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The Atoll of Funafuti, Ellice group : its zoology, botany, ethnology and general structure based on collections made by Charles Hedley of the Australian Museum, Sydney, N.S.W.

Domestic Articles

Domestic Articles.

Cordage.

Yarn, "loukafa," for coir ropes is obtained in lengths of about a foot from the husk of green coconuts, macerated for three or four weeks in fresh or salt water. The mode of manufacture is page 289to roll together a dozen loukafa threads upon the bare thigh under the extended palm, at the finish of each up and down rub a slight twist is given by a sideways motion of the hand. The short strings so produced are "amo," two of which are laid together, one projecting half its length beyond the other, and these are rolled together as before. A third string is applied to the second, so that one end lies in a fork between the end of the first and the middle of the second, while the other end projects by half its length beyond the end of the second, and the whole is again rubbed. By the similar addition of amo strings the strand continuously grows. Two such strands are again rolled together to produce the finished article, the ordinary two-ply cord "korokoro." (fig. 47). The fibre of the Broussonetia is treated in the same way.
47.

47.

48.

48.

49.

49.

Men and women are equally proficient at this work, which is regarded as a pleasant light employment suitable to gossip over when detained indoors by inclement weather.

A hank of two-ply coconut cord from Funafuti, which weighs three and a half ounces, measures fourteen fathoms, the diameter of the cord is an eighth of an inch. This type is laid up tighter than others, and is the commonest pattern for general use, serving for twine and fishing-lines.

The two-ply cord, the most simple and wide-spread form of cordage, is probably the most primitive. The degraded natives of Tierra del Fuego made a two-ply cord of gut strands; a specimen of which in a shell necklace has been shown to me by the Hon. P. G. King, of this city, who procured it during the historical voyage of the "Beagle." The Australian Aborigines seem only to have known a two-ply cord, though they elaborated a complex form of it by rolling up a two-ply with another two-ply.

An ornamental form of two-ply cord is of a strand of human hair laid up with a strand of bark. Of this pattern is the string of the Funafuti dance armlet, The same pattern may be observed in the decoration of the elaborate dance masks of New Britain and of New Ireland, these masks also carry a variation of the same where a strand of red coloured bark is laid up with a strand of natural yellow bark.

A cord, not to be distinguished from the ordinary two-ply coir cord except by unravelling, was made in Hawaii, of three strands.

The treble stranded cord, "kafa," of Funafuti, is a flat braid, loosely twisted direct from the yarn and made large or small as page 290required (fig. 48). The especial use of this is for lashing woodwork, as in sewing together the planks of canoes or fastening the frames of houses. An identical cord is made in New Guinea. A hank from Funafuti of three-ply cord, weighing five and a half ounces, measures twenty-eight fathoms, in diameter it is three-sixteenths of an inch. Another example from a kafunga is half an inch broad.

Four strands are plaited, direct from the yarn, to make a round rope, "oukafakanapoua," (fig. 49) of especial strength, used for canoe rigging, deep-sea fishing, etc. This rope is very pliant and does not kink even when new. A hank of this from Funafuti, weighing one pound one ounce, contains thirty-two fathoms of cord a quarter of an inch in diameter. From the Gilbert Islands there are in the Australian Museum samples of human hair-cord woven in this pattern.

Cook said of the Tongans:—"The rope they make use of is laid exactly like ours, and some of it is four or five inch."*

The most complex cord I have seen from the Pacific is a seven-stranded one from Hawaii. From the Marshall Islands Finsch described a large rope laid by a curious mechanism upon a central core.

In the Ellice a rough rope, like our straw rope, was occasionally improvised from the natural matting which sheathes the budding palm fronds.

* Cook—loc. cit., i., p. 216.

Finsch—Ann. K. K. Naturhist. Hofmus., vii., 1893, p. 158.

Baskets.

Baskets loosely woven from a portion of a palm frond are hastily improvised as needed for carrying fish or other articles. These are never kept to use a second time, but are thrown away when emptied. I have elsewhere described similar baskets from New Guinea, which, however, differ in size and pattern. Those of the New Hebrides appear, according to Lieutenant B.T. Somerville's description, to be made differently from either.
Fig. 50.

Fig. 50.

