I v. — MISCELLANEOUS. 



Art. XLIX. — Maori Implements and Weapons. 

 By T. H. Smith. 



[Bead before the AuMand Institute, 3rd July, 1893.] 



I HAVE been requested by our President to contribute an item 

 to the programme arranged for the present session in the shape 

 of a paper on some Maori subject, the choice of one being left 

 to myself. In compliance with this request, I have en- 

 deavoured to collect and put into shape a few notes on 

 "Maori Implements and Weapons," meaning such imple- 

 ments and weapons as were used by the Maori in old time, 

 but were speedily superseded by those introduced by the 

 foreigner. Many of the former are now only to be seen as 

 curiosities, and the fact of their having been superseded and 

 discarded makes it next to impossible to get a complete list of 

 them, and a difficult matter to give a very precise description 

 of many of them. It has been suggested to me, however, 

 that a brief description of some of the more noteworthy of 

 these primitive appliances of peace and war might prove in- 

 teresting, especially if illustrated by specimens from the 

 collection of these articles which we have in our Museum. 

 This task I have ventured to essay. In making the attempt, 

 I do not expect to add much to the stock of information 

 on the subject already collected. I shall tell my audience, 

 for the most part, only what has been told before ; but I 

 may possibly render a service to some by bringing together 

 and presenting to view items and scraps gathered from various 

 sources ; and I will hope that, though it may possibly be said 

 of my story that the true in it is not new, it may not be 

 added that the new in it is not true. 



It will be scarcely necessary to tell you that the aboriginal 

 inhabitants of New Zealand were unacquainted with the arts 

 of extracting metals from their ores and of making pottery. 

 Wood, stone, and bone supplied the material out of which all 

 or most of the various articles they required were fashioned or 



