48 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.79 



Plate 11 



a, End view of a dressing box of wood collected from the Maori of New Zealand 

 by Lieutenant Wilkes, United States Navy, in 1S3S-1842. U.S.N.M. No. 3787. 

 &. Cast of feeding funnel. Maori of New Zealand. 



Plate 12 



Section of house post belonging to the Maori of New Zealand, collected by 

 A. W. Converse, U.S.N.M. No. 334017. Dimensions: 25 inches long, 9 inches 

 wide. 



This wooden slab is typical of Maori decorative design painted with red 

 ochre In shark's oil. It consists of grotesque totemic figurine carvings 

 with protruding tongue, flaring nostrils, and high brow ridges. Nacre of 

 pawa shell oblique inlay represents the eyes of the figurine. 



The form of relief engraving generally is that of an incomplete spiral 

 resembling the decorative designs engraved on the lids of work boxes, and 

 tattooed on face and body. In a general way totemic figurines carved on 

 Maori house posts resemble the totemic devices to be seen on carved house 

 posts of the Haida and allied tribes of southeastern Alaska and British 

 Columbia. As in southeastern Alaska, a totemic figure is represented, but 

 in anthropomorphic form, while the carved designs of southeastern Alaska 

 are zoomorphic with only occasional anthropomorphic features. 



Structurally there is a wide divergence in the areas compared; this 

 Maori figurine being highly conventionalized, and the figurines of the 

 Pacific northwest coast being realistic in the extreme. In both areas the 

 design is commemorative of some ancestor. 



Plate 13 



Objects illustrating the wood carver's art of the Marquesans and the Rara- 

 tongans. 



Left: Carved wooden stilt, U.S.N.M. No. 3792, collected by the exploring 

 expedition under Lieutenant Wilkes, United States Navy, in 1838. 



Right : A carved wooden dagger, U.S.N.M. No. 5345, collected by Captain 

 Aulick, United States Navy. 



Plate 14 



A ceremonial adze of black palm wood from Hervey Island, probably the 

 most exquisite example of wood carving known among primitive peoples. 

 U.S.N.M. No. 3719. Collected by Lieutenant Wilkes, United States Navy, 

 in 1838. 



Plate 15 



Ceremonial adzes from Hervey Island and the Marquesas illustrating the 

 decorative wood carving technic of the Polynesians, U.S.N.M. Nos. 3719, 

 3722. Collected by Lieutenant Wilkes in 1838. 



Plate 16 



a, A Moro chow pot of cast brass from Mindanao, P. I., collected by Mrs. H. C. 

 Corbin. U.S.N.M. No. 258287. 



The diameter is 10.1 inches and the depth 5 inches. A detachable tray 

 serves also as a lid. It is a generally accepted form of Malay metal food 

 container, which in rare instances is duplicated in silver. It has numerous 

 protuberances on the globose walls, forming what is called by the Malay 