The simplest form (fig. 50) is a sort of tray for carrying fish. The specimen preserved measures about a foot in diameter, in shape is irregularly rhom-boidal, and consists of a portion of palm frond rachis with fifteen pinnules attached, which are interlaced and then knotted in two bows.

Another type (fig. 52) is bag shaped. An ordinary example is eighteen inches long and half as deep, formed by doubling part of a frond split down the middle and plaiting the pinnules as before, page 291
Fig. 51

Fig. 51

Fig. 52

Fig. 52

The pinnule tips, instead of being knotted at both ends of the basket as in New Guinea, are plaited along the floor and knotted in one bunch inside. A second specimen has the knot outside the basket.

A third type of basket was collected at Funafuti, the specimen of which came from Niutao. This (fig. 51) is a more finished form and was required for permanent, not temporary use. It is two feet long, one foot broad, and six inches deep. Two lengths of split frond are woven together, the two strips from the rachis making a double rim to the basket, No interstices are visible between the strands, of which an inner and an outer layer cross each other obliquely. Each pinnule is doubled, giving a thickness of four leaves to the basket wall. The basket ends are rounded, the floor flat with a median ridge, at each end the pinnule tips are plaited into flat straps, the lower three inches of which are within the basket, but the knotted extremities thereof are carried through the basket wall, making external handles. This form of handle appears to be indicated in a sketch of a Samoan basket by Edge-Partington.* The name of this basket was given me as "kete."

Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S.W., (2), 1895 (1896), p. 615, pl. lviii., fig. 2.

* Edge-Partington—loc. cit., ii., pl. xlvi., fig. 3.

Strap.

A shoulder-strap for carrying weights (fig. 53) is a plaited band of pandanus leaf seven feet six inches long and an inch to an inch and a half broad. At one end is a knot, at the other a loop, the one intended to be drawn through the other. The native name of this was unfortunately not noted.
Fig. 53

Fig. 53

A reference in Maori literature appears to relate to a similar article:—"The Kawerau tribe derived their name from the shoulder-straps with which the chief Maki used to carry off his spoil, made of nikau leaves (rau); hence the name, kawe to carry, rau leaves."

Percy Smith—The Peopling of the North, Journ. Polyn. Soc, vi., 1897, Supplement, p. 35. See also Edge-Partington—loc. cit,, ii., pl. ccxxxiii., fig. 11.

page 292

Thatching-Implements.

In thatching and in fastening the rough palm mats to the hut walls, awls and hooks are employed. Edge-Partington has published sketches of needles thus used in Torres Straits, Tahiti, and New Caledonia, but I observed none such in the Ellice Group. The collection of awls from that Archipelago exhibits great diversity of material, though agreeing substantially inform. From Nukulailai and Funafuti are specimens shaped from turtle bone, "tui fonu"; one from Funafuti is part of a swordfish bill, "tui sokera"; a third type is the spine of a sting ray, "futta," the serrations of which are ground down to make the tool, a half-made instance of which shows the transition.

A highly polished specimen of awl is from Funa-, futi, it (fig. 54) weighs half an ounce and is seven inches long. The day after I had purchased this from a workman engaged in loading battens with dressed pandanus leaves, I noticed the vendor hard at work with a fresh tool. He was using the handle of a European tooth-brush, ground to a point, and observed cheerily that it was quite as good as the one that he had sold me.
54.

54.

55.

55.

At Nukulailai I procured the original of fig. 55, whose use is to hook and draw through the string or twig used in fastening up mats, etc. It is carved of hard dark wood, probably Rhizophora, weighs one ounce, and is ten and a half inches long. Hooks resembling these are referred by Edge-Partington to Tahiti and Samoa.

While stripping the thorns from the edges of pandanus leaves I saw one woman employ a rough leaf thimble to protect the finger-tip. Of this I unfortunately omitted to procure a specimen.

Tosi.

56

56

A sort of claw is cut from the hard black shell of the coconut, which is called "tosi," and is used for ripping into fine strips the fibres of the titi dresses. The accompanying figure (fig. 56) represents a specimen, two and a half inches long, from Funafuti.

Broom.

An excellent broom, "salu," is made from a couple of hundred of the stiff mid-ribs of the coconut frond pinnules, stripped, dried, page 293and tied together at the proximal end (fig. 57). Its weight is fifteen ounces, length a yard, and diameter of the handle. an inch and a half. Not only the interior of the houses but all the village streets are regularly swept by the women, and kept neat and tidy. Many Europeans might copy with advantage from Funafuti; indeed during a residence of some years in the South of Europe I never met a French or Italian village where cleanliness was so thoroughly enforced.
Fig. 57

Fig. 57

Fan.

