the West Coast as far south as Milford Sound. The canoe was then brought overland to Moeraki—how, Mr Parata did not know, but such was tradition. Her stores and fittings were turned to stone and may still be seen as the Moeraki boulders.
Another myth of the greenstone centres round Tama-ahua, whose wives were abducted by Poutini (greenstone). In his pursuit of them Tama was guided by a magic dart which led him to the Arahura River. Here he found his wives Hina-ahuka (syn. kahurangi), Hina-aotea, and Hina-kawakawa. These are all names of varieties of greenstone. Percy Smith was puzzled as to the interpretation of Tama-ahua's adventures in Westland. But he concludes a discussion of the point (Smith, 1910, p. 23) as follows: “whatever we may think of the peculiar story of Tama-ahua and his search for the precious stone, the journey of Tumuaki, on the same errand, is
historic, as will be seen.” Tumuaki went from Taranaki to the greenstone country and found a boulder of pounamu. In breaking it up he struck his finger with the hammer. He thoughtlessly put his finger in his mouth, for which impious act he was turned into stone. His wife, Hine-tu-a-hoanga (Lady of the Grindstone, a name which we have already seen in a quite different setting), went in search of him, but was drowned. Mr Smith dated these events about 1550.
The interpretation of these myths as history, and especially the allotting of dates, seems perilous.
C. Date of Maori Discovery of Greenstone, and Culture of the Earliest Users.
All the North Island myths relating to the origin of greenstone refer to the Arahura and the Teremakau Rivers; some of them include also the Milford Sound region. It is legitimate to conclude that these were the first-discovered sources of greenstone. The fact that information secured from the Maoris by Cook and his successors indicated a lake as the principal source of supply, and in a good many cases specified Otago as the region in which the lake lay, probably indicates that in more recent times a new source in Otago had entered into competition with the older one and had surpassed it in quantity if not in quality.
On general grounds it seems likely that the first Polynesians to explore New Zealand would discover greenstone, quantities of which must then have lain on western beaches and along the banks of the rivers and streams which traverse serpentine deposits. One of the principal objects of the Polynesian explorers would be to discover new and attractive materials for implements, weapons, and ornaments. It is therefore likely that the first maritime explorers of the South Island took back to their base specimens of pounamu. The pieces of greenstone that have occasionally been found in Polynesia probably crossed the sea in the period of exploration which included the discovery of New Zealand.* That greenstone was known to the earliest inhabitants of Otago, the moa-hunters, was demonstrated by Chapman and Hamilton (1892). Greenstone has since been found in moa-hunter beds by Teviotdale (1932). The culture of the moa-hunters has been shown to be characteristically Polynesian, and of that branch of Polynesian culture associated with the Society Islands (Skinner, 1923, p. 23; Teviotdale, 1932).
There is evidence that the Morioris of the Chatham Islands, who may be regarded as descendants of a section of the earliest inhabitants of New Zealand, were also acquainted with greenstone. The culture of the Morioris has been shown to be Marginal (or Tahitian) Polynesian. (Skinner, 1924, p. 335.)
D. Circulation of Greenstone Among the Maoris.
The word “circulation” is here used to indicate the process whereby greenstone passed from its source into the possession of tribes more and more distant from Otago and Westland until
[Footnote] * J.P.S., 1902, p. 263; 1933, p. 225.
pieces reached places as remote as Stewart Island, Chatham Island, and the North Cape. The term “barter” has often been used to designate this process, but Firth (1929, p. 403) has shown clearly that the term is inappropriate.
Stories occur in Maori tradition of voyages undert