A.—Details of the Methods of Sawing and Dividing
Pieces of Stone

It is quite apparent that the sawing process was used much more in cutting nephrite than it was in cutting or dividing other kinds of stone. There were two reasons for this: In the first place, nephrite is a stone of a tough texture that does not chip easily; in the second, it was scarce and valuable among most tribes, hence it was economized. So difficult was it to obtain, that no more of the material was wasted in working it than was imperative in order to cut or reduce it to a desired form. With ordinary stone, however, no great care was necessary. It was much more plentiful, and more easily obtained, hence there was not the same necessity for economizing the raw material. Also such stone was easier to chip than nephrite, not being of so tough a nature. When a stone was plentiful it was not a waste to strike off a considerable portion of a block in spawls, in order to reduce it to a desired form.

In his paper "On the Working of Greenstone," Mr. Chapman says, "It is evident from an examination of numerous specimens in my collection that greenstone was cut by means of a very blunt instrument. I should say that a cutting-edge ¼ in. wide was used for large pieces, while for cutting smaller pieces a narrower though still a very wide tool was used. I find in old Maori camps numerous pieces of fine sandstone shaped so as to exhibit cutting-edges suitable, and probably used, for this purpose, though probably only in cutting the smaller objects." These remarks apply to the sawing process in working nephrite, a stone-cutter or rubber being used to form grooves therein.

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In the earlier part of the nineteenth century, or possibly as late as the "fifties," the Tuhoe Tribe obtained two fine slabs of nephrite from the Wai-kato natives, giving in exchange for them a large drove of pigs, which were driven from the Ure-wera country to Wai-kato, and there handed over for the prized pounamu. One of these pieces was of the kind called kahurangi, and the other kawakawa. These slabs were taken to Rua-tahuna, and great preparations were made for the cutting of them: extensive cultivations were made, the land being cleared, the felled bush burned, large quantities of potatoes &c., grown, quantities of forest food-products collected and preserved, and houses built to accommodate the workers and their friends. Then the people of Tuhoe collected from far and near, and assisted in the labour of cutting up the blocks of greenstone. Such occasions were much-enjoyed social gatherings. The slabs were cut up into pieces, from which mere, heitiki, and other items were fashioned. The act of sawing is described by the terms kanioro, kauoro, and kuoro.

Shortland says that thin laminae of sandstone were used by the South Island Maoris in cutting nephrite by the sawing process. Such slabs were termed mania-(at least, in the South Island), and "the natives fasten them in frames after the manner of a stone-cutter's saw." It seems, however, that many used such slabs or pieces of sandstone, or other stone, as saws or rubbers, without any handle, frame, or wooden hand-hold being attached thereto.

In his "Te Ika a Maui," the Rev. R. Taylor, an early writer on the Maori, remarks, "Next to the diamond this [nephrite] is perhaps the most difficult stone to work; still the Maori can work it … he saws it by rubbing the edge of one slab on another, and for this purpose suspends a calabash of water, with a small hole in the bottom, over the stone he is working, so that it drops continuously but slowly. He then takes some of the finest quartz sand, which he continually adds to the groove he is making; thus by patience and perseverance he succeeds in sawing it up."

Mr. Chapman says, "The condition of many of the pieces separated as above described, by means of two cuts and a break, attests the fact that the workman often had a very indifferent eye, the two cuts not coming opposite each other. In a piece before me, less than 1 in. thick, they are nearly a quarter of an inch 'out,' giving a very awkward edge to rub down afterwards." He attributes this to the fact that the workers were generally old men whose eyesight was much impaired.

It is perhaps a misnomer to term the rubber so used "a saw," inasmuch as it had no serrations, but the manner of using it was page 60the same action as that of sawing, as described by natives in the terms kani and kanioro.

