Horatio Gordon Robley

“ Pieces of pounamu suitable for a chief’s mere were of a value which can hardly be realized by us in the present time. No weapon of warfare was more affectionately regarded than these legacies of ancestors, and to take one in battle was like capturing a colour with us. ”

“ No marks representing tattoo are ever found on the faces of greenstone tiki. The arms are carefully cut out, and the hands are placed in various positions according to the type to which the ornament belongs. The thumbs are always shewn, but never more than three fingers appear.
This fashion of carving the hand has puzzled many students of the ancient New Zealand art. The Maori have the ingenious, but perhaps hardly credible, explanation of this phenomenon, that the first man to carve and decorate was an ancestor who had himself only three fingers on each hand. ”

“ THE Maori possessed a remarkable variety of ornaments, of great diversity of form, motif and size; for in spite of the dangers and the difficulties which attended the acquisition of greenstone, there were very few natives of either island who did not possess something made of it. All such ornaments were worn by men and women alike, suspended from a cord which passed through a hole bored through the stone at the top, either at the neck, or hanging from the lobes of the ears, or as long pendants to adorn the cloak. ”

“ Henare Tawha, a Maori chief whose remarks on the working of pounamu are quoted in Chapter II., once told Canon Stack that very few people know how to make hei-tiki, the natives of the North Island being more skilful in their manufacture than those of the South. It did not require, he said, very great skill to make weapons and tools and the simpler ornaments, but only very clever workers could make tiki. ”

“ The hand was passed through the loop; a few turns of the club caused the cord to close upon the holder’s wrist, and the mere being grasped just forward of the reke the warrior was ready for battle or palaver. That was theoretically its use; but more often the thumb or fingers only were inserted in the loop of the thong, so that the wielder of the club might be in less danger of being dragged off his balance by an enemy who could successfully grasp the blade of it.
The mere being a short weapon, was usually carried thrust in the belt. ”

“ It was only rarely that the Maori used tools or weapons shaped like our axes, and the reason is obvious. The greenstone never being drilled or cut to receive the tool handle, an axe with its edge parallel with the line of the handle was an impossibility, and an axe-like tool made by lashing the stone head to the side of the handle would be clumsy and ineffective. ”

“ When in 1856 the land hitherto in the possession of the Maori was sold at Waikawa, to European settlers, the chief, Ropoama Te One, addressed the commissioners in these words as he struck into the ground at their feet a greenstone adze:—"Now that we have for ever launched this land into the sea, we hereby make over to you this axe, Pae whenua, always highly prized because we regained it in battle after it had been used to kill two of our most famous chiefs. ”

“ A native canoe is my vessel, and I have nothing else. The native canoes upset when they are filled with potatoes and other matters for your people. I have put on board the ‘Buffalo’ a greenstone war-club and two garments. ”

“ They are very similar in appearance, both being tough and fibrous silicates of ferrous oxide and calcium more or less greenish in colour, the variations of colour from grey to deep green depending on the relative amount of iron in the composition, while the brown markings which are sometimes seen in the stone are due to oxide of iron. Nephrite is about as hard as glass, and is found principally in New Zealand, Turkestan, China and Siberia. With the rarer jadeite, the choicest gem of the Chinese, our notes are not concerned; it must suffice to say that it is harder than nephrite ”

“ It is at the Maori burying places that the most important finds have been made; for, as we have already seen, it has always been the custom of this people to bury with their dead the favourite weapons, ornaments and tools which their chiefs had held in high esteem. ”

“ This representation of three-fingered hands is not, however, peculiar to the Maori. Hands of this rude form have been noted in ancient Chinese ideographs and in other Eastern sculptures, in the relics of the Peruvian Incas and in other forms of primitive art, as is remarked by Mr. Cowan in his Maoris of New Zealand.
From this general description it will be seen that tiki conform to a certain conventional shape, which is that which was handed down from generation to generation; for the Maori considered that it was aitua, an ill omen, to depart from the lines laid down by their forefathers. ”

