18 PROCEEDIISrGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.79 



decoration goes a necklace of shells or of whale's teeth ground fine 

 and sharp. 



House fiomisMngs. — The furnishings of a house are simple. A few 

 bundles of mats, a roll of tapa cloth, and a few household imple- 

 ments and utensils constituted the furniture before the arrival of 

 the Europeans. Now chairs, tables, camphor-wood boxes, and even 

 beds are appearing in their houses. The furnishings are of two 

 sorts : Those cut entirely from wood and those woven or plaited from 

 leaves or bast. 



The wooden articles include bowls, cups, tapa beaters, paddles, 

 bamboo head rests, occasionally low wooden seats, and combs. The 

 most prized bowl is the tahoa, used for making kava. There are few 

 of these in any village and they usually belong to the chief's family, 

 or even to the village. The better specimens take years to make and 

 are beautifully shaped, round, smoothly polished, sometimes with a 

 patina of fine color if in long service, and provided with a variable 

 number of legs up to 16 or more. The bowl is made from a single 

 piece of hard-grained heartwood of a large ifilele tree. 



Much less care is used in the manufacture of the umete or mixing 

 bowl found in the cook house. It is a shallow oval bowl with a 

 handle at each end. 



Tapa beaters or mallets are made of any hardwood, ifilele and toa 

 being especially good for the purpose. They are square in cross sec- 

 tion and have a rounded handle. Two surfaces are finely grooved, 

 while two are smooth. 



Bamboo head rests consisting of a short length of bamboo with two 

 short spreading legs at each end are being replaced with the more 

 comfortable pillow stuffed with kapok fiber. 



Combs of a peculiar pattern were made of hardwood such as the 

 ifilele and toa. Cups are made of coconut shell scraped thin and 

 sometimes carved. Bottles of glass are now used, but coconut shells 

 with a small opening were used, as well as gourds and short lengths 

 of bamboo. 



Cotton mosquito nets have almost completely replaced the tapa 

 canopies formerly draped over the hieds. 



Floor mats are used to cover up the floor of small pebbles. These 

 are coarse mats plaited from the strips of pandanus leaves and 

 paono. The strips vary from 0.12 to 1.25 inches, seldom coarser, the 

 finer usually about one-quarter to one-half an inch in width. The 

 mats are spread on the floor to sit upon, and in piles, the coarser 

 below and the finer above, for a bed. They may be washed and 

 usually are kept clean. 



Among the utensils most used are the coarser pack baskets made 

 from the half of a coconut leaf split lengthwise. Food baskets are 