One of the best illustrations of the sawing method of working stone is seen in Fig. Ab, Plate XXXII, which shows four distinct longitudinal cuts made by that process. This item is a piece of nephrite that has had two pieces sawn off it longitudinally, after which the task of dividing it into two pieces has been commenced, but never completed. Apparently the operator proposed to form a long narrow adze from the narrower upper piece, but the wider piece would only have been suitable for an implement of the pou tangata or semi-ceremonial type, so thin is it, or it might have been cut up into small items, such as pendants. This item is 11 in. long and 3¼ in. wide at its widest part; thickness, 1½ in. The saw-cuts along the sides have been carried in to a depth of from ½ in. to ¾ in. These cuts have met at the narrow end of the specimen, but at the broader end and the middle about 1 in. of stone remains. The two cuts would probably have been carried in to within ½ in., or less, of each other, had the cutting operation been continued, ere the piece was broken off. One of the saw-cuts is ¼ in. wide on top and the other ½ in., which must nearly represent the thickness of the rubber or sawing-stone at ½ in. or ¾ in. from its edge. The bottoms of the cuts are much rounded. The illustration is from a cast of the original, which was found at Catlin's, and is now in the Otago University Museum. The two cuts are not in line with each other—i.e., not on the same plane, at the wide end—hence, after the narrower piece was detached, it would need a considerable amount of grinding to form it into a sym-metrical implement. In like manner two of the original cuts, by which this item was cut from a block, or vice versa, have not been in the same line, and hence the irregular width of the piece illustrated. Other illustrations of sawing may be seen in Plates VIII, XXV, and XXXI.

Among the Tuhoe Tribe pieces of kiripaka (apparently a form of quartz) were used as hard cutters in sawing nephrite. This stone, which has a veined appearance, shows different colours, as brown, white, &c., was procured from a place at Ohaua-te-rangi, in the Whakatane Valley, and it was used as a cutter in fashioning nephrite tiki. Two pieces of wood were procured, and a piece of this hard stone was placed between them and bound there by lashing the two pieces of wood together; this served as a handle. When a big heavy piece of nephrite was to be sawn, a large-sized cutter was used. So long as the piece of quartz had a suitable edge the size or roughness of the rest of the piece mattered little. In this case the cutter was fixed between two pieces of wood, long enough for one, page 61two, or three persons to work at either end. This might imply a length of about 7 ft. A groove was made in each piece of wood, to which the stone cutter was fitted. It was laid in one of these grooves, with the cutting-edge projecting out therefrom, and then the other piece was fitted over it, so that the quartz cutter was contained in a socket. The two pieces of wood were then lashed tightly together, so as to grip the cutter and keep it fixed firmly in position. The ends of this shaft or double handle were worked down so as to be easily grasped by the workmen. The block of nephrite to be cut, if not of such a size and weight as to keep it steady during the process of sawing, was inserted in a heavy block of wood. In such a block a hole was made to receive the stone, which, when thus embedded, was kept steady, and could not turn or rock under the heavy drag of the cutter. The operators placed themselves by the sides of the handles at either end, and dragged the cutter back and forth across the block of nephrite by pulling the handles, even as we use a double-handled cross-cut saw in sawing logs. Te Tuhi Pihopa, of the Tuhoe Tribe, who supplied the above information, states that two and sometimes three men were stationed at each end of the shaft or handle of the above contrivance when a block of nephrite was being sawn. He also said that during the continuation of the task a person or persons remained by the side of the block in order to keep the cut supplied with water. Strange to say, Tuhi is not aware that any sand was used in the operation, though probably it was. While the work of sawing was going on people collected at the scene of operations, and, seating themselves hard by the performers, or a little distance off, chanted certain effusions which may be termed "work-songs," and are called tewha by the Tuhoe folk.

We have received from Te Whatahoro a very good account of the manner in which pieces of nephrite were sawn among the Kahu-ngunu Tribe. It is as follows: A heavy block of wood was procured, the favoured timber being maire, on account of its weight and durability. This block was about 4 ft. in length, and the bottom face thereof was adzed flat so as to set firmly on the ground. The top was not so flattened, but was rounded off. About the middle of this upper surface a hole was formed in which to embed the block of stone to be sawn. If the stone was in any way loose, not firmly jammed in the cleft or hole, then wedges (matakahi) of hinau were made and driven in between the stone and sides of the hole, so as to firmly secure the stone and prevent it from moving. Hinau was utilized wherefrom to fashion such wedges, because, though possessing a very strong, tough grain, yet it is soft, and would thus accommodate itself to the form of the stone. In each end of the page 62block, or tutanga as it was termed, a hole, termed a kapukapu, was made. These served as hand-grips—that is, in lieu of handles—when the block was being moved. They were made in the middle of the block, so that the latter would balance well and retain its proper position when carried without tilting over. A shallow hole was made near each end of the block, on its upper surface, such holes being termed parua. These were for the purpose of containing the necessary items used in connection with stone-sawing—sand and water. In one was put water, in which was placed a wisp of flax fibre or tow, and in the other was placed a quantity of sharp sand-grit (mata kirikiri). Hence the latter hole was known as the parua mata kirikiri, and the former as the parua wai. The sand used as a cutting agent was a black sand obtained on the sea-shore. The tutanga, or block, was heavy enough to stand firmly while the stone was being cut, and hence did not need to be secured by pegs.

