Haast. — Stone Weapons of the Morion and the Maori. 25 



Though the Canterbury Museum, owing to the liberality of 

 Mr. E. E. Chudleigh and other friends from the Chatham 

 Islands, possesses a fine series of these remarkable stoue clubs, 

 I should not have ventured to offer any remarks upon them, had 

 I not lately received two unique stone weapons, found near 

 the Hinds and near Oamaru, which (as I shall show in the 

 sequel) have, in their primitive mode of workmanship and 

 peculiar forms, some affinity with the " patus" of the Chatham 

 islanders. Wishing to obtain as reliable an account as possible 

 of the knowledge possessed by the Morioris of the present day of 

 the method of manufacture and use of these remarkable stone 

 weapons, I addressed myself to Mr. A. Shand, at present tem- 

 porarily residing in New Zealand, for many years a settler in 

 the Chatham Islands. He has the reputation of being not only 

 a close observer, but also as one well acquainted with the history 

 and traditions of the Morioris. That gentleman, in a letter 

 dated Auckland, 30th September, has most obligingly given me 

 a series of interesting notes which have afforded me an excel- 

 lent insight into the whole subject. I think I can do no better 

 than give at full length the contents of his letter in this com- 

 munication. As to the names of the stone weapons and axes of 

 the Morioris, and the mode of making them, Mr. Shand states 

 that " toki " is the general term for all stoue axes, including 

 the lesser kind " toki paneke," and chisel, " whao" or "puru- 

 puru," all of which were used for a considerable time after the 

 discovery of the island by Captain Broughton, Nov. 23rd, 1791, 

 in fact, until the advent of the Europeans (Sydney sealers and 

 whalers), about 1830 and 1836, when all stone implements were 

 laid aside or thrown away. 



The stone axes and other implements were first roughed 

 out by fracturing and chipping with other ones until the ap- 

 proximate shape was obtained. I may here add that the stone 

 implements are made of lydian stone, aphanite, dioritic and 

 basaltic rocks, for the greater part doubtless obtained on the 

 Chatham Islands, though there are some specimens in the Can- 

 terbury Museum, received from that locality, of chert and of 

 some other material which appear to have been imported from 

 New Zealand. 



After the approximate shape had been given to these stone 

 axes, the Morioris used grindstones, " hoanga.'" These were 

 made of a coarse sandstone, generally found on the sea coast at 

 various places. They had generally a flat surface, were other- 

 wise somewhat round, and varied in size from 7 inches to 12 

 inches on the .average. This " hoanga " was placed flat on the 

 ground, and the implement ground by rubbing it to and fro 

 thereon with water. Numbers of these " hoangas" are to be 

 seen at the islands, easily recognisable by the hollow in the 

 centre, shaped like a saucer, a sign of their frequent use. Mr. 



