Captain Cook Relic

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 940, 5 April 1930, Page 6

Captain Cook Relic

Tangiwai Eardrop Given Him By Maori Chief (Written for THE SUX by ERIC RAXSDEX) ONE of the first objects that attracts attention among the Cook relics, an extremely interesting collection at the Australian Museum in Sydney, is a long, slender tangiwai eardrop. It was the gift of a Maori chieftain to Captain Cook on one of his visits to New Zealand. It is easily the finest Maori exhibit in the by no means representative Maori collection. Though the Museum is rich in Cook relies—there is another fine Cook collection at the Mitchell Library—it has no reason to be proud'of its New Zealand section.

r PHE eardrop formed part of the John Mackrell collection, which was displayed in the New South Wales court of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, held in London in 1886. In the printed catalogue it was described as a “New Zealand jade ear-ornament.” Mr. W. W. Thorpe, of the Australian Museum staff, who recently visited Auckland and Wellington at the invitation of the museums in those cities, considers this eardrop as one of the finest specimens known. To him I am indebted for particulars concerning it. The tangiwai or bowenite, as it is more scientifically known, is 13£in. in length, and weighs 52 ounces. The apex is bevelled off on one edge, resembling somewhat the point of a s'word, and the stone is of that light, translucent green so familiar to those interested in this type of ornament. A twoply knotted string traverses the perforation at the proximal end, to which is attached, by a simple knot, a piece of redbrown flax. The flax, incidentally, has preserved its dye and, despite its age, is in remarkably good condition. Anxious to find

some possible photograph by mention of the gift cour t e ,sy Australin the Voyages i an Museum, of the great navi- Sydney, gator, Mr. Thorpe was not rewarded in his search. Under “Dusky Bay,” April 7, 1779,” he found the follow-

ing: “When we took leave, the chief presented me with a piece of cloth or garment of their own manufacturing, and some other trifles.” Whether “some other trifles” included the beautiful eardrop one cannot, of course, say. It is hardly likely that Captain Cook would so casually have dismissed such a notable example of the handicraft of the ancient .Maori. Captain Cook mentioned greenstone several times in his logs. He always referred to it as “talc” or “green talc.” In the Hawkesworth edition, the head of a Maori is depicted with a pendant of much the same type as the tangiwai I mention. It is attached to the right ear. There is much in this great museum that one, naturally, is envious of, particularly the Cook relics, which are of as much interest to New Zealanders as to Australians —perhaps more so. Yet there was nothing there that I would so much like to see in a New Zealand museum as that slender, delicate green eardrop. What a history it might tell if only it could speak! How far, too, it has travelled since it i* s polished on the thigh of the proud old craftsman who created it. SYDNEY, N.S.W.