450 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



stone clubs, possessing the same form as the mere, but made 

 of hard black igneous rocks, are of a far more ancient date, 

 though they have been worked ^vith great care, and their form 

 and polish are perfect. They have been found in such posi- 

 tions that there can be no doubt as to their great age. I was 

 therefore much interested in obtaining two Maori stone imple- 

 ments, which are very different in form from those just alluded 

 to, and which in many respects agree far more with the stone 

 w eapons of the Morioris than those of the Maoris. 

 Until further specimens of the same material and form are 

 found of these remarkable New Zealand stone w^eapons it 

 would be premature to speculate upon the affinities between 

 them and the stone weapons of the Morioris ; but it seems 

 evident to me that they date back to a time anterior to the 

 discovery of nephrite at the West Coast, and its subsequent 

 use in the manufacture of meres, which must have supplanted 

 the inferior material used till that time." 



Of Maori weapons made of bone the Jioeroa is the most 

 worthy of notice. It was made from the rib of the whale. It 

 is one of the ancient weapons, and there is some doubt as to 

 the mode of its use. Some say that it was used as a projectile — 

 thrown at an approaching foe, but recovered by an attached 

 lanyard held in the hand. It was a weapon very highly 

 prized, and exclusively possessed by a chief. Specimens of 

 this weapon are to be seen in our Museum. 



Shorter w'eapons, also made of whale's bone, are the kotiate, 

 the viere, the patiqyaraoa ; but these are, for the most part, 

 merelj' imitations of the weapons of the same names fashioned 

 out of wood or stone. 



It is, I believe, a debattible question whether the Maori 

 used missiles in warfare. At page 66 (Maori) of vol. iii. of 

 White's "Ancient History" there is a plate in which is shown 

 something, called kotalia-kurutai, which has the appearance 

 of a missile to be projected by means of a stick and lanyard 

 which would become detached as the missile is hurled. I 

 have seen a description of such a missile as is there represented 

 and of the mode of using it, but have forgotten where it is to 

 be found. A specimen of the kotaha and pere, or dart, is in 

 our Museum. I have also been told by a Eotorua chief that 

 his father was killed with a totaha, hurled a considerable 

 distance from a pa, situated on an elevation, which he, with 

 his people, were besieging. The missile in this case was 

 described as a blunt instrument. Judge Maning tells us 

 that red-hot stones were sometimes slung into a besieged ^m, 

 with the intention of setting the houses on fire. The burning 

 of the Arawa canoe by Eaumati is said to have been effected 

 by slinging darts carrj-ing fire across the Maketu Eiver, and 

 setting on fire the thatch which formed its covering. 



