Hamilton. — On some Bone Combs found in Otago. 485 



but by the chiefs to keep up their hair, much as English ladies 

 use their high back-combs. The men wore their hair long, 

 and dressed it up with a knot on the top of their heads ; the 

 women wore it cut short." 



The condition of the Maori nation at the time of the visits 

 of the early voyagers must have been somewhat similar to 

 that of the English people in feudal times, when the life of 

 every gentleman was devoted to fighting, and might was prac- 

 tically right, modified by custom ; and in both instances the 

 influence of the priest or tohunga was paramount, through the 

 superstition of the masses. We might also say that natural 

 selection on the same lines produced the flower of chivalry of 

 England and the noble savage of many a valiant fight embalmed 

 in the traditions of the Maori race. Barbarities can doubtless 

 be adduced on both sides, but it seems clear that as long as 

 man met man with fairly-equal weapons, hand to hand and 

 foot to foot, the true spirit of chivalry was not wanting ; but 

 as soon as that deadly invention, gunpowder, came into use, 

 both knight and chief rapidly lost their mana or reputation for 

 doughty deeds, and consequently were unable either to enforce 

 the discipline or control they once had over their followers, or 

 to protect them from petty aggressions. To the breaking-down 

 of the position and the mana of the chiefs must be attributed 

 much of the trouble which has come upon the Maori nation, 

 and the disorganization of the polity of the nation, leading 

 with a startling rapidity to the abandonment of many old 

 customs and practices, and the hasty substitution of others of 

 questionable superiority. 



Amongst the ornaments and insignia of a chief disused for 

 many years we must place the ornamented head-comb. Very 

 few specimens of the real old form are to be found in any of 

 the museums. It is therefore with great pleasure that I have 

 written this short note on the specimens exhibited, which are 

 part of the magnificent collection of Mr. John White, of 

 Dunedin. These specimens have been dug out of the remains 

 of old Maori settlements a little to the north of the Otago 

 Heads. They are made from the thin portion of the lower jaw 

 of various species of whale, which were frequently stranded on 

 the beaches in the olden time, before the advent of the whalers. 

 The specimens bear unmistakable marks of having been made 

 with the ordinary sharp stone cutters (obsidian and quartzite), 

 and rubbed down with grinding- and polishing - stones of 

 different qualities. The size and number of the teeth vary 

 very much (from three to twenty-five), according to the taste 

 or skill of the maker. Those with the coarser teeth are 

 usually the best preserved. The persistence of the type form 

 is very interesting, especially as it practically coincides with 

 those drawn by Parkinson from the North. 



