72 Art. VI[. — A. Rlatsumura : 



of the birds represented upon them and perhaps the predominance 

 'of the reef heron is to be explained by the ease with which this 

 bird skims over the crest of the waves." It is evident, as the 

 above quotation shows, that the carvings are a sort of charm. 



In Ptubiana (New Greorgia), one of the Solomon Islands, the 

 •<?anoe charm, according to H. Balfour,^ represents a frigate bird 

 and its head not infrequently assumes the form of a human head. 

 " I give here (Fig. 25)," he says " a sketch of one of the wooden 

 ' gods,' which are nearly always affixed to the stems of the sea- 

 going Solomon Islands canoes, as charms against bad weather. 

 The carving represents a grotesque head and the arms of a human 

 figure, and it will be at once noticed that, seen in profile, it ex- 

 hibits this unnatural prognathism in a marked degree. Now in 

 constant association witli these human-form designs, and especially 

 so on the decorated canoes of these islands, we find representations, 

 more or less conventionalized, of the frigate bird which is held 

 sacred by the natives, and which is the subject for ornament most 

 commonly met with throughout the group." Concerning these 

 human form designs, B. T. Somerville^ also observes : " On the 

 top of the prows of the war canoes there is usually a carved 



figure, the commonest being a ' Kcsoho ' Low down on the 



prow above the water line the head and shoulders of a ' dehhle- 

 debhleum ' (called Totoishu) is suspended ; it is so placed as to dip 

 in the water in front of the canoe. The function of this Totoishu 

 is to keep off the Késoko, or water fiends, which might otherwise 

 cause the winds and waves to overset the canoe, so that they 

 might fall on and devour its crew." This writer further observes 

 that canoes of a smaller size are often decorated with carvings 



1 H. Balfour.i •' The Evolution of Decorative Art," London, 1893, pp. 63, 69. 



2 B. T. Somerv'ille, " Ethnographical Notes in New Georgia, Solomon Islands," Jour. Anthr. 

 Inst., XXVI, 1897, p. 371 and Fig. on p. 372. 



