216 Transactions. 



Art. XXIX. — A Very Rare Maori Implement — Ahao. 



By Dr. A. K. Newmax. 

 [Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 3rd June, 1908.] 



Looking througli the collection of Maori curios belonging to Mr. Wilson, 

 of Napier, I spied this whalebone implement, shaped in all respects like an 

 English marlinspike used by our sailors. Mr. Wilson gave me this history 

 of its discovery : A man making a drain near Taradale brought it to him, 

 covered with moist dirt. Archdeacon Samuel Williams, who had lived 

 amongst the Maoris from very early European times, recognised it as a 

 genuine Maori implement, and called it an ahao. An old Rangitikei settler 

 told me he knew it — had seen one like it many years ago. Mr. Percy Smith 

 recognised it as a genuine Maori curio, and believed it was called a kaneha 

 or taneha. I left it with Mr. Skinner, of New Plymouth, a great Maori 

 expert, to show to some old Maoris. Plere is his letter : — 



" Yesterday I met two old Maori friends and introduced them to your 

 whalebone implement. They recognised it, and called it a purupuru. It 

 is a genuine old Maori tool, and was used for caulking the holes made for 

 lashing the topsides of a canoe to one another and to the body of the canoe. 

 When the lashing was completed the hole was packed or caulked with raupo, 

 or the fluffy material of the flower of the raupo. Considerable force had to 

 be used in doing this, so as to make the canoe sea-going (watertight), and 

 for that reason the whalebone tool was much prized, wooden ones not 

 standing so long. This particular one they said was made from the jawbone 

 of the sperm-whale, and was a good one — so good that they advised me to 

 keep it and not let it go back to Wellington. The elder Maori Heta te 

 Kauri is an acknowledged expert on all canoe and fishing business, so you 

 can rest assured you have a genuine and valuable old Maori implement." 



I showed it to Archdeacon AVilliams, of Gisborne, who also recognised 

 it. He had seen one exactly like it, but made of greenstone. This par- 

 ticular greenstone one was greatly prized by the Maoris. It was a sacred 

 article, used by the priests in religious ceremonies : they passed it through 

 the gills of fish offered to the gods, Avith many prayers. This greenstone 

 ahao was used only for holy purposes. 



Its Rarity. 



This implement was found in Hawke's Bay, and Archdeacon Williams 

 saw one of greenstone. It was used in Rangitikei and in Taranaki, and 

 doubtless in many other districts. No specimen exists in museums, nor 

 is it figured in Hamilton's great work on " Maori Art." The greenstone 

 one passed into the hands of Europeans, but its whereabouts is not known. 



Its Structure and Ancestry. 



The greenstone ahao must have been a great rarity even in old Maori 

 days. Common ones were made of hard wood, but they were not strong- 

 enough for much hard work, and were only used when they failed to get 

 the bone of a stranded whale. 



