12 



HAWAIIAN STONE IMPLEMENTS. 



is a quarry for adzes which vie with those made from clinkstone in durabih'ty and 

 the power of retaining a cutting edge. 



While in the eastern Pacific phonolite is the important material for adzes and 

 chisels, in New Zealand, New Caledonia and other western islands greenstone* largel}- 

 takes its place. Nephrite or Jade is frequentl}- used for ornament or amulet and even 

 for adzes, while an aluminous form, Jadeite, is used for the blades of ceremonial adzes 

 or axes in many islands of the Bismarck archipelago (PI. LX.). 



FIG. 7. HAWAIIAN SLING AND SLINGSTONRS. 



SlingStones. — A hammer with a detachable handle was widely used in Poly- 

 nesia. Next to a club a stone seems a most handy weapon and is often nearer at hand 

 than a stick. When in the olden time a Hawaiian was obliged to travel into the upper 

 region of the mountains he was much in the habit of taking a stone in his hand for 

 protedlion albeit no more substantial eneni}- was to be met than the aioiiakita or spirits 

 whose domain he placed in the waste places above the forests. The smooth pebble 

 from the brook with which the Jewish shepherd bo^' slew the Philistine giant was very 

 primitive as a weapon beside the slingstones of the Pacific islanders. Where the im- 

 proved form originated or who was the inventor may never be known ; certain it is that 

 all through the Pacific an elongated form with conical terminals was in use. Far away 



* .\ fuller account of greenstone will be given below in the notice of the Maori implements and ornaments. 



[344] 



