386 Transactions 



in front of us. We noticed that it ran with a wide and regular curve, and 

 my friend jokingly remarked that " the ancient Maori must have played 

 the ancient game of bowls." The incident is probably forgotten by my 

 companion, but I have often recalled it, and wondered if this were really 

 the explanation of the matter. I often thought it might be, but I was 

 afraid to put forward the theory seriously, because at first the idea of the 

 fierce cannibals of old amusing themselves in this manner appears some- 

 what ludicrous. Recently, however, I was reading again an old friend — 

 Captain Cook's Voyages — and in his account of the Sandwich Islands Natives 

 I found this passage : " They play at bowls with pieces of whetstone, men- 

 tioned before, of about a pound weight, shaped somewhat like a small cheese, 

 but rounded at the sides and edges, which are very nicely polished ; and 

 they have other bowls of the same sort, made of a heavy reddish-brown 

 clay, neatly glazed over with a composition of the same colour, or of a 

 coarse dark-grey slate." 



After reading this I made a careful re-examination of the stones (nine 

 in all) still in my possession, and tested them pretty thoroughly, with the 

 result that I have come to the conclusion that they are really and truly 

 '' bowls," and that the sport of bowling must have been indulged in long, 

 long ago by the Maoris in the vicinity of Tauranga. Further, the game 

 was most likely played on the hard level sand at low water. Cook does not 

 mention the kind of ground on which the Sandwich Islanders played, but 

 it would probably be the beach. I tried the bowls on a lawn, which just 

 then was rather " heavy," as it had not been cut or rolled for a couple of 

 weeks, and, although the bowls ran fairly well, the work of sending them 

 across the green was too hard for pleasure; but on an asphalt court they 

 ran well and easily, and even a couple which seemed to the eye to have no 

 " bias " (or bevel on the circumference) curved quite 5 ft. from a straight 

 line in travelling 20 yards. Hard, wet sand would form a splendid bowling- 

 surface for them, and if it became " cut up " after a few games there would 

 be no trouble in shifting to another " rink." 



Mr. Cheeseman tells me that there are some of the Sandwich Islands 

 bowls in the British Museum, and that a drawing of one which he has kindly 

 examined might very well be taken for a sketch of one of those which I 

 handed to him. It seems possible that Cook underestimated the weight, 

 as the one in question is 3i in. across, and one of mine but slightly larger 

 (4^ in.) weighs more than 4| lb. The lightest I have weighs 3| lb. The 

 largest weighs 6j lb., and is nearly 6 in. in diameter. It runs beautifully — 

 but I must not be carried away by a bowler's enthusiasm. The average 

 weight of those I have is 4 lb. 9 oz. ; the average diameter about 5J in. ; 

 and the average thickness nearly 3 in. 



The drawing mentioned above, Mr. Cheeseman informs me, is in Heape 

 and Partington's work on " Polynesian Ethnography," which makes a 

 reference to the extract from Cook's Voyages which I have quoted, and 

 also mentions that this Sandwich Islands game is described in Byron's 

 Voyages and in Ellis's Journey through Hawaii. 



As to the reason for the fact that these discs have been found only at 

 Tauranga, and apparently nowhere else in the Dominion, I think, on the 

 whole, that I had better leave it to be explained by more competent writers. 

 I might, however, hazard a prophecy that if this little paper calls attention 

 to the matter similar stones may yet be discovered in other parts. 



In conclusion, I should like to state that if any bowler or collector wishes 

 to examine them I shall be very pleased to afford him an opportunity. 



