Skip to content

Rakahau te Kohika

Collection Search

letter, 04/11/1935 to Mr Peter Buck, Congratulations on taking charge of the Bishop Museum, was uncertain of what date Buck was taking over so had delayed. Emory has said Buck is completing a memoir on the adze of Mangareva and there is a hesitation to use authors cards, there is no need for hesitation, use as he would his own. Author has been working for a long time on classification of the adzes of Canterbury, Otago and Southland and has worked out a system that works near perfectly, works also for the Chathams and nearly for the Cooks. For the three main areas of the North Island, East Coast, West Coast and North Auckland a slight modifications has been made due to different natures of the rocks. Recently received a greenstone adze dug out of a midden in Northern Tasmania. In relation to the New Zealand looking adzes of Norfolk Island and Dark Point, New South Wales, wouldn't be surprised if this is a New Zealand type too, but it belongs to New Caledonia in origin. Author has just completed a paper on New Zealand bone harpoon-heads and another on the carved box enclosing a skull found on Banks Peninsula, author also has a large amount of materials for classification of the fish-hooks of the South Island. The museum has just received from Banff, Scotland, six wooden shark-hooks and four kahawai-hooks secured in Wellington in 1842, the best bunch of Taranaki harkhooks at present known. The Museum now has a large amount of material connected with drilling in Murihiku including drill points in greenstone, wonders what extent this is a local development or if some of these features could be found elsewhere in Polynesia.

  • 1