more affectionately regarded than these legacies of ancestors, and to take one in battle was like capturing a colour with us.”
The conventional shape of this weapon, which never varied, is shown in Figure 10.
Figure 10
The mere is an oval-bladed weapon, in length from about 14 to 16 inches, flattened on both sides and having a double edge to the blade, which diminishes with two subtle curves to end in almost imperceptible shoulders at the handle, as is shewn in greater detail in Figure 11.
Figure 11
This swells out again to the butt or pommel, called reke, which has some simple decoration such as the concentric grooves shewn in the example illustrated above.
One of the mere in the British Museum collection has the butt carved with the partially finished head of a manaia,[1] but
- ↑ See Chapter V. page 42.
