1919.] Best.—Steatite Figurine found at Mauku, Auckland. 
77 
NOTE ON A CURIOUS STEATITE FIGURINE FOUND 
AT MAUKU, AUCKLAND. 
By E. Best, Dominion Museum. 
The illustration given is that of a small figurine of steatite found under 
singular and interesting circumstances at Mauku, near Auckland. The 
lands around the place of discovery have been uninhabited since the arrival 
of Europeans until twenty years ago, and since then merely occupied by 
farm employees; nor have these lands ever been ploughed. In pre- 
European times, however, natives occupied the place, as shown by the 
remains of old settlements. Two of these old pa are situated about 
250 yards apart, and between these cattle have worn a track through the sur¬ 
face soil and well down into the underlying clay, such process being assisted 
by the flow of storm-waters. The figurine 
was found embedded in the stiff clay at 
the bottom of this worn, rut-like track, 
face downward, and its back flush with 
the surface. Some beast had evidently 
trodden on it and had broken a piece off 
the lower part of the figure, the broken 
piece being pulverized. Clay still adheres 
to the crevices of this singular object. 
Of so soft a nature is the pink- 
coloured steatite of which this figurine is 
composed that it is clear that it could 
not have been trampled down into the 
stiff clay subsoil by any heavy-bodied 
creature : thus the questions that arise 
are—(1) How did it get there ? and (2) 
How long has it lain there ? To these 
queries presumably no satisfactory answer 
can ever be returned,, and our figurine 
must be placed in the same category as 
the Tamil bell described in vol. 4 of the 
Transactions of the New Zealand Institute. 
The figurine is undoubtedly Oriental 
in design and workmanship. It reminds 
one of representations of the Manchus 
in old works. A work on the clay 
figurines of China contains no illustration 
resembling it. 
This object is 2f in. in height and If in. wide at its broadest part; 
material, a soft, friable soapstone. The figure seems to be in a sitting 
position. There is no hole for suspension. It is no rude Nampa image, 
but a carefully executed work, though having the grotesque aspect so 
common in Oriental designs. Some form of turban-like head-dress is 
depicted, also a loose cloak or wide-sleeved garment. The round face 
shows a wide, short nose. The hands clasp some long object of cylindrical 
form, the upper end of which seems to show something protruding, and 
this object bears two transverse serrated designs. The head-dress shows a 
wide pendent flap at the back. Altogether this snub-nosed Tartar-looking 
figure represents an interesting discovery when the conditions of that 
discovery are noted. 
Steatite figurine from Mauku. 
(Natural size.) 