The cutting-edges (mata haehae) used in sawing stone were termed ripi, and were pieces of mataa (flint) or waiapu carefully flaked and chipped into the desired form. Each ripi was about 2 in. wide and 4 in. deep or long. The bottom part was bevelled off by chipping, but not to a sharp edge, or, when the cut began to deepen, the ripi would jam in the cut. The chipping process was described by the term tata, he mea tata marire (carefully chipped). A large number of these blades were prepared for use when a block of stone was to be sawn.

In order to haft a ripi, a piece of the tough stem of a climbingplant known as aka tokai was procured. This plant is a tree-climber, has bark somewhat resembling that of manuka, and has a reddish or brown appearance. It was formerly much used for lashing the palisades of defensive stockades. A piece of the stem of this plant, of a suitable length, was buried for a time in hot ashes. When it became heated so that the sap exuded from the ends, then it was known to be sufficiently soft for the purpose. The pliable stem was now bent in the middle and a flint blade placed in the bend, the two ends of the stem being then bent until they met, gripping the flint in the bight. A strong lashing was then secured round the two parts of the bent stem near the flint blade, which was thus gripped firmly in its place. As an additional security, a short piece of the stem of the same plant was flattened on one side and bevelled off at either end on the other side, and secured over the upper or butt end of the cutting-blade. The flat side was placed longitudinally on the upper side of the handle, and covering the butt of the blade, being secured by strong lashings at either end. This cap-piece was styled a pare. When in use a considerable amount of pressure was brought to page 63bear on the blade, and the pare, or cap-piece, prevented such pressure forcing the ripi, or flint blade, upwards through the loop of the handle. This implement, as a whole, was termed a kauhika, this name embracing the blade, cap-piece, and handle (kakau). The handle was made from a stem thick enough to form a convenient handle for grasping when the two ends were brought together and secured side by side.

The manner in which the kauhika was used was as follows: Two men engaged in the stone-cutting task, one being stationed on each side of the block. One man placed the blade of his tool in the middle of the stone, the other operator placed the blade of his implement on the near side of the same. Then the sawing commenced. As No. 2 pushed his blade from him as far as the middle of the stone No. 1 drew his blade towards himself until it reached the edge, when he pushed it from him as far as the middle, No. 2 drawing his own tool towards him as that of No. 1 advanced. Thus the work progressed, the operators accommodating each other's stroke in the above-described manner, even as we of to-day see two bushfellers chopping in the same scarf in tree-felling.

When commencing the sawing, the tools of the operators were kept on the desired line of the cut by means of the following contrivance: Two flat straight-edged pieces of wood were placed on the top of the stone, one on each side of the line where the cut was to be made, with the straight edges parallel with the cut line and a little distance from it, so as to form a straight but narrow channel immediately over the line of the desired cut, just wide enough for the flint blades to work freely in, the straight edges of the wooden slats serving as guides. This contrivance was known as the awa o Poutini, the latter being an emblematical name for, or the personified form of, the pounamu, or nephrite. These two guide-pieces were long enough to project outside the block of timber in which the stone was set, and were kept in position by being jammed between wooden pegs driven firmly into the ground, two at either end of each guide. When the cut was deep enough to enable the operators to do without the guides, then the awa o Poutini was dismantled and discarded.

Persons, often youngsters, were in attendance in order to feed sand-grit and water to the cut. At the cry of "E ta, Turuturutia mia te wai o te mea" the attendant at the parua wai would dip the wisp of tow in the water, and cause it to drip or trickle into the cut, while he of the parua mata kirikiri would, when called upon, take up some sand-grit between thumb and finger and strew it along the cut, as one sows seed in a drill. "Whakahoroa mai te mata kirikiri nei" was the signal for sand-dropping.

