I20 Voyage of the Novara. 



Manila for the purpose of being tested and examined. The 

 workmen remained some months at Piopiotahi, anxiously 

 awaiting intelligence of the results of their toil. At last, 

 when they had about exhausted their provisions, and were 

 still without intelligence, they buried the fruits of their exer- 

 tions, and dispersed themselves among the small Maori 

 settlements adjoining Fovean's Straits. 



The samples of nephrite were duly sent from Manila to 

 China, where they proved to be of very poor quality, being 

 disfigured by small black specks. For some years after small 

 quantities of nej^hrite were annually brought for sale from the 

 Piopiotahi to Wellington, where they found plenty of pur- 

 chasers among the natives of that district at about \s. per lb. 



In former days the Maori used to make long and difficult 

 journeys from the east to the west coast of the island, in search 

 for the much-prized stone. When found it was usually 

 shaped and polished by rubbing it upon a flat sandstone 

 block ; this operation was so long and arduous that its com- 

 pletion was often the work of two generations ; and this is 

 probably the main reason why such value is attached to it. 

 The extraordinary hardness of the stone, which admits of its 

 being ground to a very sharp edge, also made it an excellent 

 substitute for iron in the manufacture of hatchets and chisels, 

 the New Zealanders having only become acquainted with that 

 metal since their intercourse with the Europeans. 



The shape which the Maories gave the Meri-meri when com- 

 pleted, resulting from the absence of implements with which 