On Funafuti and Nukulailai I saw several elegant forms of fans, both plain and coloured. These patterns are all recently introduced from Samoa by the Native Teachers of the London Missionary Society, replacing the rougher fans of earlier days, which have nearly disappeared. A specimen of the real old-fashioned fan of Funafuti, "igli," was kindly presented to me by Mr. O'Brien. This (fig. 58) is heart-shaped, of plaited coco nut pinnules, the ends gathered into a handle; it is two and a half ounces in weight, eighteen inches in length including the handle, and thirteen wide. The fan-shaped leaf of the. Pritchardia palm is perhaps the model upon which such a fan was formed. The Samoan fly-flap was not employed on Funafuti.
Fig. 58

Fig. 58

Pillows.

The pillow appears in the Pacific in two widely different forms, one that of the wooden head-rest, the other that of the mat cushion. By far the most common is the former, which is found from the furthest western station of the Papuans to the remotest eastern settlement of the Polynesians. In shape it ranges from a solid wooden block to a bar of bamboo mounted on. wooden feet. Each race has treated it according to its idiosyncracies; the artistic Melanesian has tastefully carved and painted his, especially in New Guinea, where it is embellished by conventionalised animals whose limbs form appropriate supports; the simple Samoan is content with plain neat articles, while the more progressive Tongan elaborates designs on his; the crudest and roughest articles with which I am acquainted being the head-rest from the Ellice we are about to consider.

The name of both cushion and head-rest was given to me as "alunga," but in Funafuti I saw only the head-rest in use. A distinctive feature of Ellice Island work is its crudity and entire page 294lack of ornament, this is nowhere more noticeable than in the pillows. A characteristic specimen of a Funafuti head-rest is shown by fig. 59. It is a rough hewn, unsymmetrical, slightly bowed
Fig. 59

Fig. 59

Fig. 60

Fig. 60

slab, supported by two rough, crooked legs, carved in one piece. It is of a hard heavy wood, in parts highly polished by use; its weight is three pounds; length twenty, breadth three and a half, and height five inches. Another specimen is more ornate and symmetrical, consisting of a flat board supported by two horse-shoe legs. This (fig. 60) is of a hard wood, probably Calophyllum, weighs one pound fourteen ounces, is fourteen inches long, five wide and four high. The more graceful design of this article suggests to me that it may have been made by a native of another archipelago.

In use these articles are not so uncomfortable as an untravelled observer might imagine. For in a hot moist climate the constant perspiration renders a soft, absorbent pillow less acceptable than a cool, smooth, though hard, surface. Besides, sleeping on his back, the Polynesian does not rest his cheek, like the European, but the back of his head, on his pillow.

On Vaitupu, Bridge* noticed couches carved out of single pieces of wood, with four legs, and a solid block like a pillow at one end.

Under the regime of the Native Teacher every effort is made to Europeanise the Polynesian. If, after cricket and football, the pupils be introduced to the English schoolboy's "pillow fight," serious consequences would ensue.

Fig. 61.

Fig. 61.

Though upon Funafuti the mat cushion did not seem to be em ployed, it was well known there, and a model of it was made for a member of our party. On Nukulailai, however, I found them in common use. A well-worn speci men procured there is shown by fig. 61. It is formed of woven pandanus leaf, weighs one pound ten ounces, is nine inches long, six high, and four thick.

* Bridge—Proc. Roy. Geogr. Soc, viii., 1886, p. 554,

page 295

The cushion pillow seems less widely distributed than the wooden head-rest. From Tahiti, Edge-Partington notes a "pillow of plaited leaf."* Of Hawaii:—"It is said that wooden pillows were used in olden times, but if so there are none in this collection [the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum]. The Hawaiian pillow is a parallelopipedon of plaited pandanus leaves, stuffed with the same material, capital accompaniment to the Hawaiian mat bed."

* Edge-Partington—loc. cit., i., p1. xxxiii., fig. 8.

Brigham—loc. cit., p. 33.

Flasks.