“ From Haimona Tuakau, a very intelligent native of the North Island who spent many years at Arahura, Hohonu and other places on the west coast of the South Island, and knew a great deal about greenstone, Canon Stack ascertained the following particulars respecting the native names of various kinds of pounamu and their respective colours. Kahotea is stone of a dark vivid green and is distinguished by the spots of black and brown which diversify its colour. Kawakawa is stone of a pure rich green colour, and is not spotted or veined with dark or light markings. ”

“ The Maori themselves declare that these figures were deliberately made imperfect, and are not to be regarded as likenesses of ancestors. Any harm, therefore, which might happen to the figure or any insult offered to it, could not harm the spirit of the deceased. Mr. Polack says “The most valued ornament that has stood the test of many generations is the tiki, made of the pounamu or green serpent-stone in the form of a distorted monster. There is no reason given for the outré shape in which this figure is invariably made. Gods or lares are not in this land ”

“ The only locality known to the ancient Maori where greenstone was to be found was on the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It could therefore be obtained by the tribes of the North only by barter or as booty after a successful war. ”

“ The first is a rod of wood called the pou, about two feet in length and three-quarters of an inch in thickness, shewn upright in the accompanying illustration. To the lower end of the pou is fastened the boring point of mata (obsidian) , kiripapa (flint) , or some other hard stone, chipped to a rough point. The pou passes through a hole in the middle of the porotiti, a disk of heavy wood (maire is that most often used) which is firmly fastened to the pou at about one-third of its height, and serves the purpose of increasing by its weight the momentum of the implement. ”

“ Victor Alexander Herbert Huia Onslow, the second son of the fifth Earl of Onslow, on the occasion of his presentation to the Ngatihuia tribe at Otaki, 12th September, 1891, Huia’s father being at that time Governor of New Zealand.
Some years ago a very ancient greenstone ear-drop came into the possession of the Author. This ornament, which is of considerable value on account of its age and beautiful workmanship, was sent to him from New Zealand by an aged chief against whom he had fought in the Maori wars. ”

“ When, however, in the course of their memorable journey to the Dominions beyond the seas, their present Majesties visited New Zealand, in 1901, the Maori chiefs loyally presented to the royal visitors many valuable heirlooms and works of art, which are now exhibited in the British Museum by command the King. ”

“ In tiki of the B type, of which Figure 38 is a good example, the design varies from those of the A type in several important particulars. The head is generally cut free of the shoulders and not resting upon them, the ears are usually shewn, and the neck is thicker. One hand with its outspread fingers and thumb is placed on the breast. The other hand, which is always that on the side towards which the chin points, rests on the thigh. The eyes in this type are smaller in proportion to the size of the head than those of type A. As a rule it has no ribs. ”

“ Again, when Tuhoe and the tribes of Waikare-moana and the coast, weary of their bloody and protracted war, resolved to make peace Hipara, chief of the Waikare, said, "I will give my daughter Hine-ki-runga in wife to Tuhoe for the ending of the war." ”

“ It is an unusually large figure of the A type, having eyes of irridescent shell, and is quite 8 inches high with a width of nearly 5 inches from knee to knee. This ornament shows signs of a great age. Its surface is in parts worn almost smooth by constant wear, and it has had no less than three suspension holes bored through the upper part of the head, two of which are broken through.
Nowadays old and good specimens of tiki and other ornaments and implements of the native greenstone are rare in New Zealand. Very many have left the country ”

“ These are the principal varieties; but the natives, with a keen eye for subtleties of colour and quality, have invented names, such as tongarewa, totoeka, korito, kutukutu, tuapaka and many others for the different shades that are met with. Kohuwai, the name of a moss-like water plant, is a term that is applied to nephrite in which similar markings appear.
↑ Ngahue's sea god must have been simply a proa or canoe. Sea-going vessels were always regarded with great reverence by the Maori; they even deified the first European ships that visited the country, calling them atuas or gods. ”

