"Te Wai Pounamu" - the Water or River of Greenstone. Or the South Island for those less poetically inclined. It was the only place that the genuine article nephrite jade was available to the Maori, and then only in a few small pockets. The Arahura and Taramakau Rivers on the West Coast(from memory) are where most of it comes from. But there are small deposits elsewhere. The jade is a considerably darker green than the Chinese equivalent.

The South Island is also called Murihiku from time to time, although the name really refers to the southern parts of the South Island.

The Maori had a, shall we say, malleable approach to geography.


The idiot also known as Capfka ...