Pottery, strange to any section of the Polynesian people, was of course absent from the Ellice Group, for not only was the potter's art unknown but his raw material does not even occur there. Neither do gourds (Lagenaria), so serviceable to natives of other Pacific islands, grow in this archipelago. The Ellice Islanders are therefore restricted in the choice of vessels capable of containing fluids to sea-shells, wooden bowls, and coconut shells. The latter, known as "vei'i," are of a handy size and weight, and for convenient portability are often fitted with sinnet casing and handle. Considerable variation exists in the net-work, which in some cases, foreign to the Ellice, is so close as to conceal the surface of the flask.§ Particularly large nuts are especially valued for flasks, and are prepared by stripping off the fibrous husk down to the hard shell; the contents are abstracted by breaking in one "eye," placing the nut in salt water till the kernel decays, and rinsing out the shell. A stopper is readily improvised from a rolled strip of banana or pandanus leaf. The original of fig. 62, from Funafuti, weighs when empty, fifteen ounces, contains three and a half pints, and is eight inches in major diameter and six in minor.
Fig. 62.

Fig. 62.

Flasks are shown on p. 25 receiving toddy. Gill published a sketch of a girl drawing water with one at Vaitupu, as described on p. 60.

Cook particularly remarked of some earthenware that he saw in Tonga, "that it was the manufacture of some other isle." (Second Voyage, i., 1777, p. 214).

§ Gourds, as shown by the frontispiece of Erskine's "Cruise in the Western Pacific," 1853, are likewise sometimes mounted with network.

Gill—Life in the Southern Isles, 1876, p. 141.

page 296

Boxes.

The natives of Funafuti use carved wooden box-tubs to hold food, fish-hooks, tobacco, or other small articles when on a canoe journey or a fishing excursion. In travelling these are stowed forward or aft under the decking, but when at anchor fishing, are frequently hitched by the cord over a thwart within reach of the fisherman. The lids with which these are fitted close so tightly as to keep the contents dry even if the canoe be swamped with water. The lid is so strung that it can be raised and slipped over the box, but not entirely detached. In shape and size these box-tubs have a general resemblance to the familiar "billy," of the Australian bushman.

Captain Hudson observed on Fakaafu:—"Boxes or buckets of various sizes, from the capacity of a gill to that of a gallon; they are cut out of the solid wood, and the top or lid is fitted in a neat manner. These are used to keep their fish-hooks and other small articles in to preserve them from the wet."*

One of these box-tubs is figured with details by Edge-Partington as from Samoa; he writes of it:—"Box and cover of pale wood, stout plaited cord. Labelled, ' a provision-tub, to be carried under the canoe in the water,'" which label is obviously absurd. There are numerous references in literature to the wooden boxes of the Polynesians, but I have not noted any other than the foregoing sufficiently full to distinguish the type under discussion from other forms of boxes, for example, the lavishly decorated caskets of the Maoris, occuring in the Pacific.

Three expressions of the box-tub were secured on Funafuti, where the article is known as "tourouma." The largest specimen in the collection weighs three pounds eight ounces, and has a capacity of a hundred and forty-one cubic inches, stands seven inches high, and is nine inches in basal diameter; like the rest of the series, it appears to be made of Calophyllum timber. In general it so closely corresponds with the illustrations above-cited from the Ethnographical Album that it is not necessary to draw it; from the Samoan specimen it differs in a less number of feet, possessing but ten equally spaced triangular supports, of less breadth than their interstices.

The lid is secured in a particularly ingenious way, it is "rabbeted on" so that the rim of the lid is outside flush with the wall of the box and inside fits against the flange of the box. The latter being slightly undercut, it is necessary to press the cover home. The lid only shuts in one position, and when down can be more securely fixed by slightly rotating it. The other specimens close in a simpler manner, so that it is possible that the shutting page 297of the largest box is more a matter of accident than of design. This box is further exceptional in having a square piece of wood neatly let into the centre J of the floor. Probably the tree which furnished the material was decayed at the core, and it was thus that the defect was remedied.
Fig. 63.

Fig. 63.

