448 Transactions.— Miscellaneous. 



weapon firmly grasped with the right, and secured by a thong 

 or strap wound tightly round the wrist, he thrusts or drives its 

 sharp end against the temple of his victim. Another mode 

 was to grasp the body of his antagonist and drive the weapon 

 under the ribs with an upward thrust. The direct blow with 

 the long edge was not often given when the combatants faced 

 one another. There have been many famous merc-pounamu, 

 the names of which arc probably known almost all over New 

 Zealand. Among these may be mentioned the Ka-ore-ore, 

 owned by the Ngaitahu chief, Tama-i-hara-nui, whose tragic 

 history and fate form one of the most sensational episodes in 

 Maori history ; Pahi Kauri, which belonged to Te Heuheu, 

 the great Taupo chief, and was recovered after being buried 

 with its owner under an avalanche of mud which overwhelmed 

 the village where he lived. Te Eau-o-te-huia was another 

 famous pounanm, the possession of which was long the sub- 

 ject of contention between some of the Arawa chiefs. The 

 Piopiotahi is another, owned by the chief Tohi te Uru- 

 rangi, of the Arawa, who lost his life while leading a party of 

 our allies in the late war. Many others might be named, 

 locally or generally famous. 



Other weapons of stone were used by the Maoris — the 

 oneiua, a club or 2^atu of grey stone ; okewa, one of black igne- 

 ous stone, shaped liked the 7nere, but thicker, and made of 

 hard fine-grain stone. There is ground for belief that some 

 of these stone weapons are much older than any of the mere 

 and toki made of pounamu, and date back to a time long 

 anterior to the discovery of the j^ounamu on the west coast 

 of the Middle Island. In vol. xviii. of the Transactions 

 will be found a very interesting paper by Professor Haast on 

 " The Stone "Weapons of the Moriori (Chatham Islanders) and 

 the Maori." He says, — 



" The stone axes and other implements" — of the Chatham 

 Islanders — " were first roughed out by fracturing and chipping 

 with other ones until the approximate shape was obtained. I 

 may here add that the stone implements are made of Lydian 

 stone, aphanite, dioritic and basaltic rocks — for the greater 

 part, doubtless, obtained on the Chatham Islands, though 

 there are some specimens in the Canterbury Museum, received 

 from that locality, of chert and some other material, which 

 appear to have been imported from New Zealand. After the 

 approximate shape had been given to these stone axes the 

 Morioris used grindstones (hoanga). These were made of a 

 coarse sandstone generally found on the sea-coast at various 

 places. They had generally a flat surface, were otherwise 

 somewhat round, and varied in size from 7in. to 12in. on the 

 average. This lioanga was placed flat on the ground, and the 

 implement ground by rubbing it to and fro thereon with water. 



