The offspring of such prisoners of war were also slaves, and equally the property of their masters. However, it frequently happened that a young slave married a girl of the tribe of his conqueror, in which case their offspring were no longer considered as slaves, although they were reputed of low rank. According to the old Maori laws, there were no slaves other than those taken in war and their descendants.
Among the free Maori, there are a number of varying grades; but the principles on which they are bestowed do not seem as yet to have been accurately ascertained by any European observers. Any individual who is able to trace his descent from distinguished parentage of either sex, has the right to assume the title of a chief. As a rule, the elder branch of a
family takes precedence over the younger. The heir-male was always regarded as the head of the family, and in the olden times was its priest or tohunga.
The wars of the Maori were chiefly carried on with spears and clubs of various shapes and sizes, but since the arrival of the Europeans the use of fire-arms has become almost universal. Hángi, one of the most renowned and formidable chiefs, who visited England in 1826, on his return exchanged all the splendid presents made him by George IV. for European fire-arms and ammunition, in order the more readily to subjugate all the races on the island by means of these new and dangerous weapons, and make himself omnipotent. Since that period the older warlike implements (taiaha, paki, ehi) have only been kept as objects of curiosity for the various chiefs to show.
But the most remarkable weapon of the New Zealanders, which was held by the chiefs in high honour as an emblem of rank, a sceptre so to speak, and which descended from generation to generation, is a piece of nephrite beautifully polished, from 10 to 20 inches long, 4 to 5 inches broad, and half an inch thick, called by the natives Meri-meri, "the fire of the gods," which is pierced at one end, and is usually attached to a cord passed round the hand. In the days of heathenism the Meri-meri was used occasionally as a weapon of defence, as also to scalp prisoners.
The various weapons of nephrite that we had an opportunity of examining were of a pale green colour, which became
transparent at the sharp edge, which ran all round, and had a peculiar flame-like glow.
The stone from which these costly weapons are made (the manufacture of which, in consequence of the dearth of suitable instruments before the arrival of the Europeans, was often the work of several generations), is found in loose fragments among the various mountain-streams along the west coast of the central island. The places where they are found in greatest abundance are Arahura and Ohonu on the N.W. coast, beyond Wakatipu, an inland lake, one of the sources of the river Matan, and Piopiotahi, a mountain-torrent on the S.W. coast. At the last-mentioned place, which, although we have little reliable information concerning it, has long been known to seal-hunters, a gigantic block of nephrite, many tons weight, was found in the middle of the current, which owing to its size was valueless, because useless to the aborigines. A sealer, who visited this coast once during a flying visit to Sydney, overheard a remark that this description of stone was much prized in China, and being aware of the existence of this colossal block of nephrite at Piopiotahi, he already beheld himself the possessor of considerable wealth. A company was quickly got up, with a merchant from Manila at the head, and a number of miners were forthwith sent to the spot, in order to blast the huge, unshapen rock into fragments admitting of easy transport. After immense labour and incredible hardships a few tons of the rock thus blasted were dispatched by the labourers to
Manila for the purpose of being tested and examined. The workmen remained some months at Piopiotahi, anxiously awaiting intelligence of the results of their toil. At last, when they had about exhausted their provisions, and were still without intelligence, they buried the fruits of their exertions, and dispersed themselves among the small Maori settlements adjoining Foveau Straits.
The samples of nephrite were duly sent from Manila to China, where they proved to be of very poor quality, being disfigured by small black specks. For some years after small quantities of nephrite were annually brought for sale from the Piopiotahi to Wellington, where they found plenty of purchasers among the natives of that district at about 1s. per lb.