160 Art. YII— A. Matsumnra : 



however, that coils are not used. Some carvings on the gables 

 and other parts of the club-houses in Palau have designs which 

 are derived from animal life, but which it is difficult to recognize 

 as such by observing a mere portion of them, for they are skil- 

 fully transformed into geometrical figures. 



To illustrate the transformation of patterns. Fig. 11, A re- 

 presents several, presumably aquatic birds which are carved sepa- 

 rately, one after another; while iu Fig. 71, B, tlic figures of birds 

 have lost the'r natural shape with the excepti(jn of the heads, the 

 beak of one bird becoming continuous with the body of another. 

 In Fig. 71, C, this tendency becomes more marked, and in Fig. 

 71, D, tiierc is so much transformation in the pattern that one 

 can scarcely identify the figures. These figures are photographic 

 reproductions of the rubbings made from carvings on several 

 beams of the chiefs' club-house at Koror, Palau. 



While spatulas used by the natives of New Guinea for hand- 

 ling lime and also tlieir vessels for holding the same material are 

 often carved in an elaborate design, the vessels for the latter pur- 

 pose used in the West Carolines are simply pieces of bamboo 

 tubes, either not carved at all or carved at best in simple geome- 

 trical patterns. These cannot bear comparison with similar vessels 

 in New Guinea. 



