GUERDE COLLECTION OF ANTIQUITIES IN WEST INDIES. 771 



fact that on the coast of New Zealand extensive layers of flat and blade- 

 shaped pebbles of nephrite furnish the natives with ready materials for 

 the fabrication of hatchets, knives, and other implements. No less true 

 is it that in the West Indies, where no calcareous flint occurs, "Nature, 

 the kind old nurse, took her child upon her knee," and taught him to 

 utilize the materials at hand for their convenience and happiness. The 

 term meri (pronounced may-ree) is preferred to patu, the latter term 

 meaning- generically any striking weapon. 



Length, 13 inches; width, o-^g inches. 



Fig. 63. A blade of slaty-black material. The butt is very small and 

 knob-like, and the haft-spacc shallow. The sides widen out unevenly, 

 so as to give the contour of a scapula or hand- ax. The form is rare, 

 and serves to connect the ruder meri with the two following examples. 



Length, 6 inches ; width, 3-^^ inches. 



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Fio. 65, 



