74 



Art. VII.— A. M.itsuimxra. 



prow ornaments in New Guinea illustrated in Partington's Alburn.^ 

 The custom is also met with in the New Hebrides. We learn from 

 B. T. Somerville'^ that in Malekula (MalhcoUo ?), an island of the 

 New Hebrides, larger types of canoes always have coloured carv- 

 ings on the prow representing the head and breast of sea-birds. 

 The meaning of these ornaments in the different islands or locali- 

 ties is not expressly stated in every instance, yet it is sufficiently 

 evident, as the writings of Seligmann, Balfour and Somerville show, 

 that they arc all of them intended as a charm to avert evils or 

 disasters on the sea. 



We now turn from the consideration of canoes in the South 

 Sea Islands to ships of civilized peoples. Of those constructed in 

 Japan, the historic Atake Mam, for instance, had a dragon-head 

 figure on the prow, wdiile the Kjijaku Mam built by the feudal 

 lord of Kishu bore the figure of a pea -cock. Here, of course, these 

 figures are ornamental in their primary intention, yet it is most 

 probable that they are a development, whether direct or indirect, 

 from the "dragon-head and /-head "^ ships of the Chinese. 

 The i or ylJi is an aquatic bird like the heron, and the figure 

 of this bird has most frequently been chosen as the ornament 

 for prows. But there is scarcely any doubt that it was originally 

 meant for a charm, as in the South Sea Islands. The figure- 

 head of modern vessels of Western type may be derived from 

 the canoe charm, a sort of guardian angel of the primitive 

 canoe to wdiich it is affixed ; though in modern vessels it takes 

 the form of a statue or bust of a person or object which is related 



1 J. E. Partington, "An Album of the Weapons, Tools,.... of the Natives of the Pacific 

 Islands," Pis. 264, 286. 



2 B. T. Somersille, " Ethnological Notes on New Hebrides," Jourr. Antli. Inst., XXIII, 1894, 

 p. 376. 



^ mmun 



