Replica of a Maori hand club
London, England, AD 1772
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This replica in metal of a Maori patu / mere
or hand club is one of a number commissioned by the naturalist Sir
Joseph Banks who had seen examples of short clubs used for
close-range fighting made from stone, bone or wood. This club is in
the style of the basalt patu onewa. It bears Banks' coat
of arms and the date 1772.
Banks made careful preparations for the Second Voyage, choosing
a number of specialists to accompany him. He purchased scientific
equipment, and items to trade with the peoples he would meet on the
voyage. His invoices for many of these purchases survive, listing
among other things glass ear pendants, beads and medals. An invoice
for these metal clubs survives, dated 27 March 1772, from the brass
foundry business of Mrs Eleanor Gyles of 9 Shoe Lane, Fleet Street.
It reads 'Patopatoes for New Zealand in imitation of their stone
weapons'.
However, Banks' plans proved impractical and he decided not to
go on the next voyage. It is possible that at least some of the
metal clubs were used by Cook or his crew as gifts or trade goods
as two examples were later discovered in North America: the fur
trader George Dixon saw one on the Northwest coast in the 1780s,
and a missionary account of 1801 recorded a sighting of one in New
Zealand.
Early explorers rapidly learned that metal and metal objects
(especially iron) were desirable items to the Polynesians for their
sharp and durable cutting edges. Cook issued instructions to his
crew that such useful items should only be exchanged for
provisions. Iron tools soon became popular with Maori carvers.
T.A. Joyce, 'A cast bronze mere from New Zealand', British Museum Quarterly, 10:100 (), p. 174
H.G.Beasley, 'Metal mere', Journal of the Polynesian So-4 (1927), pp. 297-98, n. 427