Ethnography of Micronesia. 81 



of the latter kind are qnite sharp and resemble gouges, the cross- 

 section of them presenting the appearance of a semi- circle. Snch 

 axes of stone or shell are also found in Palau, and they seem to 

 have been used as chisels in building canoes (Fig. 30, h and k). 



Tlioy vary in size. But of some dozen axes collected by us 

 and of those collected and presented by Dr. Hasebe, the most 

 common size is 10 cm. in length. The one obtained by Dr. 

 Hasebe at Malom in Kusaie (Fig. 30, Ä;) was the largest, with a 

 length of 28-5 cm. and an edge-breadth of 9*2 cm. Stone axes of 

 this size are seldom found in Japan. Shell-axes well polished are 

 so white and bright that one can hardly distinguish them from 

 stone axes. It seems evident that they were fitted with wooden 

 handles consisting of forked branches of trees, as can be seen 

 fi'om the iron axes the natives now employ. It is also clear ù'om 

 other evidence that in fixing wooden handles to the axes the sharp 

 side of the edge was usually put outward, though it must have 

 been the reverse with the case of those shell-gouges which were 

 used in the building of canoes. 



Shell- axes were used together with others made of stope in 

 New Guinea and other islands. According to S. J. Gardiner,^ 

 stone, or shell implements some 3 inches long and made of clam 

 are used by the natives of Eotuma north of the Fiji Islands in 

 preparing the pandanus leaves for mats, just as shell-knives 

 are used by the islanders of Palau in making coverings for the 

 waist. The name of shell- axes or stone axes would suggest that 

 they are used in cutting trees or strong ropes, but some of them 

 are used only in such light work as has just been mentioned. 

 The small-sized shell-axe shown in Fig. 30, c, may have serveda 



1 S. J. Gardiner, " The Natives of Eotiuna," .Tour. Anthr. Inst., XXVU, 1898, pp. 4l9, 460 ; 

 PI. XXVHL 



