Page:Transactions NZ Institute Volume 9 Supplement.djvu/63

Rh Upon this Captain Hutton remarks:—

"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."

From these observations it almost appears that Captain Hutton never examined the flat in question, or he would, without doubt, have corroborated my observations.

Not only were excavations made by me in several spots on this mud-flat, partly covered with salt-marsh plants, and which grow generally in those localities which are only covered occasionally by high tides, but similar holes were sunk by my servant in 1872, and the results were always the same. We both passed through about a foot of sandy mud, after which we reached a great number of Moa bones, often closely lying together; below them cooking-ovens were found, with the stones composing them, in their original position, now at least two feet below high-water mark. Consequently, they cannot have been washed out of the sand by the undermining of the river, which never had its bed there since this deposit was found, and which everywhere is in situ.

What Captain Hutton means by ovens as high as low-water mark is beyond my conception.

However, the ovens and kitchen-middens, two feet at least below high-water mark, are there, and prove that the ground beneath the ovens must have been at least above spring tides when the ovens were excavated on the flat, as no fire could burn in such a spot, and the ovens and kitchen-middens would have been destroyed or washed away by every high spring tide. We can therefore only account for their present position and preservation, by assuming that the Moa ovens and kitchen-middens have been covered by newer beds deposited over them, by which they were afterwards protected when the land sank.

Concerning my statement that many of the limb bones were not broken for the extraction of the marrow, I must have been remarkably fortunate, as I obtained during a short day's work several entire tibiæ, three of which I brought with me to Christchurch, whilst I could have filled a large case with unbroken femora and metatarsi, from which I selected 22 for comparison and which are now in the Canterbury Museum. Besides this small quantity a large number of bones were collected during several years past by inhabitants of the district or by visitors.