Chapman. — On the Working of Greenstone. 507 



of a million, was a small pendant now worn by a gentleman on 

 his watch-chain. In finally ceding land to the Queen upon a 

 sale by the native owners a mere has often been handed over 

 as symbolical of title. It is, of course, handed to the white 

 man who settles the bargain. I am not aware of cases 

 where it has got any further towards the Queen, nor does 

 the colony possess any treasure-house for keeping such 

 objects. 



The famous heathen chief Te Heuheu, on the night of the 

 7th May, 1846, was overwhelmed, with all his people save one 

 man, by a landslip burying the village Te Eapa. It is said 

 that the great warrior was last seen praying to or threatening 

 his atua. His mere was the most famous in New Zealand, 

 and is mentioned in the lament written by his brother and 

 successor, — 



Sleep on, O chief, in that dark, damp abode, 

 And hold within thy grasp that weapon rare. 

 Bequeathed to thee by thy renowned ancestor 

 Ngahue when he left the world. 



I think there must be some confusion in this, as it was the 

 famous eardrop called Kaukaumatua which Tama-te-kapua 

 was said to have brought from Hawaiki, and which had been 

 made from Ngahue's stone, which had come down to his de- 

 scendant Te Heuheu. This eardrop is often mentioned in 

 Maori history. It was the subject of a fight between two 

 sons of Tama-te-kapua, who was supposed to have brought it 

 from Hawaiki, and was buried by one of them but recovered 

 by his nephew. Some years before Te Heuheu's death it 

 was appealed to in a dispute as to the ownership of Flat 

 Island, in the Bay of Plenty, claimed by his relations. It was 

 agreed that those who could prove relationship to its possessor 

 could establish the best title to lands first occupied by their 

 common ancestor Tama-te-kapua. In later times a hundred 

 men were successfully employed in digging out the famous 

 mere, which is still held by the tribe. The bones of its mighty 

 owner were carried high up the mountain Euapehu, and there 

 left on a ledge of rock ; from which cause that mountain re- 

 mains sacred to this day. 



When Sir Donald McLean in 1856 brought to a close the 

 protracted and complicated negotiations by which the Govern- 

 ment finally acquired from hostile and conflicting claimants 

 the" northern end of the South Island, he had his greatest 

 difficulty with the district about Tory Channel and Queen 

 Charlotte Sound, as from its past associations the natives 

 attached great importance to it as the scene of many hard- 

 fought battles, and of final conquest. When signing the 

 treaty of cession, Eopoama te One, after alluding to these 

 wars in an emphatic harangue, struck into the ground at the 



