Page:Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute - Volume 1 (2nd ed.).djvu/19

Rh we, as representatives of its Scientific Institutions, beg especially to thank you for the great work which you have achieved in collecting and preserving the early traditions and poetry of its aboriginal inhabitants, thereby securing the permanence of valuable records for the future study of Ethnologists. In bidding you a hearty farewell, it is our earnest hope and prayer that all honour, health, and happiness may attend you."

Sir George Grey replied, and stated that he was not aware until just before the meeting that such an address would be presented to him. He felt very grateful for the honour His Excellency and the Governors of the Society had done him, and hoped that though about to leave New Zealand he might still have it in his power to be of some assistance in advancing scientific pursuits in the colony. He then spoke at some length as to the interesting field open in this colony for contributing to science important observations bearing on the study of the human race. Sir George Grey gave some interesting examples of the curious results likely to ensue from a comparison of the traditions and history of the Maori race with that of the early inhabitants of Britain, and concluded by expressing his earnest thanks for the address, and the great interest he would always feel in all matters affecting the colony.

After a few observations from the Bishop of Wellington as to Sir George Grey's academic career, and his acquaintance with the hard work by which he had attained his present high political and scientific position, the meeting adjourned.

After a few appropriate remarks from His Excellency, the lecturer commenced by saying that the subject was of too extensive a character to be dealt with fully in one lecture, as it involved the consideration of difficult questions in comparative anatomy, geology, and archæology, and in the traditional history of the Maoris. After instancing examples, to show that New Zealand was not peculiar in the circumstance that huge birds without the power of flight were the highest form of life previous to the arrival of man in the islands, he proceeded to describe the different circumstances under which the remains of the Moa are found, assigning the highest antiquity to those that are found under the stalagmite in certain limestone caves similar to the bone caves in which traces of the early animals which inhabited Great Britain are preserved to us. He drew attention to the fact that in the British caves, among the great variety of animals represented, there is