Head of a hand-weapon y 



decorated with feathers > 



dog hair, and 

 abalone shell. 



NEW ZEALAND— The native people of New Zea- 

 land are called the Maori, a Polynesian word which 

 means "indigenous." Linguistically, culturally, and 

 physically the Maori are Polynesian. Oral traditions 

 tell of early migrations southwestward out of south- 

 central Polynesia in the tenth to twelfth centuries. 

 These first settlers in a new and different land came 

 in huge double-hulled canoes. They stayed on in their 

 new homeland, multiplying and developing new char- 

 acteristics which set them apart from their cultural 



Stylized figure from a council house. 



cousins in the rest of Polynesia. One feature of culture which 

 came to be elaborated was wood carving. 



To the Maori, art was ornamentation. He showed his skill 

 as a woodcarver in the intricate and stylized decoration of 

 every object he used. His weapons, tools, storage containers, 

 canoes, and houses showed his compulsion to ornament and 

 to create what seemed to him to be beautiful. The curvilinear 

 designs he developed are the hallmark of Maori workmanship. 



Page I, 



Rare type of grease or tinder container. 



