Memories of New Zealand Life |
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amusement Aorere arrived beach beautiful Ben Nevis birds blankets Blind Bay Boulder BULLER RIVERS bullock bush cabin Captain cattle chapel colony commenced cook day's deck diggers diggings Dinornis distance district Dun Mountain England English enjoy feeling feet felt fern fire formed friends GEORGE UNWIN gold gold-fields Government gully harbour heart hills hour houses hundred interest Island John Blank journey King Movement labour land look Mahoetahi Maori Massacre Bay miles morning Motueka mountain natives Nelson Nelson province never night Novara Expedition o'clock ourselves Para-para party passengers plain pleasure province rain rendered Richmond river Riwaka road rock round rush scene seemed seen settlers ship sight Slate River society soon Takaka River Takaka Valley Taranaki tent tin dish tion town travelling trees vessel village Waimea Wairau Waitara walk washed Wellington Wesleyan wharri wind Wiremu Kingi Zealand
Popular passages
Page 116 - And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
Page 185 - And it is a remarkable, incomprehensible fact of the creation, that whilst at the very same period in the Old World elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotami; in South America, gigantic sloths and armadillos ; in Australia, gigantic kangaroos, wombats, and dasyures were living; the colossal forms of animal life were represented in New Zealand by gigantic birds, who walked the shores then untrod by the foot of any quadruped.
Page 184 - Moa-diggcrs was great, and increased; for the deeper they went below the stalagmite crusts covering the floor, the larger were the bones they found, and whole legs, from the hip-bone to the claws of the toes, were exposed. They dug and washed three days and three nights, and on the fourth day they returned in triumph to Collingwood, followed by two pack-bullocks loaded with Moa bones. I must confess that not only was it a cause of great excitement to the people of Collingwood, but also to myself,...
Page 224 - ... from the size of a pin's head to that of a pea ; scattered through a large body of sand or clay ; and in this state it is called by the Mandingoes sanoo munko,
Page 184 - The observations of M. Haast, made during this search, throw a new light upon this great family of extinct birds. He found that according to the depth so was the size of the remains, thus proving that the greater the antiquity the larger the species. The bones of Dinornis...
Page 185 - These gigantic birds belong to an era prior to the human race, to a Post-Tertiary period ; and it is a remarkably incomprehensible fact of the creation, that whilst at the very same period in the old world, elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotami — in South America, gigantic sloths and armadillos — in Australia, gigantic kangaroos, wombats, and dasyures were living, — the colossal forme of life were represented in New Zealand by gigantic birds.
Page 231 - Kiwaka and Takaka Valleys, they observed one morning on going to their work the footprints of what appeared to be a large bird, whose tracks they followed for a short distance, but lost them at length among rocks and scrub. The size of the footprints, which were well defined wherever the ground was soft, was fourteen inches in length, with a spread of eleven inches at the points of the three toes. The footprints were about thirty inches apart. On examining the bones of the foot of a moa in the Museum...
Page 207 - This is levying war against the Queen. Destroy the places you have built, ask my forgiveness, and you shall receive it. If you refuse the blood of your people be on your head. " I shall fire upon you in twenty minutes from this time, if you have not obeyed my order.
Page 183 - The excitement of the Moa-diggers was great, and increased; for the deeper they went below the stalagmite crusts covering the floor, the larger were the bones they found, and whole legs, from the hip-bone to the claws of the toes, were exposed. They dug and washed three days and three nights, and on the fourth day they returned in triumph to Collingwood, followed by two pack-bullocks loaded with Moa bones. I must confess that not only was it a cause of great excitement to the people of Collingwood,...
Page 225 - ... per cubic yard is much less — not worth more, perhaps, than from three shillings to six shillings per yard, and it would generally pay very well at that." With this data, the following calculation may be made. We will reckon the superficial extent of the Aorere and Parapara gold-fields at thirty English square miles ; the average thickness of the gold-bearing conglomerate, at a very low rate, at one yard ; and the value of gold in one cubic yard at five shillings. Upon this data, the value...