Chapman. — On the Working of Greenstone. 481 



that name an article of commerce and manufacture in New 

 Zealand. It is called pounatmi or pocnamic by the Maoris, and 

 "jade," " jadeite," or "nephrite" by various writers, while 

 old books refer to the " green talc " of the Maoris. 



Too little has been said and too little is known of the way 

 in which stone implements were made and used ; and the 

 reason is this : When the savage acquires an axe of steel his 

 beautiful but ineffective stone weapon becomes useless, and 

 falls from his hand. The rude whaler, who is his ideal wliite- 

 man, looks curiously at the stone which yesterday served as 

 a tool : but there the matter ends ; and by the time a man who 

 not only feels a little curiosity on the subject bub desires to im- 

 part a little information to his curious countrymen dwelling in 

 the remote Old World comes round, tlie savage and his savage 

 children have gone to shadow-land ; and the white-haired old 

 whaler who witnessed the change points to the sandhills, 

 which he calls Measly Beach, as the landmark between the 

 two races, and shows where all his old acquaintances are 

 buried. " Yes, -Tacky Jack used a stone hatchet; have seen 

 him make one." But it is too much to expect the old man to 

 describe how this was done ; it happened fifty years ago. 

 Even Mr. Wohlors, an intelligent missionary, whose letter I 

 publish, picked up some erroneous notions in the early whaling 

 days; but fortunately my connnunication was in time to induce 

 the Eev. J. W. Stack, whose knowledge of Maori affairs and 

 Maori ways is unsurpassed, to draw his information directly 

 from the pure and undefiled well of surviving ancient can- 

 nibalism, and was also in time to secure answers from such 

 men as Mr. John White and Dr. Shortland, each of whom 

 had half a century's experience of the Maoris to draw 

 upon. 



With the exception of the tangi-wal, the various kinds of 

 greenstone are all found iu a restricted locality on the west 

 coast of the South Island. The Taramakau Eiver is one of the 

 numerous rivers flowing from the main range to the sea on 

 that coast. Like the others of that region, it is in size out of 

 all proportion to the country which produces it : this is owing 

 to the great rainfall. This river, at the mouth of which 

 Bruimer and Hcaphy found a village in which greenstone wan 

 worked in 184G, coupled with the Arahura and the sea-beach 

 between and about the two, is in all probability the Wai- 

 pounamu (Water of Pounarnu) of the Maoris, which has given 

 its name to this great island. The name " Arahura" is more 

 often mentioned in the traditional history of greenstone. It 

 is a much smaller stream, nine miles south of the Taramakau. 

 The next river is the Hokitika, a little farther south, where 

 the chief town of Westland stands, in the bed of which, how- 

 ever, greenstone is not found. The word " Hokitika" means 

 31 



