Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-22

rose above the general babble. Havana
Paipai shot keen glance in that direc-
tion.
"What is the matter down there?" he
asked in voice that silenced everybody in
moment What are you boys squabbling
about?"
1--WE are not squabbling, father" replied
q grand young STRIPPING, jumping to his
feet. wi KEPT said you had not told US
now you managed to catch the moas, and /
said he had better ask you himself if he
was not satisfied. Wi Kepi never be-
self."
This sally was received with loud laugh
ter, for the doubter evidently was not popu-
lar; but Havana Paipai raised his taiaha
nigh In the air, and everyone hushed his
nelghbor to listen as the old man con-
tinued:
THE MOA HUNT.
We had no guns, no rifles, no horses,
no swift dogs Not even Kur, the
mongrel. Yet we knew how to catch and kill
the moas. We did not go out after the noas
every day, as you boys go out after pigs or cells.
We made preparations for the hunt many
days or months beforehand. We decided which
swamps we would drive the birds out Of, and
which valley we would chase them down; and
o1ten we arranged it so that they would be
forced to take to the seashore and run along
the sand for whole days journey. Then we
mace camps all along the line OF the hunt, nve
or SIX miles apart, and hidden in the scrub
ABOVE the valley. There we posted relays of
young men, the strongest and swiftest
runners in the tribe. We drove the
moas out of the swamps with shouts
and trumpets, and the smoke of fires, when the
SQitn1 q q hav 10 I.
rectlon we wanted, the first party of runners
I0lloWed them, shouting and blowing horns.
we had great wooden trumpetS then, that
could be heard a mile, and the moas used TO
run IN terror from them. When once they
began rushing in herd down the valley it was
easy enough to keep them going. The second
party OF runners would be waiting in their
camp, watching. and, as soon as the birds ran
past. they would come out of the scrub and
dr1Ve them on toward the next camp, the first
party, who were tired out, taking possession of
their hiding place, where food and water and
good bed of fern were ready for them. So the
birds were driven from camp to camp until
tney had run all day without stopping, and
tnelr 1eet were sore with running over stones
and prickly plants and their feathers were
torn by the bushes and brambles. AT last they
could run no longer.
Then was the dangerous time, for they would
turn on their pursuers and fight desperately
with WIN their great feet. They had three toes,
hard like horses hoof and nearly as big. but
very sharp. A moa's foot ripped like a boar's
tusks have seen strong man killed bv a
moa, with both his arms broken and his head
torn open Then, they ran at you with their
neck stretched out and pecked at YOUR ewes
and lace with beak as sharp and strong as a
hatchet. When flock of moas rnrned on US
we used to take shelter in the scrub or climb up
tiees and Just keep them in sight till the par.
lIS lies VINO We're coming on behind us arrived.
IN Lnen Wnen there were enough of us to surround
the nock, we closed in on them and killed them
Win VIII o1 our spears. Sometimes. at the end of a
long chase, they would lie down and die from
exhaustion and hunger; but often they would
nghG To the last and wound everyone of us be.
fore we overcame them. A very big moa could
seize man with his beak and drag him along
the ground and trample him to death if his
comrades did not come soon to the rescue But
we were strong, we we're active. All, those
were grand daysI Those were grand daysI
Nothing like them now!
A CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.
My children, the best part of my story is that
It is true. Let those who doubt carry me where
shall lead them, and not two hours march
from hence, will show you where we killed
100 moas and feasted for week at the hahunga,
the funeral ceremony of the grandfather OF
among us. We shall find the bones there.
They will not l1el
In moment all the young men sprang
up, shouting, ''It is challenged It is a
1t is agreed! We will carry
Havana Paipai to the place of the feasti
Enoha te Rau shall be there to see."
By general consent I accompanied the |
party who were to test the truth of Havana !
Paipai's story. They consisted of four |
young giants, carrying the old chief on a |
light litter of manuka poles interlaced with |
wild vines, followed by a cavalcade of horse |
men and men, women and children on foot,
numbering at least 100. After a pleasant |
ramp of about nine miles, relieved BY the |
,horic songs, which the Maoris kept up un- |
we came to a most peculiar |
mound, evidently the work of man, and |
here the patriarch made US halt and de-
icended from his litter.
"Dig," he said to the young men. "Dig
lere, and the bones will speak. They will
ell you whether my story was a good
tory"
A score or more of youthful athletes went
% work with spades and pickaxes, neatly
the whole surface of the mound in
circular trenches.
At the end of half an hour when the dig
,ers had got four feet or so into the ground,
me OF them muttered an exclamation, and,
'eaching down, pulled long brown object
,ut of the loose soil and handed it to Ka-
gana Paipai. It looked to me like the bone
# some large animal. The chief felt its
weight and gave it to others to feel. When
handled it 1 knew it must be birds bone,
or 1t was hollow and cellular, quite differ
mt from the bones of beast.
The digging went on rapidly, great num-
ers of bones being taken out Of the pit and
aid on the grass. There must have been a
Tagon load piled up in heaps. 1 selected
Or memento a tibia, which was quite as
1uch as could carry back to town. have
still. 1t measures feet inches in length
nd Is inches in circumference at the head.
he bird it belonged to must have stood
lilly Is feet in height
EDWARD WAKEFIELD,