Handbook to the ethnographical collections . igure-heads (fig. 11) and stern-posts were elaborately carved and painted, and the seamscarefully caulked. Sails of rushes were used, but the outriggerwas not employed. POLYNESIANS AND MICRONESIANS 175 Unlike the other Polynesians, the Maori did not manufacturebark-cloth, but alone practised a primitive foi-m of weaving ; thematerial was flax, which grew wild in great abundance and wascarefully prepared before use. Maori decorative art as seen intheir carvings is quite disiinctive, and on a high level; it is dis-tinguished by the constant recurrence
Handbook to the ethnographical collections . igure-heads (fig. 11) and stern-posts were elaborately carved and painted, and the seamscarefully caulked. Sails of rushes were used, but the outriggerwas not employed. POLYNESIANS AND MICRONESIANS 175 Unlike the other Polynesians, the Maori did not manufacturebark-cloth, but alone practised a primitive foi-m of weaving ; thematerial was flax, which grew wild in great abundance and wascarefully prepared before use. Maori decorative art as seen intheir carvings is quite disiinctive, and on a high level; it is dis-tinguished by the constant recurrence of beautifully executedspirals, and human and animal grotesques ; house-gables, door-lintels, canoe-prows, feather-lioxes, and flutes, were especiallyselected as objects for ornamentation. The chief occupation and pastime of men was war; expeditionsagainst hostile tribes were planned in the winter and carried outin the summer. Spears (fig. 138, f, g) were used, but are very rarein museums, except a form of spear called hani used mainly for. Fig. 153.—Wooden box fur tlie featheis worn in the hair by Zealand. ceremonial purposes and carried as a sign of rank (fig. 150).Short spatulate clubs of jade, basalt, whales bone, and wood werecalled mere, and were used by men of high rank, chiefly for killingprisoners ; long axe-shaped clul>s, teivlia-tewha, were used ratherfor directing evolutions and only secondarily for striking a (fig. 8) were used, and a kind of javelin-club of whales bonecalled hocroa, which was connected with the thrower by a were thrown by means of a cord tied to a stick ; specimensof these throwing whips are now very rare. As soon as ironaxes and guns were introduced by Europeans, they became thechief weapons of war. The population was divided into three classes: chiefs, freemen,and slaves. The first were regarded almost as incarnate divinities ;so sacred were their persons, that it was believed that a commonerwho used any u
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Keywords: ., bookauthorjoycetho, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1910