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Kauoro is the more correct term to use to denote stone-sawing, though oro or orooro is also employed. The latter expression is, however, more applicable to grinding, as in rubbing a stone implement on a grinding-stone.

There is a certain amount of tapu pertaining to this task of cutting nephrite. It would never do to engage in such work in a cooking-shed. It must be done in the porch of a dwellinghouse or inside the same. During the continuance of the work no woman was allowed to enter the house or come near the workers—koi kake te wahine i runga i te wai o taua rnea, ara i runga i te wai pakati o te pounamu—ki te kake te wahine i runga i taua wai pakati nei, ka matemate ana uri—(lest she pass over the wai pakati—that is, the water that drips from the saw-cut in the stone-for should a woman pass over the water, then all her offspring would assuredly be weak and sickly). Great care was taken to prevent any woman coming near the workers. Women bringing food to the operators were made to deposit it at some distance from the field of operations. At Greytown, Wai-rarapa, is a place where nephrite was formerly worked. This place was named, and is yet known as, Kake-wahine, because a woman trespassed on the scene of operations during the continuance of the work. She was a new-comer at the place, and stepped over the paetaku, or threshold of the doorway of the house in which the nephrite was being cut, when she was seen and at once ordered out.

Some natives of the Ngati-Ruanui Tribe who visited the Dominion Museum lately, explained to us a modern method of cutting greenstone as employed at Parihaka some years ago. It is also mentioned in Mr. Chapman's paper. The process was one of sawing with wire; pieces of iron wire, such as is used for fencing purposes, being fastened in a frame and worked by two men, who drew it to and fro across the slab of stone. Sand-grit and water were used to assist the process. The pieces of wire would be so arranged in the frame as to make several cuts in desired places at the same time. These natives also explained that drilling was done with the cord drill, worked and balanced by the operator without any cap or other aid to assist in the work. One of them so operated one of the cord drills seen in the show-cases, in a perfectly easy and satisfactory manner. Also they tell us that stone lamps were used at Parihaka some years ago; stones were hollowed out for this purpose, fat was placed in the hole, and wicks of flax-fibre used.

From the greenstone country on the west coast of the South Island we have the following information, which Mr. Chapman quotes from Major Heaphy's account of his expedition into that page 65part: "In order to make a mere (a short stone weapon) a stone (nephrite) is sought of a flat, shingly shape—say, of the size and roughly of the shape of a large-octavo book. Among the primitive rocks of the Middle Island stones are not wanting of sufficient hardness to cut even the pounamu (nephrite); and the Arahura natives lay in a large stock of thin pieces of a sharp quartzose slate, with the edges of which, worked saw-fashion, and with plenty of water, they contrive to cut a furrow in the stone, first on one side then on the other, until the piece may be broken off at the thin place. The fragments that come off are again sawn by women and children into ear-pendants. With pretty constant work—that is, when not talking, eating, doing nothing, or sleeping-a man will get a slab into a rough triangular shape, and about 1½ in. thick, in a month, and, with the aid of some blocks of sharp sandy gritted limestone, will work down the faces and edges of it into proper shape in six weeks more."

The Museum contains a piece of stone that offers an excellent illustration of the manner in which stone was cut by the sawing process (see Fig. E, Plate VIII). An adze has been made of hard stone that was 2½ in. wide and about 2¾ in. thick at the heaviest part. This tool was probably not less than a foot in length, but it has been broken about the middle. The lower half, on which is the blade, has been preserved; it is 7 in. in length. Some stone-worker of old has laboured long upon it in order to cut it into two pieces longitudinally, so as to make two small adzes of the piece, which, in its broken condition, is much too thick to be of any use as an adze. The cuts have been made by the sawing process. One cut has been made until it was very nearly 1 in. deep, and then abandoned, and a cut started on the other side. This had been carried in about ⅛ in. deep, and then abandoned for some reason. The deeper cut is an admirable illustration of the sawing process of cutting stone, as described elsewhere. The cut is 13/16 in. deep and from ⅝ in. to ⅞ in. wide at the top. The sides slope inwards to the bottom, which is somewhat rounded by the blunt end or edge of the rubber used. The sides of the cut are ground smooth, and are finely polished by the rubbing process. This shows that these hard stones take a fine polish by means of grinding alone, and that when a tool of such stone is ground so smooth it requires but little further manipulation—burnishing. &c.—in order to present a finely polished surface. The sides of the cut are not quite straight, having a slight longitudinal curve, which curve is naturally continued to the bottom of the cut, which is carried out on the same plane from end to end. The saw or rubber used had probably a long edge, which explains the lack of any irregularity in the bottom of the page 66groove. Had the work been continued, the second cut would have been carried in another ½ in. or ¾ in. and the piece broken in two by a blow. There would then remain the grinding-down of the two faces. It may be noted that on the sides of the groove faint longitudinal striæ are seen, which would be removed by the burnishing process described elsewhere.

