344 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
Alibert were found in the Toonka range of the Sayan chain, in 
the Government of Irkutsk. There seems no reason why this 
beautiful mineral should not find its way from Eastern Siberia 
to the jade-loving Chinese. 
While America has given to us, through its Spanish invaders, 
the word “jade,” and Asia has furnished us with the finest ex- 
amples of the stone worked into ornamental forms, we must 
turn to the islands of the Pacific Ocean for some of the most 
interesting applications of this material. When New Zealand 
was discovered, the natives were in the habit of using imple- 
ments beautifully worked in a dark green stone, which they 
called in the Maori language, punamu , signifying “ green-stone.” 
So characteristic is the occurrence of this valuable material 
along the western coast of the South Island that the natives 
have given to this district the name of Te Wahi Punamu, or 
44 Place of the Green-stone ” — an expression which has been cor- 
rupted by some writers on mineralogy until it appears in one 
treatise under the curious guise of 44 Tawai Panama ! ” No 
doubt the name 44 punamu ” is not used by the Maories with 
mineralogical precision, but includes a number of different 
minerals, and perhaps even rocks, all characterized by a more 
or less decided green colour, of which the most highly-prized is 
the true jade. This mineral occurs as pebbles, partly in the 
beds of rivers and partly along the sea-shore, and is also found 
in situ . By expenditure of prodigious labour, the natives work 
the intractable stone into axes and adzes, and especially into 
that peculiar weapon known as the mere or pattoo-pattoo (PI. 
VIII. fig. 3). This is a short, flat, leaf-shaped hand-club, which 
is held by a thong passing through a hole in the handle, and 
securely bound round the wrist. It is only the great Maori 
chieftains who possess jade meres, the commoner forms of this 
weapon being made of less valued stones, and even of wood and 
bone. The jade meres are handed down from generation to 
generation as precious heirlooms, and are prized with super- 
stitious veneration. Some excellent specimens of the mere 
may be seen in the Ethnographical Gallery in the British 
Museum, where some of the jade weapons show the effect of 
the intense heat to which they were exposed during the fire at the 
Government House in Auckland. Fig. 4, PI. VIII., represents 
a singularly fine mere of jade seen by Hochstetter, the geologist 
on the exploring ship 44 Novara,” in the possession of the mighty 
Maori chief, Te Heuheu.* General Lane Fox has called atten- 
tion to the fact that the mere is used for prodding the enemy 
with its sharp end, and not for striking a blow, as with an 
ordinary club, since the latter act would endanger the weapon. 
Jade, it is true, is an uncommonly tough material; but it is 
* “ New Zealand/’ By Dr. F. von Hochstetter. Stuttgart, 1867, p. 362. 
