POLISHING STONES. 17 



For coarse abrasion of comparatively? softer substances the cellular lava of the 

 Hawaiian volcanoes affords a capital means. The hard, glassy, silicious crust on the 

 flows is full of cells and generall}- occurs in ver}- convenient tablets as may be seen in 

 Plate XXXIV., No. 3053. When these are partly worn so as to open the first layer of 

 subcuticular cells a most efficient rasp is at hand. This hard cellular lava also occurs 

 in thicker layers and from these, besides a common rasp, a tool of ver}- ancient applica- 

 tion was made as shown in Fig. 11. The Hawaiians were a race addi(5led to bodily 

 cleanliness, and as they had neither soap nor a very suitable sand, tliis evenlv rough 



OP MUSEUM. 



FIC. II. HAWAIIAN BATH KIBBERS. 



stone was their best detergent much used in the olden davs. The two specimens 

 figured (424S and 4249) were used bv the Kamehameha familv and tlie spherical cells 

 are still blocked by the abraded royal cuticle. In the same connecT;ion pumice was used 

 as a fric^ional depilatory, as well as to reduce callosities of the skin. Large blocks of 

 pumice were used to remove the bristles from pigs before baking. Another convenient 

 use of the flat plates of cellular lava was for files when broken into strips and rounded. 

 The beautifully finished Hawaiian bone and shell fish hooks were wrought with these 

 apparently clumsy implements which were also required to keep them sharp. The 

 apuapii auai iiiakaii or fish hook sharpeners (Fig. 12) were found all over the group, 

 but from their small size and brittle nature not many are preserved in collections. 



As a rule the cellular lava served to do the rough work on the wooden bowls 

 rather than the polishing proper, and the same may be said of the coral blocks which 



Memoirs B. P, B. Museum, Vor.. I., No. 4. — 2. 



[349] 



