470 A NATURALIST ON THE "CHALLENGER." 



most remarkable taste in their designs. The lance-heads are 

 often carved. The carving taking the form mostly of incised 

 patterns, the effect being heightened and beautified by the use 

 of black, white, and red pigments. 



The white coral lime, the red burnt clay, the black, possibly 

 charcoal of some kind. The guardian deities carved on the door- 

 posts of the temples and posts of the houses are ornamented also 

 in the same style. Similar patterns are graved on the ovulum 

 shells and armlets. These patterns are all modifications of the 

 lozenge or diamond, and without curves ; but besides this, 

 various patterns are burnt in upon the surfaces of the chunam 

 gourds, and in these the lozenge is combined with various 

 curves. 



An entirely different class of carving is that of the large 

 wooden bowls which are used for eating out of. These resemble 

 somewhat those of the Solomon islanders, being, like them, 

 blackened, but in the present case they are most remarkable for 

 their graceful forms and delicately carved handles. The bowls 

 are worked with wonderful precision, considering the tools avail- 

 able, to the circular form, appearing as true as if turned. They 

 are widely open, and are provided with a pair of curved handles, 

 which rise above the level of the tops of the bowls, and are some- 

 times ring-like, sometimes cut in a delicate spiral. They are 

 always ornamented with perforated carving, and often bear a pair 

 of Crocodiles, or roughly executed human figures on their outer 

 margins. The bowls stand always on four short legs, like the 

 Fijian kaava bowls. They never have a circular bottom, no 

 doubt because there are no level surfaces for them to rest upon, 

 and because the idea is derived from a four-legged stool. 



A still more remarkable appreciation of symmetry and fer- 

 tility in design is shown in the patterns which are cut upon the 

 circular plates worn sometimes on the forehead, oftener on the 

 breast. These consist of circular white plates ground down out 

 of Tridacna shell, with a hole in the centre for suspension. On 

 the front of this white ground is fastened a thin plate of tortoise- 

 shell, which is ornamented with fretwork, so that the white 

 ground shows through the apertures. The patterns are of end- 

 less variety, no two being alike, and show all kinds of combina- 



