536 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



highly-polished stones of no apparent use found in Maori camps, A 

 piece of pipiioarauroa, nearly square, ^in. thick, used for the same pur- 

 pose. A small burnisher for the same "purpose, with two scraping-edges. 

 A long, thin burnisher for the same purpose. 



21. Small chisel or axe, with a curved edge. A carving toki for dig- 

 ging the deep holes in totara slabs when executing carvings. The artist 

 burned little holes in the slab, and chiselled out the charcoal. This in- 

 strument has a depression for the thumb. 



22. Large axe. Length, 13in. ; width, 3|in. ; thickness, lin. As it 

 was found to be too broad, there is a cut on each side to remove a strip. 

 Kaicakawareioa or melting kazvakawa. 



Geeenstone in the Polynesian Islands. 



• 41, Tinakori Road, Wellington, 



My dear Mr. Chapman, — 6th November, 1891. 



In accordance with my promise of this afternoon, I send by book- 

 post "La Nouvelle-Caledonie," by Jules Gamier. See page 81 for the 

 description of the greenstone, which is probably worth quoting as a note 

 to your paper. 



I also give you the following notes from my own note-book. They 

 were jotted down at a time when I was— and still am — in search of any- 

 thing bearing on the question as to whether the Polynesians knew of the 

 pounavm: — 



1. Taylor, in " Te Ika a Maui," page 29, says, quoting from the " Vovage 

 of the ' Flores,' " " Green jade is found in New Caledonia (Kanala)." What 

 is its native name '? 



2. It is also found in the Louisiade Archipelago. 



3.^ Dr. Lesson, in his " Les Polynesiens," vol. i., p. 59, says, " Le jado 

 vert, a I'exception de la Nouvelle-Zelande, n'existe que dans les ties 

 Hebrides et la Nouvelle-Caledonie." 



4. He also says (vol. iii., p. 171), " II parait certain aujourd'hui quele 

 jade vert ne se trouve sur aucune des iles Polyuesiennes proprement dites. 

 Cependant tons les anciens navigateurs ont signale son existence sous des 

 formes differentes, dans les divers iles qu'ils ont visitees; tous ont fait re- 

 marquer le prix qu'y attachaient les indigenes, preuve convain(,'ante de 

 sa rarete. On y tenait tant, lors des premiers voyages, qu'il etait presque 

 impossible d'en rencontre dans les iles Polyuesiennes qui ont ete fre- 

 quemment visitees." 



5. Pounavm was known by name to the IMoriori, and there was for- 

 merly a to/ci belonging to their ancestor Moe, of the Orepuke canoe, named 

 Toki-a-ra-mei-tei, which is buried at Owhata, near the east point of 

 Chatham Island, in the tualm, or burial-ground. Tapu says, from the 

 description of it, that it was made of iMunamu. — A. Shand, 1890. 



7. M. A. de Quatrefages, in his " Hommes Fossiles et Hommes 

 Sauvages," page 136, in speaking of the human and other remains found 

 in southern France of the quaternary period, refers to the jade, or green- 

 stone, found amongst the implements, as follows : "Mais toutes les haches 

 recueillies dans la vallee du Petit Morin n'etaient pas en silex. Vingt 

 ont ete fabriquees avec des roches 6trangeres a la contree, et parmi elles 

 il en est enjadite, en chloromenalitc. Or, la premiere de ces matieres 

 semble n'exister qu'en Chine, et peut-etre en Amerique, et notre eminent 

 min6ralogiste, M. Dumour, n'a pu encore decouvrir la patrie de la 

 seconde." 



9. Julian Thomas ("Cannibals and Convicts," page 284) says, when 

 in Tanna, of the New Hebrides, " I found specimens of a rock which I 

 took to be the same as the New Zealand greenstone. The natives made 

 charms of it, as in Maoriland." 



10. Basil H. Thompson, in his account of explorations in the 

 Louisiade Archipelago, given in Proceedings Royal Geographical Society, 



