THE PATOO. 61 



the dagger is common to savage and civilised life, as may be 

 seen by reference to the illustration in page 53, where the 

 wooden club of savage warfare and the metal club and maces of 

 civilisation are alike armed with a piercing as well as a bruising 

 apparatus. Mostly the dagger is on the head of the mace or 

 battle-axe, but, in some cases, the end of the handle acts as the 

 dagger, and the head as the axe or mace. 



A very good example of this formation is found in the wooden 

 battle-axe, or "Patoo," of New Zealand, a weapon which has 

 been long superseded by modern fire-arms. A specimen in my 

 possession is rather more than five feet in length. The head is 

 just like that of an ordinary axe, while the handle tapers gra- 

 dually to the end, where it terminates in a sharp spike. In 

 actual combat the point was used much more than the axe. 



