GREENSTONE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1158, 7 February 1874, Page 22

GREENSTONE.

"E. C. S." writes to Land and Water as follows : —

In your issue of 16th current some questions are asked by a correspondent with respect to jade. Although I cannot give so full or explicit an answer as desired, I nevertheless beg to offer to your notice the following remarks : — Te Waihi Pounamu is the name given by the Maoris to the South Island of New Zealand, and signifies the place of the green stone, called otherwise jade or nephrite. This stone is found upon the shores and in the deeply-indented bays of the west coast of the Southern Island, and, I believe, in no other part of the country. It is very hard, of a daTk green colour, more or less translucent, oftened mottled, and flicked with I some other mineral of a blackish tint. Its ] qualities of hardness and colour no doubt recommended it to the notice of the natives for the uses to which it has been put. These may be classed as the ornamental and the useful. In the first I claBS may be placed the ear ornaments mentioned by your correspondent. Their ( ordinary shape is not well described by the term "stick," their usual size being two or three inches long in the form of a flattened cylinder tapering gradually, at the upper end,' where a hole is bored, and more rapidly at the lower end, finishing at either extremity in a rounded oblate point. Through the hole is threaded usually a piece of black silk ribbon, which is put through a good-sized hole in the lobe of an ear, and tied with their long ends, are thus suspended as ear-drops or pendants, and are used by both sexe3. I have described the average form, but other shapes are adopted. One I saw at a Pah in the interior, formed like the tooth of a tigershark. Another common ear ornament must have taken a very long time to carve, and wad borne in the ear of an interesting young lady. I wished to obtain it, butno coaxing, complimentary or pecuniary, would prevail upon the damsel to part with it. I was told she was a married lady, and feared that if she Bold the pounamu her husband would be offended. The only other decorative use made of the nephrite is the hei tiki, worn only by women ; it is of sizes varying from two or three inches to six or seven in each diameter, but often longer than broad, and is cut to represent a seated but distorted human figure, the eyes of which are made by inlaying mother-of-pearl. The useful implements made from this stone are what are called meres ; these represent swords or axes of the chiefs, and are of a somewhat similar shape, or rather of a battledore form, to the long ear ornaments, but much largei, flatter, and broader, especially at the distal end, the proximate being rounded to form a handle, and pierced for the introduction of a thong to secure it better to the hand and wrist of the owner, after the manner of our constable's staff. When in use, the sides and broad extremity have sharp edges. The meres are very highly prized by the natives ; besides their usefulness in attack and defence, they are the badge of chieftainship over a tribe and its corresponding territory ; many of them are distinguishable by some variety in structure or make, and would be at once recognised by the tribe to which it belonged if it had been stolen or lost. I have heard that the transfer of land has been accompanied by the surrnnder of a more, as if it were the titledeed to that particular tract of soil. They vary in length from eight or nine inches to double that size. Several interesting stories and legends are narrated of these mere pounamus. The remaining uses of nephrite consist of the manufacture of cutting tools, as adzes, chisels, &c. ; these were fastened seevndem artetn into wooden handles, and with them trees were felled, hollowed into canoes, paddles made, planks formed — Robinson Crusoe fashion — from a whole tree, for building their houses, food stores, &c, all of which were beautifully and noticeably carved by means of the same rude tools. The question may occur, " How were the Maoris able to work so hard a stone without steel implements ? " I believe it was all accomplished bymeans of a slaty stone, sharp sand, and an infinite amount of patient and persevering labour. lam unable to inform your correspondent Mr Heseltine where to obtain rough New Zealand jade, but should think it might be procurable ' among lapidaries. A jeweller in Auckland used to have in his window a number of wheel-cut v * fiddle f addles," made no doubt from the rough material. You will note that I have only spoken of the jade of New Zealand. I know it is found in other countries, as China, India, perhaps Mexico, but these produce a nephrite which is quite different in appearance from the New Zealand variety, and is, I believe, not of so hard a nature. I had written thus far when I received a note from a friend who has a very good oolleo; Hoi), ot stqßj implemQnti, both lAtafe

•and modern, and to whom I had spoken on. the subject, in which he says, "I send you a brief statement of the components of New Zealand jade. I take it from, a card affixed to a jade axe :—: — Nephrite, jade, axe-stone, New Zealand. Native name, Pownamoo, a silicate of alumina and magnesia. Sir John Lubbock says (' Prehistoric Times,' second edition, p. 78, 'No European locality for jade has yet been discovered,' yet, curiously enough, as he points out, jade implements have been found in Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany, and England. I have jade implements from Mexico and Jamaica, but these differ somewhat from the New Zealand stone. One jade axe from Japan in my collection is very remarkable, it contains beautiful green streaks, but has an admixture of white. I have many carved pieces of Chinese jade, but these; vary in colour from pure white to a sort of aqua-marine green — not in the least resembling the New Zealand variety." If your corresT pondent Mr Heseltine is interested in the different forms which jade has .been made to assume, and the, different varieties of the production, he cannot do better than pay visits to the British Museum and the Christy collection.