Included in the collection of Maori stone implements presented by Mr. Buller to the Dominion Museum are two pieces of nephrite that have been fashioned into adzes and then ground, after which the owners have commenced to cut off, by the sawing or rubbing process, a narrow strip from one side of each adze. The object in cutting off these pieces after the adzes were fashioned is not clear. In both cases the width of the cutting-edge would be reduced by about ¾ in. The object may possibly have been to render the tools more suitable for certain work, or to obtain pieces wherefrom to fashion pendants or other items, though the peculiar aspects of the two stones are not among those highly prized by the Maori. However, the tasks were, fortunately for us (though possibly a token of disaster to the original owners), never completed, hence we have two excellent illustrations of primitive stone-cutting before us.

In Fig. H, Plate XXV, is seen the best illustration of the stonecutting process that has come under our notice. This implement is lO¾in. long, 3⅝ in. wide across the original cutting-edge, but only 2⅞ in. across the present one: width near poll, 2⅛ in. over all, which would be reduced to l½ in. by the cut; thickness in middle, 1 in.; weight, 2¾ lb. Material, a clouded and veined kind of nephrite. The angle of the blade is but little over 30° near the cutting-edge, and 25° higher up; length of blade-bevel from shoulder to cutting-edge, 2in.; back, almost flat; the face showing the usual convexity both ways, but not to any marked extent. The face has been ground smooth, save at the butt end; the back also has been ground, though the process is unfinished; the sides are in a similar condition. Observation of the butt end and other unground portions show clearly that the stone has been hammered or bruised with a stone hammer in order to produce an even surface prior to grinding. Both sides of the butt end have been reduced by a similar process, in order to accommodate the lashing.

The cutting process has been carried practically to completion, and nothing remains save to break the strip off. Grooves have been worked on both sides, as usual. These grooves are remarkably straight, and correspond with each other in an admirable manner. They have also met at both ends; in fact, the stone is cut quite through for a length of nearly 2 in. at the blade end. The thickest part page 67of the stone remaining between the two cuts is ¼ in., running off to a feather-edge at each end. The cut on the back is ½ in. deep, that on the face ⅜ in. The latter cut is 7/16 in. wide at the surface line, and the former ½ in., both being of the usual V form, with the bottom of the groove somewhat rounded. The surfaces of these grooves are even and smooth.

In Fig. I, Plate XXV, we have an item that has not been manipulated in so careful a manner as the above. The implement now under discussion is 13 in. long, 3¾ in. wide across the cutting-edge, and 2½ in. at the butt end, which terminates in a rough irregular fracture. Thickness, about 1 in., from the shoulder backward for some inches, but thinning off to the poll; weight, 3¾ lb. Material, dark-green nephrite; the surfaces, apparently affected by long exposure, have in places assumed a light colour. Face and back have been ground smooth, save at the butt end and in two hollows. Sides ground, but sawing-cuts not ground out; both sides show sawing-cuts plainly. The side on which the new cut has been commenced has had a piece sawn off it, the fracture-surface then being ground smooth, though the ridge of breakage remains. The other side has had a piece sawn off it by an operator who did not carry the grooves in deep enough, both being yet very shallow when the piece was broken off, hence an ugly fracture and a sadly marred side, in which is a rough hole ¼ in. deep—too deep to be ground out.

