About History of Amulets in New Zealand

Jade carvings of an exceedingly peculiar type are the hei-tikis (neck-ornaments) greatly prized among the Maoris of New Zealand. The grotesque representation of the human form here realized by the native carvers, the association of these objects, treasured up as heirlooms, with the personality of some renowned ancestor, the story that the special portraiture to be made was sometimes communicated in a dream or vision, all this induces the belief that in former times, though perhaps not at the present time, the Maoris looked upon their hei-tikis as amulets, or possibly even as fetiches.

The Dowager Queen Alexandra is said to greatly value as a talisman a pendant consisting of a nugget of massive gold surmounted by a figure of a hunchback, executed in green enamel. The nugget is hollowed out and opens when a secret spring is touched; within appears a heart-shaped ornament made of New Zealand jade. The story runs that this jewel was given to his mother by the late Duke of Clarence, the elder brother of the present King George V.

The popularity in England of these queer hei-tiki amulets, made from the punamu or "green-stone" (nephrite) of New Zealand, has been ascribed by many to the wearing by Queen Alexandra of ornaments made of New Zealand jade, and to the report that every member of the "All Blacks," an almost invincible English foot-ball team, carried some little trinket made from this material while he was engaged in play. The popular faith in "lucky jade" was further corroborated by the story that Lord Rosebery had on his person a jade amulet when his horse Cicero won the Derby and that Lord Rothschild was wearing such an amulet as his horse St. Amand carried his colors to victory. When we consider to how great an extent popular enthusiasm is excited in England by her great and classic horse-races, we need not hesitate to believe that these reports did much to render jade amulets generally fashionable.

An old Polynesian legend recounts that jade was brought to New Zealand from a distant land by a certain Ngahue, who sought by this means to save the precious material from an enemy who coveted it. He settled at Arahua, on the west coast of the middle island, and in this region he found an eternal and safe resting place for his jade, which he valued above all things. This legend has often been adduced as a proof that the New Zealand jade was brought from other countries, but as it proceeds to state that Ngahue made neck and ear ornaments of this material, there is at least as great probability that we have here the supposed origin of the hei-tiki ornaments, and that the legend testifies to the popular belief that the art of making these objects came to New Zealand from without.

The quasi-magic character of New Zealand jade (nephrite) in the eyes of Maoris of the olden time is proved by the fact that certain superstitious restrictions were established in regard to the cutting of nephrite, one of these being that no woman should be allowed to approach the jade-cutters while they were engaged in their task. For the drilling of holes in jade implements or amulets the cord-drill was employed, and the surface of the object received its polish by rubbing it with a piece of sandstone, after it had been roughly fashioned, by chipping, to the desired form. The toughness of jade is such that infinite patience and long-continued effort must have been necessary to complete any ornament or implement under these primitive conditions.

A curious and characteristic jade artefact, known as nbouet or koindien, is found among the natives of New Caledonia. This is a more or less circular disk of jade, with a cutting edge. In most cases this disk is attached through two perforations to a straight cylindrical handle, having a slit at the upper extremity into which the jade disk is introduced. The lower extremity has an ovoid termination, or else it is set in a cocoanut shell, usually covered with the integument of a pteropod. Attached are pendants of beautiful marine shells, and sometimes the cocoanut shell is filled with small pebbles so that it can be used as a rattle. These nbouet were originally used as cleavers to cut up the dead bodies for the cannibalistic orgies, and this use seems to have been thought to impart a kind of talismanic virtue to the objects, for they eventually became insignia of the chiefs of the native tribes.