Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-12-23
Strange and Most Inters sting Discovery In
the New Zenlaud Vllds.


AS most of our readers are aware, Austria
lasia, from the time of its first discovery,
hes not only rewarded the explorer and de-
lighted the naturalist with many strange
birds and beasts, but the remains of gigan-
tic species of the former, supposed to have
been long extinct, were found in some of the
caves which exist in the rocky ridges of its
remote and solitary parts From the skel-
eton of this colossal bird il was found to have
surpassed in sizs any Of the feathered tribes
now known to man. In fact, it was believed
to be larger than the great species whose
bones are found in the interior of Madsgas-
car, at no great distance from where those
of the Dodo, another extinct and ungainly
species, have been discovered; and only the
roe of the Arabian fables surpassed it in size.
This New Zealand bird was called by natu.
ralists the Moa; and when contemplating
with intense interest its thigh bone, large as
that of an OK, they never dreamed that one
Of these strange and towering creatures, sug-
gestive of another geological period, and al
most of another world, might still exist in
some far. off and hitherto unexplored valley.
This, however, extraordinary and unex-
pepted as is the discovery, appears to be the
case. According to the Nelson Examiner Of
the 18th Of June, Mr.. Drummer, the chief sur
veyor Of the province, and Mr.. Mailing, of the
same department, together with native of
the country, were engaged in surveying the
| ranges between the Riwaka and Takaka val
| leys. On going to their work ons morning
| they were astonished by observing the foot
! prints of gigantic bird, such one, in all
! probability, as those whose bones having
| been found and taken to Europe, were re.
ceived with 80 much avidity, aud investi.
| gated with such profound and learned scru-
| tiny by scientific men. The footprint of the
| savage in the sand scarcely created greater
1 emotion in the mind of Crusos than did those
| of this colossal representative of q supposed
! extinct race in the breasts OF the surveyors.
| The wonder of the native was equal to
theirs civilized man and aborigine stood
alike confounded at the new evidence of the
msrvels of nature in that wild and unfre-
| quented part of her vast domain. They fol-
! lowed the tracks for a short distance, but
eventually lost them among rocks aud scrub.
Wherever the ground was soft, the foot
/ prints were distinct and well defined. They
| measured fourteen inches in length, with q
spread Of eleven inches at the points of the
toes, and they we're about thirty inches apart.
! The native was at once interrogated 10y the
survey ors, but was at loss to conjecture by
! what bird the tracks in question could have
been made He had never seen any thing of
| the kind before. The loss of the trail was
provoking. for the gentlemen in question,
although thus furnished with irrefragible
testimony that there, in those wild solitudes
did exist some bird upon whose living
form the eyes of man had never rested, were
apparently prevented from further pursuit
of the remarkable discovery.
They revisited the place, however and on
a subsequent morning discovered other
tracks over their own footsteps, in some in
stances, and by this it was established, be-
yond doubt that the enormous bird who
made them had passed there the previous
night. Now, what is this strange and weird
creature that thus, beneath the southern
cross and under -Australasian sky, re-
visits the glmpses of the moon, aud stalks
in solitary state at midnight through those
soltudes2 No sooner had the surveyors an
noupced their discovery, than there was a
rush to the Museum to examine the foot
bones of the skeleton of large Moa there
preserved. The middle toe of the skeleton
was found to be eight inches and half long,
without the integuments, while that of the
bird who made the foot prints was ten inches,
according to the impressions. The bones of
the Moa in the Museum, too were evidently
those of very large bird, and there is moth
ing known of any other species which would
approach it in size.
The belief, then, is, from the size of the
footprints and the great stride of the bird,
that the Moa is not altogether extinct, but
that solitary specimen, If not more, still
exists, and still, by moonlight, wanders in
the lonely valley where its gigantic race
once abounded. There can be no question
as to the truthfulness Of the gentlemen who
discovered the tracks. They are in the em
ploy of the Government in a scientific char
acter, and they know that Fiction of thi;
sort would insure their discharge if they in,
vented and promulgated it. The district is
full of limestone caves, similar to those in
the adjoining district of Aorere, in which 9
large quantity of Mos bones we're found
about two years before. A discovery of thi.
interesting character has made some stir il
the colony, and it is the intention of thu
Government to have the character of thu
gigantic bird which wanders in those soil
tudes ascertained. II it is living Mos, i
will be like zone risen from the dead"
not, it must be bird of some species ne
and strange. ~