The new groove commenced on the back in order to cut a narrow longitudinal strip off that side of the adze is not a good job, the groove not being a straight one. A fracture-hollow on the back of the tool has evidently caused the stone-cutter to be deflected from a straight line. This groove is 3/16 in. deep in the middle, shallow at the ends; in fact, running out at the blade end. On the face a cut had been commenced, and shows a slight groove 4 in. long situated near the tool lengthwise. It would appear that these grooves were so commenced about the middle of the stone, and then extended to the ends thereof. In this case, unless the operator had mended his ways, the two grooves would not have corresponded very well, the result of which error would have been an irregular surface, only to be rendered symmetrical by much grinding.

In the Museum there are several pieces of nephrite, cut and half-cut by the sawing process, and also a piece of black stone, found in the sand-hills near Whanga-nui, that has no less than six marks of such cuts showing on its surfaces. Two pieces have been cut off longi-tudinally in the ordinary way, with two cuts on opposite sides, and another piece has been sawn off the end transversely. It is a curious item, and a good illustration.

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There are many partially ground items of nephrite of different kinds, which are excellent illustrations of the methods employed in fashioning tools and ornaments from that hard stone. Some are half-formed adzes, heitiki, chisels, &c. The many half-formed hollows, grooves, and saw-cuts seen in these items give the observer a very good idea of how such work was done. For instance, some of the holes and hollows in such pieces, that have rounded interior surfaces, are so short and deep that they could not have been formed by any process akin to sawing, apparently. Such hollows may have been made by means of using a pointed piece of wood with sand and water, or, as the Tuhoe folk explain, by rubbing with a pointed piece of quartz or similar stone.

We can obtain no evidence that the Maori ever used a piece of wood with sand in this manner, save the statement made by Shortland. It is possible that he made a mistake. Many natives assure us that such a process was unknown to their ancestors.

Again, we see grooves, with sharply defined external edges, that were assuredly made with a hard cutter of stone used as a saw or rubber. In some of these grooves the bottom of the V-shaped kerf or cut is quite sharp and angular, in which cases the rubber was probably of very hard stone that would carry a thin edge for some time ere being worn down. In other cases the bottom, sides, and edges of the cut are all much rounded. In some items the saw cut or groove is much deeper on one side than the other, or deeper at one end than at the other. In the latter cases the line of fracture is much thinner at one end than the other; in fact, there are a few specimens in which the two grooves have practically met at one end. We note a piece of cut nephrite in which a groove seems to have been made in one side only, prior to breaking the piece off.

In his work on "The Archaeology of the Yakima Valley" (the Yakima is a tributary of the Columbia River), Mr. Harlan Smith mentions that the Indians of that region employed the grooving and breaking method to divide pieces of stone when fashioning implements. He also remarks that these aborigines used stone hammers, or mauls, and wedges made of horn, in splitting wood.

In Crawford's "Travels in New Zealand," page 351, we read, "The Maoris were skilful in making stone axes; and the mere pounarnu, a greenstone weapon, is a powerful implement, beautifully made, and sometimes takes years to finish, the owner rubbing away at it all spare hours, like a lady at her knitting or crochet."

Mr. A. Knocks, of Otaki, has informed us that in his youth he saw natives cutting up a slab of nephrite with an ordinary cross-cut page 69log-saw. This occurred in the Wai-kanae district. The slab of nephrite was about 18 in. long, 16 in. wide, and 8 in. thick. Three pieces were sawn off it in about a month. Pieces of rope were fastened to the handles of the saw, and three or four men worked at each end, pulling on the rope and handle. The process was hastened by means of the use of sand and water in the saw-kerf. The workers sang songs as they laboured, and the occasion was made a sort of social meeting, natives congregating at the place for the purposes of social inter-course and to assist in the work.

Hakaraia, of Ngati-Raukawa, who came as a child with the second migration of that tribe to the Otaki district, and whose father was Tarai Iwi-ngohe, tells us that the steel cross-cut saw was so used to cut greenstone by his tribe. He also remarked that the balanced cord drill is the only stone-boring implement he ever saw in use among Maoris. Nor does he know anything about a wooden drill-shaft being used without a stone point being attached thereto. After the acquisition of European steel implements, says the same authority, a piece of a file was used as a drill-point. He termed the drill a porotiti, so named presumably from the wooden fly-wheel attached thereto, which wheel, he says, was made of a piece of supplejack, and secured to the shaft by lashing two straight pieces of wood across it.