Two similar specimens vary from the foregoing in having no supports beneath, and no cleat on the summit of the lid. Instead the lugs on the box are continued into a pair on the lid, which latter is perfectly flat above. Both pairs are pierced by holes which continue from the lid through the box and through which a cord of Broussonetia is rove, these lugs serve therefore as running cleats. The taller box-tub is drawn on fig. 63 as open and closed, with the under aspect of the lid apart; the closed one is seen to be fastened in the native fashion by twisting the cord round the side. It is seven inches high, six and a half in basal diameter, weighs two pounds, and has a capacity of ninety-seven cubic inches, the sides are straight but the bottom is somewhat rounded. The other specimen differs in proportions and in having a flat base. It is five and three-quarter inches both in height and in basal diameter, and five and a half inches in least diameter across the lid, weighs one pound fifteen ounces, and contains fifty-nine cubic inches.

A third form of tourouma, shown by fig. 64, is intermediate in features between the others. It has a central running cleat on the lid like the first described, but those on the box are set half-way down the side and at right angles to those previously con- • sidered. The base is fairly flat and without feet. The lid has without a bevelled edge, and within a central excavation and a sub-marginal groove to receive the flange of the box. This box-tub is taller in proportion to breadth than the others and also tapers more upwards. From base to top of cleat is eight inches, the base is six and a half inches in diameter, and the top five and a half. It weighs one pound eleven ounces, and holds seventy-five cubic inches.
Fig. 64.

Fig. 64.

* Wilkes—loc. cit., v., p. 18.

Edge-Partington—loc. cit., ii., pl. xl. fig. 8.

Wooden Dishes.

These necessary and valued utensils are possessed by every household and are made in diverse sizes and shapes. The absence page 298of ornament, so marked a feature in all the appurtenances of the Ellice Islanders, is again obvious in surveying the bowls. The fanciful carving which other Pacific people delight to lavish upon these receptacles, is here totally wanting.

Fig. 65.

Fig. 65.

Fig. 66.

Fig. 66.

Fig. 67.

Fig. 67.

A wooden dish of an uncommon pattern is the "babanak," shown by fig. 65, the name of which suggests to me a Micronesian derivation. This article is rudely circular, with outwardly sloping wall, ending in a lip. It weighs one pound thirteen ounces, stands four and a half inches high, is twelve and a half inches in diameter above and seven inches across the base. The rim is half an inch thick, three-quarters wide, and projects half an inch from the wall.

The common food bowl of which fig. 66 is an instance, is here known as "kumiti," a name which seems to be associated with this article from Samoa to the Solomons. The specimen of this before me is an elliptical trough, tapering to lugs at either end, standing on a flat base of half the total length; it weighs two pounds nine ounces, stands three and a quarter inches high, is nineteen and a half inches long, and nine and a quarter wide. Another form of kumiti, larger and without lugs, is shown on p. 28, employed as a tank.

A wooden mortar, in which taro or coconut is pounded for cooking, is called "kumiti tuki." Except that it is elliptical rather than circular, the shape is that of the European equivalent. This form is here exemplified by a specimen (fig. 67) apparently of Calophyllum timber, weighing six pounds, eight inches high, excavated to a depth of six inches, at the aperture twelve inches by ten, and at the base eight by seven.

Pestles.

Pestles for mashing taro and coconut form part of the equipment of every kitchen. A pattern called "jini" is exemplified by fig. 68. It is unsymmetrically ovate, truncate at the broad end and surmounted by a knob, which is much chipped in our example, at the opposite end. It is of a hard heavy polished wood, perhaps Thespesia, weighs three pounds six ounces, is ten inches long, and five and a quarter broad at its greatest diameter.
Fig. 68.

Fig. 68.

page 299

Another pounder (fig. 69) is eighteen inches long, straight, tapering from two and a half inches at the butt to half an inch at the opposite end. A pagoda-shaped handle is formed by incised carving of the final four inches. It is one pound ten ounces in weight, and made, I think, of Pemphis timber.

A third form is drawn at fig. 70. This, called "tuki tuki," is club-shaped, two feet seven and a half inches long. At one end the diameter is three and three-quarter inches, at the other an inch and a half. The weight amounts to five pounds eight ounces. This form was used standing, but the lesser pestles were used sitting.
Fig. 69

Fig. 69

Fig. 70

Fig. 70

Drum.

Two radically distinct types of drum, each with numerous variations, co-exist in the Pacific. The one which seems to attain its greatest development in Papua is akin to the European drum, consisting like it of a skin tympanum stretched on a wooden cylinder. The other and ruder form is more characteristic of Polynesia, it consists merely of a boat-shaped, hollow log, beaten on the exterior.

