COLLECTED BY COOK.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIII, Issue 1, 27 April 1912, Page 3

COLLECTED BY COOK.

SOME RELICS OE THE FAMOUS EX PLDIIKiL A VALUABLE (HrT. “Amongst tJio articles winch tney brought to barter ti■ i s day, we con id not help taking notice of a particular sort of cloak and cap. The ‘Jirst one nearly of the size and shape ot the short cloaks worn hy the women in England. The ground of thorn is a net-work, upon which the most beautiful red and yellow feathers am so closely Fixed, that the surface might be compared to the thickest and richest velvet, which they resemble, both as to the feel and the glossy appear-

ance. S 'The cap is made almost exactly like a helmet, with the middle part or crest sometimes a hand’s breadth, and it sits very close upon the head, having notches to admit the ears. It is a frame of twigs and osiers, covered with a net-work into which arc wrought feathers as in the same manner as upon the cloaks.” Despite associations, it is a far cry from the Dominion Museum to the cabin of the ship Discovery, DOO tons, Captain Cook, from London to ports unknown. Nevertheless, the above extract from the chronicles of the groat circumnavigator aptly describes this identical helmet and cloak at present in the Wellington Museum.

These specimens, together with many other articles, form the gift of Lord St. Oswald, whoso forefathers bought them at a sale of Bullock’s Museum on 29th April, 1819—the sixth day of the sale. When Mr Bullock, the famous antiquary, died, his collection was offered to the British Museum for £50,000. hut was refused and subsequently disposed of at auction. The most notable specimens of the collection so generously given to the people. of New Zealand are the leather cloak and helmet which was put upon the head and shoulders of Life great Cook by the King of Owyde, and which is so particularly described in his account of the voyage of 17GG—1780. Both articles arc in a wonderful state of preservation, and the robe, which is made ■mainly from countless small feathers of the yellow “oo” (Dcstia Uai Coxinia), a small bird long since extinct, is remarkable for the vividness of its colouring. With infinite patience the feathers have been wCVen singly into the groundwork of fibre until the ’whole has been covered. A “BRITANNIA” HELMET. The helmet is perhaps even more interesting. Everyone is familiar with the figure of Britannia seated uncomfortably on her shield on some of our coins. Had the feather helmet in this collection been modelled on the headgear worn by the “ruler of the waves,” it could ’not have been made much more like it. The crest, or comb, seen in ancient frescoes and worn by the gladiators of net and trident, is almost identical, and the holes —or as Cook says, “the notches for the oars”—are also a characteristic of the early .Roman helmet. Of course headgear something following this style was worn in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and it may be that the natives took for their patterns the helmets of .some early Spanish navigators. Almost certain it is that the Spaniards readied those islands before Cook, for did he not discover, quaintly hung about the neck of an Otaheitian chief, a pair of silver spoons of Spanish workmanship ? HATS AND OTHER IDOLS. There is also amongst the relics a Hawaiian hat of the time of Cook. It iias a round.crown and a broad brim. With the addition of a few feathers and a buckle or two it could be worn inconspicuously, and therefore, perhaps, without attaining the main object of much present-day headgear,’ by any racegoer or visitor at a garden party. Another cloak there is made principally of the long black tail-feathers of the .powhee bird, and prinkt oni with smaller red and yellow plumes of other birds now extinct. “The scarlet birds,” says Cook, were never met with alive, but we sav. a single small one about the size of a canary-bird, of deep crimson colour. . . . .” So perhaps even at that time the inroads of these dusky milliners into their feather store mad somewhat depleted the stock. The next exhibit to catch the eye is s a Hawiian feather idol with a grinning mouth, in which are set dog’s teeth. Not the least interesting thing about these relics, more especially the cloaks, is the manner in which they have dodged the collector. Profcsor Binhani, of Hono lain, is acknowledged the greatest authority on these garments, and lie has searched the world over to gather in all the* specimens he could. Bui for all these years these much-sought-after relies have been hiding in a quiet North country seat in England. A ily-llap is another of the presents mado to Cautaiu Cook by a native chief, and the handle of this is made from a human arm-hone ringed will sperm whale ivory and tortoise-shell Riies , would apparently laugh at an ordinary wooden handle, and for the reason perhaps tin* handle is made from ilia arm-bone of o chief taken in battle. There is also the counterpart of the every-day meat-book seen in butchers’ shops and copy books. This hook is, however, made of wood elaborately carved and chiselled, and was used only for the hanging-up of human flesh. ■ Another wonderfully contrived garment is a waist mat of pearl shell made from long strips of nacre, threaded together into a network. Tam whale-bone beaters, made for hammering out the tappa-clolh of ilie •islands, just as the native washerman at Colombo hammers out your most ('xponsiv garments, are childly of interest, because the natives have long

since ceased troubling to make 'her. mallets ironic anything hut wood. NEW ZEALAND ARTICLES. Of New Zealand articles in the collection there are many valuable ones, and some absolutely unique. A Maori nose-flute, wita a figure in high relief carved upon it, is remarkable for itr fine workmanship. There is also a double nosc-ilute—only one other is known to exist—also carved. Two greenstone “heitikis,” described in the catalogue ol the IS]!) sale as “superb idols of jade-stone from New Zealand,” and a shark’s tooth knife were sold for a comparatively small sum. The knife is one of these used at tangis hy the relatives of the deceased for tearing their flesh in sign of mourning. in the illustrations io Cook’s journal there is a wooden “patu,” a fighting weapon, winch might have been, and probably was, drawn from one in this collection. Other things tnero are, all of interest, including ceremonial paddles from High Island rn the Austral group* and a stone sinker with the original flax string of two colours tied round the waist cut in it. All these put together form an almost priceless collection.