A gentleman who saw the natives of Pipiriki, on the Whanga-nui River, cutting a slab of nephrite with a steel cross-cut saw in the latter "fifties" of last century, gives the following account of the process: The slab of nephrite was obtained from the South Island natives, and taken by canoe up the river to Pipiriki. It was fixed firmly so that it would not move to the dragging motion of the saw. Two stakes were driven into the ground close together, on either side of the block of stone, as guides for the saw-plate, to keep it upright and to prevent it leaving the line of the proposed cut. Water and sand were used to assist the process. The water was contained in a gourd suspended over the slab, and from a small puncture the water dribbled slowly into the cut in the stone. A rope was fastened to each end of the saw for the operators to pull on. Three men were stationed at each end of the plate, to pull on the handle and the rope. They remained sitting while at work, and always sang as they worked. These labours often went on far into the night, and numbers of people collected at the scene of operations. This task continued all through one winter, until the block of nephrite was cut up into pieces of a suitable size for fashioning the desired implements from. When the teeth of the saw were worn off, the work went on without any attempt being made to gum, gullet, or retooth the plate. Indeed, it is page 70quite possible that it would cut quicker when the teeth were worn down, there being then more of the surface of the tool bearing on the sand, the true cutting agent.

It seems probable that sawing stone was sometimes done without employing any loose sand in the process, save such as was formed by the rubbing, water only being added, as when the rubber used was a stone of a friable nature it would itself supply the grit.

In Plate XXVI, is shown a piece of nephrite in which a groove has been formed, not by the rubbing or sawing process usually employed, but by pecking or picking a channel with a more or less pointed stone. This seems to have been a method occasionally, but not often, used by the Maori. The object of the operator appears to have been to cut off a piece of stone to be formed into a mere (a short weapon). This item is in the Christchurch Museum.

We have examined a small thin nephrite adze found by Mr. Abbott on the site of the fight between the Imperial troops and Te Rangi-haeata at Horokiri, in 1846. This specimen shows two longitudinal saw-cuts, one on the face and one on the back, both in the middle of the tool, not at the side. Apparently some operator had commenced to saw the implement into two pieces, possibly in order to form two pendants, when his hand was stayed by weariness or a pakeha bullet.

Mr. Chapman states that cockle-shells were commonly employed by the Maoris when doing the fine work of the heitiki, where something like true carving appears. It is a fact that natives employ the term whakairo (to carve, or embellish with figures) to describe the fashioning of these tiki into a grotesque human form, and no doubt fine lines could be made with suitable shells.

In Plate XXXIV we see a small cutter such as was used in making small grooves, as in dividing a light piece of nephrite, &c., in the manufacture of ornaments. This cutter consists of a small flake of hard stone about ⅛ in. in thickness, and almost square in form. It is about 1¼ in. long and 1 in. wide, and is inserted in the cleft end of a piece of supplejack (a climbing-plant) that has been split down the middle, one half having been retained for the handle. The cutter is secured by a lashing of cord of twisted dressed Phormium fibre, over which is another lashing of undressed Phormium. This cutter has been used, hence the edge is worn smooth by friction; and the implement and lashing are still stained with the refuse of the operation, the mud caused by grinding with grit and water. The specimen is in the Christchurch Museum.

We have seen that, owing to the tough nature of the nephrite, the chipping process, by which other kinds of stone were reduced to page 71a desired form, was in this material largely replaced by sawing, bruising, and grinding.

Mr. Chapman's authorities asserted that chipping did not form a part of the process of working nephrite. At the same time, he found many small fragments of the stone about old workshops. Mr. Tame Parata, the Native member for the South Island, informed him that a small stream near Okahau was called Hoho-pounamu, or "Rubbing the greenstone." We are not acquainted with this meaning of the word hoho, though it seems to have a similar meaning in the Man-gareva dialect. In Tregear's Dictionary, hoho appears as a word meaning "to polish," in Mangareva; thus it may represent the root of the term hoanga for a grinding-stone. Polishing is performed by rubbing, in primitive communities, and, presumably, in any other. Te Whatahoro remarks that this name should probably be Houhoupounamu (not hoho), meaning "greenstone-drilling." A stream near Greytown is known by the same name, from the fact that certain items of pounamu were drilled at a place on its banks, and the water used in the process obtained from the stream.