Page:Pounamu, notes on New Zealand greenstone (IA pounamunotesonne00robl).djvu/35



EAR to the heart of the Neolithic Maori was the mere, or as it is sometimes called, patu pounamu, the war-club of greenstone which was the principal emblem of chieftainship, and the most valuable of all objects made of the New Zealand nephrite. It took so many years of careful and patient toil to bring a war-club to the desired condition of finish, that it became an heirloom, and it was considered to hold the luck of the tribe. Tales bordering on the supernatural gathered about famous mere. Chiefs were incited to acts of reckless bravery, young warriors were roused to deeds of valour by those memorials of past struggles; and European observers have ever been impressed by the extraordinary influence which appeared to reside in these prized weapons. The Rev. W. Yate, one of the early missionaries to New Zealand, told that “the mere was made of green talc in the shape of a beaver’s tail. This is the only native weapon which has not been laid aside by the chiefs; it was a mark of distinction (carried) under their outer garment or suspended to their girdle. The finest of these beautiful specimens of native workmanship descend from father to son, and for scarcely any consideration are they ever parted with. 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