AXES AND ADZES. 



S5 



cases the tools are small, weighing but a few ounces. The angular tang so promi- 

 nent in the Hawaiian is absent in the Maori ; so are the perpendicular sides, and the 

 edges are generally rounded, or in some cases (1504) beveled on the front side. 



The Moriori predecessors of the Maori, whom the latter drove from the main 

 islands to the little group of 

 the Chatham islands, where 

 they are now pradlically ex- 

 tinct, had a form of adze close- 

 ly allied to the Maori but pre- 

 senting several peculiarities. 

 Those shown in Figs. 83 and 

 84 were collec^ted many years 

 ago by a resident of the Chat- 

 ham islands and are supposed 

 to show fairly the forms. In 

 the first figure the two stiff, 

 sharp-angled stones are of a 

 remarkably fine finish, sur- 

 passing in some respedls any 

 Pacific ocean adzes I have 

 seen. No. 8586 is large, and 

 even the tang is rounded to 

 suit the cord that attached it 

 to the handle. The front is 

 slightly convex and the blade 

 is consequently curved, but 

 the other sides are true as if 

 planed. The smaller one of 

 the same pattern is flat on all 

 sides. The material is a hard, 

 brittle, steel -grey, volcanic 



stone. In Fig. 82 a greater variety is shown, and here there is a nearer approach to 

 the Hawaiian. The material is a volcanic stone containing considerable masses of 

 olivine, often colored red by decomposition. I have not recognized this stone in any 

 other adzes, and I do not know whether it is found on the Chatham group. 



In Micronesia shell replaced the stone, which is not found on the low coral 

 atolls, and the .shape was comparativelj- uniform throughout the region making use of 

 shell. Sometimes flat, when the exigencies of the shell demanded this starved form, 

 but usually thick, semi-cylindrical, the edge ground toward the flat side, thus leaving 



[417] 



FIG. 82. SOUTHERN PACIFIC ADZES. 



