Ethnography of ilicroucHi.a. 127 



differing from natural shells in no respect except in th:' part form- 

 ing the edge are used (Fig. 47, b) ; while for cutting the raw taro, 

 pieces of shell are employed as instruments (Fig. 47, a). 



The various kinds and forms of cuhnary utensils will be 

 described below. 



a. Earthen Pots. One of the remarkable differences between 

 the West Carolines (Yap and Palau) and the East Caroline group 

 in point of culinary utensils, nay, of customs, is that the former 

 have earthenware. In the West Carolines, they make earthen pots 

 for their own use ; in Palau, even earthen lamps are found. It is 

 not certain when the art of manufacturing earthenware was intro- 

 duced into the islands, but we learn from Captain Wilson, wliom 

 we have quoted so frequently, that the natives used such ware as 

 early as 130 years ago. The earthen pots used in Yap and Palau 

 closely resemble each other in shape, forming a half globe, bemg 

 ochraceous in colour and 

 having no ornaments. One 

 obtained by us in Yap is 33 

 cm. in diameter and 13 cm. 

 in depth, with a wall from 8 

 to 12 mm. thick (Fig. 48). 

 It is said that the pot-makers ^'9- ^^-^-then pot from v.p. 



in Yap are slave women. Another which we secured in Palau is 

 41cm. in diameter and 16 cm. in depth, the wall being 8 to 10 

 mm. thick (Fig. 49). The latter pottery is dark both inside and 

 outside, showing that it had been long in service. These earthen 

 pots are used in boiling' water and food, and are handled very 

 carefully by the natives. It may here be noted that the pots just 

 described resemble in form the pots used on Murua Island, lynig 



