about two feet above high water mark, and this flat is bounded on the east by a tidal backwater, communicating with the river, which flows along the northern end of the sand-hills into the sea.

The flat is covered with a luxuriant growth of grass; but, on the sandhills, a few scattered tussocks—chiefly in the hollows—are the only vegetation. The northern end of the sand-hills have been considerably worn away by the river, and now form low cliffs from five to eight feet high, in which are exposed some of the old Maori middens, consisting chiefly of shells and fish-bones, but also containing bones of dog, seal, moa, and other birds.

On the very highest point of the hills we also found considerable deposits of shells, Moa bones, and Maori trinkets, and we therefore decided to have a deep trench cut in an east and west direction, right across the hills at this point, in order to ascertain to what depth traces of human occupation extended, and when that was completed, we determined to have pits sunk on the lower parts of the hills, and on the flat, to ascertain the nature of the remains there also. Accordingly, Mr. Booth, with the assistance of another man, commenced to work on the 25th January, and on the 11th February, the trench and pits having been completed, I again visited the ground, in company with Mr. Rich, to examine the ground and decide what should be done next.

The explorations thus made exposed the whole structure of the sandhills and the flat, and proved convincingly that the Maori middens were only surface deposits, seldom more than four feet deep, scattered irregularly over the hills and flat. We, consequently, gave orders to stop the excavation, and I requested Mr. Booth to continue the surface explorations, and to collect for the Museum for as long a period as he could stay. This he agreed to do, and he remained camped on the ground until the 24th April, when he left, sending to the Museum ten boxes full of the collections that he had made.

Not having any room for unpacking these boxes, I have only opened the three most important ones, examined their contents, and packed them up again; but Mr. Booth supplied me with catalogues of the contents of each box. I am not, therefore, in a position to describe the whole of the collections made at these middens; but, from my own observations, from the notes supplied to me by Mr. Booth, and from my examination of the three most important boxes, I am, I think, in possession of sufficient infor-

mation regarding the Maori, or “Moa-hunter,” feasts to make it unnecessary for me to wait until the whole collection has been examined before laying the results before you.

The deposits of shells and bones generally extended to only four or five feet from the surface; but, in one place, Mr. Booth found bones of dog, seal, and moa, mixed with shells, at a depth of twelve feet. This deposit was covered by four feet of clean sand. On the summit of the highest hill we obtained bone fish-hooks, flakes of chert and obsidian, ground stone implements, fishing-net sinkers, and ornaments manufactured out of Dentalium giganteum—a fossil abundant at the Waitaki. With these were moa bones of several species, bones of fish, and immense numbers of the following shells, viz., Haliotis iris, Amphibola avellana, Chione stutchburyi (partly coloured), and Dentalium dunkeri (still retaining its colour). All the ornaments manufactured from Dentalium, the obsidian flakes, and the ground implements were got close together round one oven, at about two feet from the surface. Above them was a heterogenous mixture of bones (including many belonging to the Moa), and shells; and a similar mixture extended for another two feet below them.

In the deepest deposit found (twelve feet), besides bones of seal, dog, moa, penguin, and fish, there were shells of Haliotis iris and large quantities of Chione stutchburyi, still partly retaining their colour. These shells of C. stutchburyi, however, differed from those of the same species found in all other parts of the midden, by their being much larger. This may, perhaps, be accounted for by the Maoris at that time having collected their pipis on a different bank from the one they afterwards used; for we know that C. stutchburyi has survived from the Miocene period without decreasing in size.

It is quite unnecessary for me to give lists of all the remains at each of the excavations made by Mr. Booth, for they were all nearly alike. Moa bones were never found unassociated with beds of shells, and although shell beds did occur without moa bones, these just as often underlaid beds with moa bones as overlaid them.

The following is a list of the animals, remains of which were found in the midden, so far as I have examined the collections:—Seal, dog, rat,—Dinornis casuarinus, D. crassus, D. elephantopus, and D. gravis. Albatross, penguin, and many other birds not determined. Fish-bones were very abundant, the commonest species being Thyrsites atun. The following shells were the only ones found:—Calyptrœa maculata, Imperator cookii, Turbo smaragdus, Haliotis iris, Amphibola avellana, Mactra discors, Mesodesma novœzealandiœ, Chione stutchburyi (the most abundant of all), and Mytilus dunkeri. No bones of Harpagornis nor of Cnemiornis were found.