The drum, "batti," of Funafuti (fig. 71) belongs to the latter division. Formerly it was used at dances and festivals, now it appears only to summon the worshippers to church,* and the only specimens on the island seemed to be those in the possession of the Native Teacher. A well-worn example I obtained from him weighed four pounds four ounces, and measured nineteen inches in greatest length, four and a half in depth, and three and a half in width. The excavation is three and a half inches deep, twelve long, and one and a half wide. The drumstick, "kouta," weighs four ounces, and is ten inches long, and one thick. In another example, the drum was carved of Thespesia and the stick of Pemphis wood.
Fig. 71

Fig. 71

To call the people together to a trial or other public ceremony, a shell trumpet of Cassis cornuta was blown.

* As in the Tokelau Islands, Lister—loc. cit.

Lancets.

For bleeding, and for lancing boils, etc., the native surgeons make use of shark's teeth set in wooden handles. I procured on Nukulailai two old, worn and stained specimens, measuring seven and a half and six inches, and weighing 3·55 and 3·54 grammes page 300respectively. A piece of wood, somewhat the size and shape of an ordinary penholder, is split at its extremity for an. inch, into which a small shark's tooth is inserted and bound in the cleft, by cotton in one case and by native fibre in another.

Fig. 72

Fig. 72

Fig. 73

Fig. 73

On Funafuti I failed to purchase original specimens, though such were in existence at the time of our visit. Models were, however, made for me, larger and rougher than the Nukulailai specimens. The serrate-toothed lancet, from the jaw of Galeocerdo rayneri (fig. 72) for bleeding, is called "nifikifa"; the straight-edge tooth lancet from Carcharias lamia (fig. 73), for puncturing, is known as "bunga."

These instruments were described to me as used like a tatooing pen, that is, the handle was held in the left hand so that the Fig. 73. Fig. 72. point of the tooth was placed just over the spot to be punctured, then the handle was smartly tapped by a stick held in the right hand and the point driven in. Dr. Collingwood writes:—"The tooth of the instrument is placed over the abscess, and with one blow it is forced into the cavity of the same, while there the extremity of the handle of the lance is made to pass through a semicircle, with the result in a skilful hand an elliptical piece of flesh is removed, thereby preventing the two rapid closure of the wound."*
Fig. 74

Fig. 74

In Tahiti, "they were clever at lancing an abscess with the thorn from a kind of bramble or a shark's tooth."

Fig. 74 shows a roll of prepared bark of the vala-vala (Premna taitensis) used in cautery, as mentioned on p. 37.

In Hawaii the skin was scorched with fire-brands in times of mourning

In Japan, " moxa, or the burning of a small cone of cottony fibres of the Artemisia, on the back and feet, was practised as early as the eleventh century, reference being made to it in a poem written at that time."§

* The Tasmanian Mail, 6th March, 1897, p. 34.

Ellis—loc. cit., iii., p. 44.

Ellis—loc. cit., iv., p. 181.

§ Griffis—The Mikado's Empire, 1887, p. 207.

page 301

Fire Sticks.

Almost without exception fire has been obtained by all primitive people by the rubbing together of pieces of wood. In detail, however, the process differs greatly among different races.

Among Australian Aborigines the usual method was to press and twirl between the palms a perpendicular rod in a hole in a fixed horizontal stick.* The ancient Egyptians, likewise, rotated a perpendicular upon a horizontal stick, but employed a bow to revolve the upright.

Another method, approaching more closely to the form we are about to consider, is the fire-saw used in Borneo and Australia under several forms, the general principle of which consists of sawing an edged rod in a notched one.

Throughout the Pacific Islands one method, and, as far as I am aware, only one is employed, that of ploughing a wooden blade in a groove. It is thus described by Woodford in the Solomons:—"A stake of dry, soft wood is selected, a convenient size being about as thick as the wrist. For convenience a few chips are sliced off in one place to make a flat surface to rub upon. The stake is then placed upon the ground in front of the operator, who sits on one end of it and holds it steady between his toes, then with a pencil-shaped piece of harder wood, held firmly in both hands, he begins rubbing up and down upon the flat surface. A groove is formed and a dark coloured dust soon produced, which is pushed to the farther end of the groove. The dust before long begins to smoke. The pace is increased, and it begins to smoulder. A piece of dry touchwood is then applied to it and quickly blown into a glow. With perfectly dry wood a native will almost certainly produce fire in less than a minute. "**

