20 PKOCEEDI]SrGS OP THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 79 



almost treeless, and the wonder is how savages could remove objects 

 so fragile as these, weighing from 3 to 30 tons each, over ground so 

 rugged. There are now 400 people living on the island and they are 

 of pure Polynesian stock. They know nothing whatever of the erec- 

 tion of these images and it is quite evident that they are the descend- 

 ants of a later immigration. The images exhibited in the National 

 Museum, together with many other objects of ethnological interest, 

 were procured during a 12-day visit to the island in 1886 by the 

 U. S. S. Mohican, under Commander B. F, Day, U. S. Navy. (These 

 images are described and illustrated by Paymaster W. J. Thompson, 

 U. S. Navy, in the report of the U. S. National Museum for 1888-89.) 



Artistic ability of the Fijians. — The skill and artistic ability of the 

 Fijians is shown by type objects exhibited in the National Museum. 

 The exhibit consists of a decorated bark cloth, baskets with pleasing 

 patterns, women's girdles showing remarkable textile work, fans, 

 rolls of coconut fiber cord (sennit) ; carved wood images, clubs, 

 bowls, food hangers, etc.; masks; and ceremonial fly brushes. The 

 specimens are from the exploring expedition of 1838-1843 under the 

 leadership of Lieutenant Wilkes, U. S. Navy. 



The Fiji Islanders have quite fully taken advantage of their ma- 

 terial environment and are especially noted for their skill in working 

 wood, from which they make boats, houses, weapons, and a great 

 variety of dishes, headrests, and domestic utensils, which show an 

 appreciation of form and decoration. The exhibit contains carved 

 dishes, pillows, forks, spatulas, coconut-shell cups, and pottery of 

 different shapes, glazed with resin. 



In Fiji, painting over of food bowls, kava bowls, pottery, clubs, 

 and other objects is unknown, but the bark-cloth decoration of 

 spaces filled in with figures of black paint resemble the cloth of the 

 Polynesians. It is well known *hat culturally the Fiji Islanders are 

 closely related to the Tonga and Samoa Islanders. A Melanesian 

 group, the Tami Islanders, are also divergent from ordinary Mela- 

 nesian practice in that they decorate with carving even the outer sur- 

 faces of their wooden bowls and even of their sailing boats. These 

 boats, carrying on commerce with the Siassi Islanders, could readily 

 have absorbed Polynesian decorative ideas so prevalent along the 

 coastal areas of Melanesia. Ordinarily the Melanesians are people 

 of the forested interior or hinterland. 



Fiji, which lies on the margin of Polynesia, possessed a greater 

 number and more forms of carved wooden clubs of war and spears 

 than any of the Polynesian islands. The clubs exhibited in the 

 National Museum from Fiji are more massive than those of the dark 

 peoples to the East. The material is usually Polynesian ironwood, 

 which is hard and durable and very difficult to work with primitive 

 tools of stone and shell. 



