Page:Pounamu, notes on New Zealand greenstone (IA pounamunotesonne00robl).djvu/37

Rh it was not usual for the maker to put anything more than the simplest ornament on these weapons, nor at any part of it except the reke.

Between the butt and the handle is a hole for the thong, or loop of strong cord. 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. In time of war weapons shared in the tapu with which the warriors were imbued, and mere, being thus themselves tapu, were always carefully guarded.

Though mere are commonly spoken of as “war-clubs,” they are actually stabbing and cutting weapons, and the only blows given with them were thrusts and sweeping cuts. If the blow was a forward stab in an enemy’s face or ribs, it was called tipi; a back-handed lunge was named ripi. With this weapon prisoners were slain by the chief before their bodies went into the oven. The thrust was given into the temple of the doomed men, and with a sharp turn of the wrist the top of the head was jerked open. It was with a patu that, after one of his victories, Te Wherowhero, father of the chief Potatau, who was proclaimed king of the Maori nation in 1858, slew two hundred and fifty prisoners of war. Hochstetter describes this weapon, made from a piece of beautiful transparent nephrite which was shewn to him by the chief’s successor, and tells that a notch in the edge was