Page:Pounamu, notes on New Zealand greenstone (IA pounamunotesonne00robl).djvu/47

Rh of a shark’s tooth with its root, the graceful curves of the original being faithfully copied. When correctly worn it hung from the ear with the point to the front. The natural white tooth of the shark was also much prized as an ornament, but its inferiority to a jewel of kahurangi, jade of the finest quality, is recognised in a native poem which has been translated as follows:—

The poria (Figure 20), otherwise called moria, was a small double ring of round or oval section, made for the leg of a decoy or the large russet brown parrots (nestor meridionalis) called kaka, which were kept as pets by the Maori. Through the smaller ring shewn at the top of the two examples here figured, was passed the cord by which the bird was secured to its perch.