Chapman. — On the Worhing of Greenstone. 483 



eighteenth century. Cook probably mistook the learning of 

 the priests for a narrative of current events. 



Pounamu was one of the sons of the great Polynesian 

 deity Tangaroa (Lord of the Ocean), who was tiie son of 

 Eangi (Heaven) and Papa (Earth). Tangaroa married Te 

 Anu-matao (the Chilly CoidJ, who became the mother of four- 

 gods, all of the fish class, of whom Pounamu was one. The 

 substance pounamu, it is said, was formerly supposed to be 

 generated inside a fish (the shark), and only to become hard 

 on exposure to the air. 



Poutini was one of the brothers of Pounamu. He gives 

 the name to the mythical stone brought by Ngahue to New 

 Zealand conmionly called in story the Fish of Ngaluie (vide 

 2Jost). The stone "pounamu was by learned Maoris classed 

 with fish. The traditions respecting its discovery at Arahura 

 state that Ngahue found it "in a lifeless state " — that is, un- 

 formed. 



Tamatea-pokai-whenua, a celebrated ancestor of Maori 

 tribes, in addition to his faithful wives, had three — Hinerau- 

 kawa, Hinerauharaki, and Te Kohiwai — who deserted him. 

 He sailed right round the South Island in search of them, 

 naming the rivers and headlands as be passed. Though he 

 listened for every sound indicative of their presence, it was not 

 until, passing up the west coast, he reached the Arahura Eiver 

 that he heard their voices. He failed, however, to discover 

 his wives, for he did not know that their canoe had been upset 

 here, and they and all the crew had been transformed into 

 stones. His slave, happening to burn his fingers while cook- 

 ing some birds they had killed, impiously licked them, urged by 

 the pain. He was instantly turned into the mountain Tumu- 

 aki, which stands there still ; and as a consequence Tamatea 

 never found his wives. Since then the flaws which sometimes 

 discolour the best kinds of greenstone are called tutac-koka — 

 the excrement of the birds the slave was cooking when he did 

 this wrong. 



Myths, Teaditions, and History. 



Several ancient Maori stories refer to dissensions which 

 took place in Hawaiki before the great migration of the Maori 

 people from that country to this. From tiiem we learn some- 

 thing of the causes of the migration, and the, mode in which it 

 was designed and carried out. Later we learn from tradition, 

 and finally from the history of this century, the part played by 

 greenstone in the affairs of a nation whose history is war. 



Legend of Poutini and Whaiapu. 



The very discovery of New Zealand is connected with 

 greenstone. Poutini and Whaiapu both rested in the same 



