the beauties of the mother town. But who could look for romantic associations in a city whose years do not yet number half a century? Of the history of Dunedin and its neighborhood before the advent of the white man very little is known. No doubt the giant moa roamed over the flax-clad hills to the southward in days long past, for their remains have been found in close proximity to the present site of the town, and in all probability the huge Harpagornis, a bird of prey which rivalled the fabulous roc of Sinbad, cast the shadow of its mighty wings over the scene as it sailed in circles in the air, watching for some hapless moa chick which had strayed from the protecting care of the mother bird.
Doubtless, also, when the Maori appeared on the scene, these peaceful hills and dales have witnessed many a scene of blood and savage cruelty, relieved, perhaps, by deeds of valour. Little information, however, can now be obtained of those days, but the Maoris tell that the site of Dunedin, or at least its water frontage, was occupied by the Ngatiruahikihiki, the Ngatiaonga, and the Ngatikawariri hapus of the larger sub-tribes of Ngatikuri and Ngatiwairua, which were offshoots from the tribes known as the Naitahu and the Ngatimamoe, and also by the Ngaitepahi, a hapu descended from the same tribes. The native settlement on the site of Dunedin proper, which does not appear to have been very extensive, extended from about where the Post Office now stands, a spot called by the natives Otepoti (beyond which you cannot go), to the Water of Leith (Owheo) embracing in its limits Nga Moana e rua, now the gaol site, and Mataukareao, which was the name for a plot of land lying between the foot of Hanover-street and the Water of Leith. A prominent chief of the district, who lived about one hundred and fifty years ago, was Poho, a chief of the Ngatiwairua, from whom the creek flowing into Pelichet Bay, by the present rifle range, took its name Opoho, which has since been transferred to the neighbouring district. According to the Maor traditions, however, there must have lived at some distant date in the immediate neighbourhood of Dunedin no inconsiderable number of natives, for they speak of a large pah at Anderson's Bay called Puketai, and of a battle fought at Taputakinoi (near the locality now called Half Way Bush), ages ago,
