278 JOSHUA RUTLAND, ESQ., ON 
fabric called grass cloth. Besides the better description of 
tapa the Polynesians made coarser cloth from Hibiscus and 
other barks. Amongst their arts, felting and hand-plaiting 
occupied the places of spinning and weaving, with which 
they were unacquainted. In the Malay Archipelago, m 
Madagascar, and throughout Africa as far north as the 
Soudan, felted cloth made from the bark of various trees, 
hand-plaited garments, and the prepared untanned skins of 
animals were formerly the principal articles of clothing. The 
grooved mallets used in the manufacture of the African bark 
cloth might be mistaken for the mallets used in the prepara- 
tion of the Polynesian tapa. Wherever weaving, even in !ts 
rudest form, has been introduced, or woven fabrics have been 
procurable, bark cloth has been speedily discarded, showing 
that, like the stone implements, it is a survival from an older 
and ruder time. 
In the Middle Island of the New Zealand archipelago and 
in New Caledonia, jade or greenstone is found in situ, but 
at the time of Cook’s discovery the natives of both countries 
made of it weapons, implements, and ornaments, which were 
regarded with superstitious veneration, used as Insignia of 
rank, and frequently buried with the dead. In various parts 
of Europe jade articles have been recovered from burial 
places of the “stone age,’ though the rock has not been 
discovered in any part of the continent. 
Amongst the Chinese, jade, which is obtained in Central 
Asia, commands a price which cannot be explained by its 
intrinsic value, its scarcity, or its appearance.* Sceptres of 
polished wood inlaid with jade are presented to Chinese 
matrons, and are carried by them when receiving visitors of 
distinction. One of these sceptres or Hui, made of jade, was 
amongst the articles sent to Queen Victoria on the occasion 
of her Jubilee by the Emperor of China. As a particular 
mark of friendship, four pieces of jade were presented by 
Montezuma through Cortez to the King of Spain. In Mexico 
at that time ornaments of jade were restricted to princes 
and nobles of the highest rank. 
For people unacquainted with the use of metals, jade, being 
one of the best substitutes, would have an intrinsic value. 
This and the comparative scarcity of the rock sufficiently 
account for its being so highly prized during the stone age, 
* The extreme hardnes:, beauty of colour (leek green) and scarcity in 
a few countries, sufficiently account for the high value set on jade.—Ep. : 
