MAKING MAORI MERES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 16, 19 January 1914, Page 11

MAKING MAORI MERES.

% WORK OF GENERATIONS. jj&TliS'T OLD-TIMB CRAFTSMEN. Outside the Government CoUTt at the Auckland Exhibition buildings may be fa I splendid block of greenstone which, in bygone years, had it been poe«7d 6e by any Maori tribe, would have Leu esteemed a biglily-ciierished trea«*Laaa. to all the other hapus as somes'worth stealing, even at the risk Silife. In the da ? a of old blocks of greenstone -were a somewhat dangerous Possession for any but a very strong tribe with fighting capabilities equal to pending them. To secure blocks of *i- valued* stone, long trips had to be overtaken, as it could only be procured from tHe South Island, and when a block tad been obtained, it was die work of two or three generations to make a L re from it. This is the reason that each a high, value was placed upon merea, for the stone was often bought at the 'rice of blood, and the fashioning of the weapon was. as already indicated, a Ter y lengthy process to a people ignorairt of the use of metals. The man who etaried to cut a mere from a block of greenstone had no hope of eeeing it finked in his lifetime, and it required something akin to superhuman patience {of a man to start a work he had no ehince of umshinjj. 'Amongst.-the many interesting exlubin the Maori section of the Auckland jfuseuni is one of especial value, as it illnstratcs to some extent how the mores were made. It is ft f.<dt-*ized block of greenstone, from which alrw.sly.one slab has been cut. this being indii-atcl by the smooth, face left. The most inters-sting point about this block is tlic fa-et that ibout three inchos back from the smooth face referred to is a groove which fc from an inch to half an inch in depth. This indicates where the old-time Maori had been operating to cut off-another slab. Even when that Jii'd'been accomplished there still regained the tedious process of shaping tile dsb- roughly;like a mere, and then by jabbing on*-stones, smoothing it and polishing the same into toe finished article. That alone must have been a Jabour of veaTS. Some idea of the work entailed in cutting a >lab from a block of greenstone may bo gathered from the feet that this was done by means of an archaic idea of the crosscut en.w. Of eorirse, the :Maori hsd no metails until after the advent of the pakeha, and therefore the system adopted in those early times 'was to use a withe of thin creeper, which was sawed backwards and iforwaids across the block of jjreenstone, sandandwater being-uisfd as an abraiser. It would be interesting to try and estimate the number of now withes required, as well as the time involved in awing through a black of greenstone 10inches thick, like the 'one in the Auckland Museum. Having Tealiaed that point of view, it is essy Sb'.fee understood why, when a greenstone mere had teen fashioned at such cost of labour, it became the most wlnaWe of heirlooms of the tribe by *horn it was owned. It also explains ■niy occasionally meres and axes of greenstone have been dug up from places where they had evidently been hidden. Theideajof hiding the most valued possessions at the approach of the raider ie one that party ; The block referred to in the Museum was buried for a long period. The great raider,' Ruaparaha, who, starting out from Baglan side, fought his way south and established his people nenr Cook Etiait, then crossed, over and conquered portions of t-ho South , Island, had smongst his takings this block >of gTeen6tone,'and in 1839 he presented it to a leading chief of the Xgapvflns at Hoki= anja. A few years later, when a hostile tribe was approaching, the block of greenstone was buried for safet3 r . It would appear as if those who knew where the greenstoue had been placed !ud fallen in the fight, for it was not dug Bpagain for about half a century, when it mc found by a gum digger. was, however, still living in the district, an old ilaord woman -w.ho was a gitriitthe time the greenstone belonged to her tribe, and she at once identified it The old northern pioneer, John WebBter; afterwards purchased the block of ptenstone, and presented it to the Auckland Museum, where it is now a most taluea exhibit as illustrating the actual method adopted by the Maori when cutting off slabs. As'in the centre of the fete of this particular block there is a portion of stone that has not been sawn smooth, it is reasonable to assume that tte, system adopted was to caw from •"A side until it wa3 considered safe to •jw off a slab. \iaotler partly formed mere, lying in tte.same case, ie of particular interest, « it was , really the 'hope of the Wai*«os. It was dug up from the foot of tteiflagstaff of-King Potatau, the head ™«.f Of the Waikato tribes. This flagraff was. situated at Ngaruawa-hia. and J»ui that position was captured by Sir Jtocisn Cameron and the British forces Uβ mere was found. It was hifhly wtaed .by the Maoris, as they held that Woever owned it had supreme authority Jfer the Waikatos. ;It is significant t -J* isnow in the possession <jf tne {•Mia, -whose laws aTC observed in ihe