“ The same authority considers that all tiki, whether of wood or stone, were purposely made grotesque, because the artist wished to show that these objects of his skill were not representations of living human beings but symbolical memorials of the dead. The Maori never attempted to copy the human form and features exactly ”

“ Their carved figures were made to preserve the memory of deceased relatives or in honour of some god; not that they worshipped the effigy, even if it were that of a god; it was merely a symbol of the unseen. They seem to have believed, however, that a spiritual being could, when rightly invoked, enter into the image made to represent it and in some way manifest its presence to the person invoking it. ”

“ Put it round the neck of your wife's slave girl and offer both as payment; and your wish that your kinsman may be restored will be granted." And so it fell out. But some time afterwards one of Rauparaha’s relations became ill, and the priest was accused of having bewitched the man. Purewa maintained that the patient was ill because he had broken tapu in wearing the sacred tiki, and would surely die if it were not returned to its rightful owner; which being done the sick man was restored to health. ”

“ The rotation thus given, which is both increased and controlled by the heavy disk, causes the cord to wind round the rod in the opposite direction and again to raise the horizontal cross-piece. The operator's hand constantly resting upon the cross-piece, exercises pressure only in a downward direction. Sand and water are employed to increase the cutting power of the boring point, which needs frequent renewal or rechipping, and the boring is done from alternate sides of the stone operated upon until a hole is pierced. ”

“ It is clearly a variant of the same type of ornament; but it presents a daring departure from the usual form, very uncommon in the work of the Maori, who were slaves to traditional conventions.
The single manaia was usually fashioned in the spiral form illustrated from two actual examples in Figure 17.
Figure 17
This malignant spirit, which figures in so many ancient carvings of the Maori, is commonly shewn attacking man and viciously biting his ear or body. A small carved pendant (Figure 18) in the British Museum represents the head of a manaia. ”

“ The kurupae, that is, the cross-piece shewn in Figure 2, is a shaped piece of wood, twenty inches long and two inches wide in the middle, where there is a hole through which the pou passes, fitting loosely. The aho is a cord of plaited fibre fastened to the top of the pou and having its two ends tied to either extremity of the kurupae, which thus is held at right angles to the pou. ”

“ The most common ornaments were the straight cylindrical ear-pendants called kuru, and straight flat pieces of stone, to which the name whakakai was given. But simple pendants of this kind were of all sorts of shapes, the form depending on the size and shape of the fragment of stone at the artist’s disposal. ”

“ Figure 20 of a decoy or the large russet brown parrots (nestor meridionalis) called kaka, which were kept as pets by the Maori. Through the smaller ring shewn at the top of the two examples here figured, was passed the cord by which the bird was secured to its perch.
Figure 21 The kapeu or tautau (Figure 21) was a long eardrop of oval section, straight for the greater part of its length, but having a slight curve at its lower end. The difficulty of cutting this ornament was much increased by its peculiar shape, which is believed to be suggested by that of a face-strigil. ”

“ Other implements such as wedges, cutting tools, circular knives, rasps with worn edges that have been used in sawing blocks of stone, burnishers and even needles, are to be seen in museums among collections of articles made of this wonderful stone. ”

“ If by chance a mere should be broken the precious fragments were carefully preserved in order that they might be made into tools, implements or ornaments according to their size. Figure 12 shews an adze-head made from a broken mere. ”

“ Best,„ Elsdon,„ remarks by 10, 23, 48, 69
bird-spear, greenstone, legend of 30
bird-„spear,„ greenstone,„ illustrated 30
boxes for weapons 34
British Museum, adze-blades in 72
British„ Museum,„ barbs in 29
British„ Museum,„ greenstone in 72
British„ Museum,„ Maori works of art exhibited by the King in 78
British„ Museum,„ head of manaia in 42
British„ Museum,„ matau in, illustrated 46
British„ Museum,„ matau„ in, described 47
British„ Museum,„ mere in 32, 36
British„ Museum,„ tiki in 56, 58 note, 70, 72
Buffalo, H.M.S. 36, 37
Burr, tiki belonging to Midshipman 60
C ”