Though the general process has been repeatedly described, the exact method of gripping the stick with the hands has not, I believe, been explained.§ The crossed thumbs are placed beneath the stick, the flexed fingers of one half-opened hand are placed above it, and upon them are laid the fingers of the other hand, this posture (fig. 75) allowing the operator to lean the whole weight of his body on the stick, while rapidly moving it to and fro, at about half a right angle to the grooved stick. In an example from Funafuti before me, the blackened groove is three and a half inches

* For details and figures see Brough Smyth—Aborigines of Victoria, i., 1876, p. 392, figs. 231, 232.

Roth—The Natives of Sarawak and "British North Borneo, i., 1896, p. 377, fig.; and Brough Smyth—loc. cit., p. 395, figs. 223, 224.

** ‡Woodford—A Naturalist among the Head-hunters, 1890, p. 161. See also Lamont—op. cit., p, 156.

§ Since writing this, an excellent figure and description of the process by Lieut. B. T. Somerville, R.N., (Journ. Anthrop. Inst., xxvi., 1897, p. 376, pi. xxxv.), has reached me.

page 302long, a third of an inch wide, and an eighth of an inch deep. The flattened surface cut for its reception is five inches long and one-half inch broad. The stake, "kousikanga," of dry Premna taitensis chosen, was origin ally about six feet long and an inch and a half in diameter. The wooden knife" koufataronga " used on it is of another timber, nine inches long, one wide, and half an inch thick, obliquely truncated at the worn end.
Fig. 75

Fig. 75

In Hawaii, "a smaller stick, the 'aulima, is held in the hand and rubbed in a groove in a larger stick, the aunaki."*

The reverence, amounting almost to fire-worship, paid to fire by different settlements of the Tokelau people, is related ante p. 55.

* Brigham—loc. cit., pt. ii., p. 31.

Toys.

A game formerly played on Funafuti, but which is not now practised, was that of throwing a toy dart. I have gathered a few references to this game as played elsewhere in the Pacific but further literary search would probably widen the known range.

Captain Erskine has thus described the game as he saw it played in Fiji:—" On our return to the Mission house we met a number of men in full dress, that is, painted either black or red their hair frizzed out and decorated with blue beads, some wearin-garters or bands tied in bows under the knee, and a few with a kilt or petticoat, resembling that of the women. Each carried a short cane, with an oblong, pear-shaped head, forming a kind of blunt dart, with which a game called "tika," or "titika" is played We followed them to the spot, which presented a very gay scene, a hundred or so of persons being assembled at the sides of a level, well swept mall, about one hundred and fifty yards long, and five or six wide, skirted with trees and shrubs. Each player advanced in turn, and threw his dart at a mark placed at the end of the mall, but none of them exhibited much skill, nor did the game seem to us one of any interest, and all were quiet and decorous." On the authority of Dr. Turner, Edge-Partington publishes from Niue a "head of a dart used in a game," which closely resembles the one before me.§

Erskine-Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of the Western Pacific 1853, p. 169.

Another description of the game in Fiji is given by the Rev. J. G. Wood-Natural History of Man, ii., 1870, p. 283. In the Journal of the Godeffroy Museum, iv 1876, pl xvi, fig. 1, a player is drawn in the act of casting his dart, "ulutoa." The attitude is the same shown me on Funafuti.

§ Edge-Partington—loc. cit., i., pl. xxxix., fig. 1.

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In the Banks Island and the New Hebrides "the game is played by two parties, who count pigs for the furthest casts, the number of pigs counted as gained depending on the number of knots in the winning tika. There is a proper season for the game, that in which the yams are dug, the reeds on which the yam vines had been trained having apparently served originally for the tika. When two villages engage in a match they sometimes come to blows."*

Ellis also describes this game from Tahiti and Hawaii. Gill has given a chant from the Hervey Islands for a reed throwing match for women.

Dr. Gill notes in his Diary that it was formerly the custom on the island of Nanomana, Ellice Group, that "when a young man wins a reed throwing match, his own sister testifies her joy by coming into the assembly stark naked and clapping her hands."

Fig. 76. Fig. 77.

