Pounamu.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVI, Issue 9, 3 March 1906, Page 56

Pounamu.

“‘Greenstone,’ as we call it, is the Maori pounamu, and is identical with the jade found among prehistoric remains in Europe and now coming again into fashion on the Continent, identical too with the precious yu-ehi stone sold in the markets of Canton. It varies in colour from clear glassy-green to the dull, deep-emerald tint of oak-leaves in midsummer, and is in most effective contrast. like foliage and sunshine, when set with gold. There is only one district in Maoriland where greenstone is found, and that is the wild, lonely, and beautiful west eoast of the South Island. near the livers Teremakau and Arahura. I util the last year or two, white men did not take the trouble to dig or search specially for it, and even now it is generally obtained casually during the process of sluicing for gold. A traveller can pick up pieces for hintself in the shingly beds of the rivers and creeks or along the sea-coasts where boulders have been washed down by file streams and then east ashore. While in Auckland 1 saw an unpolished lump about a yard long brought into a shop, and I have heard of one that measured three feet by five,” says the writer of a capital art ielc on this question in “Chambers’ Journal.” “From time to time occasional interest was shown in it as a characteristic product of New Zealand. A paper-weight made from a specially fine piece was presented to I‘rinee Bismarck, and amongst the colony’s gifts to the Prince and Princess of Wales* was a handsome casket of greenstone and the bright native gold. About twelve years ago the greatest

living authority on nephrite (as jade is scientifically called), Professor Fischer of Baden, wrote for information about greenstone, and a treasure-trove of -Maori lore was then unearthed. It is safe to say that not a single lady who decks herself with this ornament dreams of all the history and legends connected with it.

“For before the coming of the pakeha (white man) the Maori knew nothing of the gold buried in his land, but alt his lust was for greenstone. For this he toiled and sought in the forests along the gravel-beds of the rivers. On carving and polishing this he lavished the best of his skill and art. The old men of his race would sit in the sun day after day grinding slowly away at the stone, humming as they fashioned the mysterious talisman or the feathered battle-axe or mere. A French traveller was told by a native that with greenstone the Maori could buy slaves and big eanoes and all he coveted, just as the white man buys what he wants with gold. And although deposits are found only in the one locality, yet weapons and ornaments of this substance were scattered all over New Zealand. Mere pounamus have been found on old battlefields of the far North, in the lava-caves where the hunted tribes fled for refuge before the great conquerors llongi and Te Rauparaha. and in the burial-eaves of dead chiefs. Like the shields of Homeric heroes or the weapons of Red Indians, the meres of great chiefs had their own names and were regarded with intense personal affection and veneration. The charming guide of Rotorua, Maggie Papakura, showed us among her treasures one mere which was an heirloom, and which she assured us, with hereditary pride and pleasure, had killed many a man. Natives who keep to old customs still wear the hei-tiki (a talisman in the form of a distorted im-

age) and the heavy ear-rings dragging the ears out of shape. “The greenstone .was so important in old days that its name was given first to the river and the district in which it was found (Wai Pounamu), then to the whole of the South Island, and even by some old settlers and whalers to all New Zealand, though this was an odd title in the North, where the tribes had to sail 500 or 000 miles before they got a glimpse of the precious lanilders. Innumerable legends and fragments of history are attached to tire pounamu.”