1 1 8 Vojjage of the Novara. 



family takes precedence over the younger. The heir-male 

 was always regarded as the head of the family, and in the 

 olden times was its priest or tokunga. 



The wars of the Maori were chiefly carried on with spears 

 and clubs of various shapes and sizes, but since the arrival of 

 the Europeans the use of fire-arms has become almost univers- 

 al. Hangi, one of the most renowned and formidable chiefs, 

 who visited England in 1826, on his return exchanged all 

 the splendid presents made him by George IV. for European 

 fire-arms and ammunition, in order the more readily to sub- 

 jugate all the races on the island by means of these new and 

 dangerous weapons, and make himself omnipotent. Since 

 that period the older warlike implements [taiaha, paki^ ehi) 

 have only been kept as objects of curiosity for the various 

 chiefs to show. 



But the most remarkable weapon of the New Zealanders, 

 which was held by the chiefs in high honour as an emblem 

 of rank, a sceptre so to speak, and which descended from 

 generation to generation, is a piece of nephrite beautifully 

 polished, from 10 to 20 inches long, 4 to 5 inches broad, and 

 half an inch thick, called by the natives Meri-meri, ''the fire 

 of the gods," which is pierced at one end, and is usually 

 attached to a cord passed round the hand. In the days 

 of heathenism the Meri-meri was used occasionally as a 

 weapon of defence, as also to scalp prisoners. 



The various weapons of nephrite that we had an oppor- 

 tunity of examining were of a pale green colour, which be- 



