Page:Pounamu, notes on New Zealand greenstone (IA pounamunotesonne00robl).djvu/81

Rh Our last illustration (Figure 52) of these singular and characteristic ornaments represents a beautiful little greenstone tiki of the A type. Although, no doubt, it was originally a hei-tiki, it was not so used by its last Maori possessor. It was worn as an ear-pendant by a Ngatipikiao warrior, and was taken from him in battle on 21st June, 1864. It is here shewn in its exact size, as indeed are all the tiki illustrated in this chapter.

A striking contrast to this diminutive piece is exhibited by the remarkable hei-tiki of kawakawa in the Museum of Geology, in Jermyn Street, London. It is an unusually large figure of the A type, having eyes of irridescentiridiscent [sic] shell, and is quite 8 inches high with a width of nearly 5 inches from knee to knee. This ornament shows signs of a great age. Its surface is in parts worn almost smooth by constant wear, and it has had no less than three suspension holes bored through the upper part of the head, two of which are broken through.