Only three or four bones of young moas were found. Moa egg-shell was not uncommon; but Mr. Booth thinks that the whole quantity obtained would probably not make more than three or four eggs. Two moa bones were found, which, according to Mr. Booth, had been gnawed by dogs. A piece of skin of some animal was found at a depth of about two feet, in the sand. There was no shell bed over it.

In some places near the south end of the hills, moa bones were more abundant deeper down than near the surface; but this was not observed in other places. The moa bones were not in continuous layers like the shells, but in patches. Mr. Booth also noticed that the heads of the same species were always in one patch. Gizzard stones in small heaps were abundant It is also worthy of notice that no moa bones are found in any other locality in the neighbourhood, and none were found on the Bushy Park estate when it was first ploughed up.

It is very difficult to give an opinion as to the age of these deposits. Twelve feet of blown sand would not necessarily take long to accumulate, neither would four feet of shell deposit round the ovens. Many of the shells still retain a considerable portion of their colouring matter; but the greater number of them are white and friable. With the exception of the pelves, all of which were rotten, most of the moa bones were in a better state of preservation than the shells; but Mr. Booth remarks that “the state of preservation in which the bones were found did not depend on their depth, nor the length of time they had been buried; but altogether on the pureness of the sand in which they happened to lay. Whenever the sand was discoloured with ashes, or any other matter, the bones were invariably rotten;”

A stump of totara, probably part of an old eel-pa, was found fixed upright in the river bed below high-water mark, and, on being extracted, it showed that it had been dressed with stone adzes. This stump appears to have been about six feet long. At high-water mark it had rotted through, and the upper portion, two feet in length, was found covered by about a foot of sand. The lower portion, four feet in length, two feet of which were in the ground, is, however, perfectly sound. Mr. Booth also remarked that the lowest shell beds always rested on pure sand, without the slightest discolouration, and he, therefore, thinks that the first occupation of the spit was before any grass was growing on it.

Dr. Haast has stated ^* that the land has sunk about three feet since the date of the first ovens; but a careful examination of the ground failed to corroborate his observations. No ovens were found as high as low-water mark, although scattered stones that had been used for cooking were found

on the river side of the spit below high-water mark, but none below low water mark. These stones had no doubt been washed out of the sand by the undercutting of the river.

On the whole, I am inclined to think that the totara stump proves that the occupation of this midden was previous to the introduction of iron tools by Europeans, and the state of preservation of the shells and bones points to the same conclusion, but I know of nothing that proves that the moa remains are more than a century old, although it is quite possible that they may date back for several centuries. There is certainly not the slightest evidence to show that this spit was occupied at two distinct periods, with a long interval between, during which interval the moa became extinct, as stated by Dr. von Haast. In my opinion, the very last Maoris who camped there fed occasionally on the moa.

Having now given all the facts that I know relating to the occurrence of bones and shells in these middens, it only remains to mention those facts entirely collected by Mr. Booth, that throw some light on the habits of the Moa-hunters and the nature of their feasts.

Of the leg-bones of the moa, nearly all the tibia were broken for the purpose of extracting the marrow; in three months' work Mr. Booth only found three whole ones. Of the femora found, about one-fourth or one-fifth were unbroken. The metatarsi were generally broken. All the pelves but one were broken. The spinal column appears to have been generally cut through at the junction of the neck with the body, and again at eight or twelve inches below the head. Very few heads were found that had been broken for the extraction of the brain. The sternal ribs were generally still lying in their places with the sterna showing. Mr. Booth remarks that there had been but little flesh upon them.

In one place, ten feet square, fifteen pelves were found, with a few vertebræ attached to them; but usually the bones were scattered. All these fifteen pelves were much broken.

In reviewing these facts, Mr. Booth concludes that food was not so abundant with the Maoris, as supposed by Dr. Haast, as almost all the bones except the skulls were broken. He also thinks that the moa feasts were only occasional, a small flock of six or seven individuals of the same species being captured at a time. He also remarks that the charred state of some of the necks proves that they were occasionally roasted, while others may have been steamed. Mr. Booth also thinks that the Maoris used the bones for fuel, as in several places he found heaps of burnt bones from six to twelve inches in depth, and no wood, only a few small pieces of charcoal and burnt grass and sea-weed. He also remarked that the sterna