A model of this toy made for me by an old native of Funafuti, is represented by figs. 76 and 77. The entire article is called "jiga," and the separate head is "urotoa." The stem is a light rod of Scaevola wood, an ounce in weight, three feet in length, and half an inch in diameter; the head, perhaps modeled from a whale's tooth, is of Pemphis wood, a cone whose truncated base is produced into a spike, carved in one piece, in weight four ounces, in total length eight inches, the spike being a third thereof, and in greatest breadth an inch and a half. It is mounted by thrusting the spike home into the soft pith of Scaevola rod.
Fig. 76

Fig. 76

Fig. 77

Fig. 77

Another toy consisted of a cube of plaited pandanus leaf, served as a light ball, with which, on the beach, groups of girls amused themselves by tossing to each other and catching. A specimen of the "anou," as this is called on Funafuti, is shown by fig. 78, it weighs three-quarters of an ounce, and measures two inches cube.

From Ruk, in the Carolines, the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum possess a "cube of plaited pandanus leaf used as a ball."

Ellis has described a game, "haru raa puu," played by the Tahitians with a large ball of the tough stalks of the plantain leaves twisted closely and firmly together.§

* Codrington—The Melanesians, 1891, p. 340.

Ellis—Polynesian Researches, i., 1836, p. 227; iv., p. 197.

Gill—Myths and Songs, 1876, p. 179.

§ Ellis—loc. cit i., p. 214.

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At Simbo, in the Solomons, Mr. N. Hardy tells me he saw a globular leaf ball tossed from hand to hand.

Spinning tops I found to be a popular amusement on Nukulailai. Their tops were simply cone shells (Conus hebraeus and C. puli-carius) spun on their apices. A game was to spin two shells into a wooden dish out of which by rotating and colliding the winner would knock the loser. The shells were spun either like a teetotum between the finger and thumb, or, to give greater force, the anterior end was steadied by the finger and thumb of the left hand, while the impetus was given by drawing the right fore-finger briskly across it, as shown in fig. 79. A shell of C. hebraeus I purchased, the broken lip of which betokened much service, was called "vaitalo."

Fig. 78

Fig. 78

Fig. 79

Fig. 79

Fig. 80

Fig. 80

On Funafuti, a sort of toy windmill was contrived by plaiting four arms of palm pinnule, mounting this on a stand of palm riblet, and thrusting the latter into the sand, The wind would then rotate the arms. This toy, called "bekka," is shown at fig. 80.

Mr. J. S. Gardiner tells me that he saw this toy windmill in Rotumah, and it has been lately recorded from the Solomons by Lieut. B. T. Somerville, R.N.*

* Journ. Anthrop. Inst., xxvi., 1897, p. 409.

Addendum.

Sandals.—Since revising the preceding pages (243-4) dealing with the Pacific sandal, I have seen a figure and description of an interesting sandal of Cordyline fibre from New Zealand by Mr. 0. T. Mason. Another article is thus added to the long list of those common to every main division of the Polynesian Race. It is interesting also to note that this Ethnologist detects in the border loops for the lacing a similarity between the Polynesian and a Korean pattern.

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Explanation Of Plate Xiii.
Method of putting on a "tukai" dress.
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Memoirs Aust. Mus. III.Plate XIII.N. Hardy, del.

Memoirs Aust. Mus. III.
Plate XIII.
N. Hardy, del.

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Explanation of Plate XIV.
Method of scraping coconut with the " twaikarea.'
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Memoirs Aust. Mus. III.Plate XIV.N. Hardy, del.

Memoirs Aust. Mus. III.
Plate XIV.
N. Hardy, del.

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Explanation of Plate XV

Fig. 1. A canoe from Funafuti.

Fig. 2. Stem of another specimen.

Fig. 3. Stern of another specimen.

Fig. 4. Fishing rod in position.

Fig. 5. Divisible outrigger for detaching float.

Fig. 6. Float perforated for fastening to outrigger.

Fig. 7. Float pegged for fastening to the outrigger.

Fig. 8. Bailer.

Fig. 9. Paddle.

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Memoirs Aust. Mus. III.Plate" XV.C. Hedley, del.

Memoirs Aust. Mus. III.
Plate" XV.
C. Hedley, del.

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Mason—Primitive Travel and Transportation, Report U.S. National Museum, 1894 (1896), p. 315.