ADZE HANDLES. 



87 



BERNECE PAUAHl BISHOP MUSEUM. 



(No. 3101, PI. LX.) This form shows little variation except in length or curve of 

 handle. The hau tree is well fitted for this pvirpose, the wood being light and tough, 

 and the branches naturally curved. The very name of the tree signifies "handle tree" 

 (^lie au^=^hau). 



Besides this simple form there was a more complicated one especially designed 

 for the poc kalae luaa or canoe makers, in which the stone blade was not fastened dire(?t:ly 

 to the handle but to a tongue, which in turn was attached to the handle in such a wa}' 

 as to be movable on its axis and so serve for a 

 right- or left-handed cutter (No. 31 16, Pl.LX.). 

 Among the Hawaiians this was traditionally 

 the invention of a skilled canoe-maker, after- 

 wards deified, Kupaaikee, who not only be- 

 queathed his name but also his clelo (tongue) 

 to this form of handle. Traditions are very 

 pretty and interesting matters, but one must 

 not trust much to their guidance, and in the 

 present case we know that the people of the 

 northern coast of New Guinea have had the 

 same ingenious form from time immemorial, 

 and some of the other islanders had an even 

 simpler form for effeAing the same purpose, 

 as shown in Fig. 83, No. 1800 from New 

 Guinea, and in c. of Fig. 84 from the Bis- 

 marck archipelago. In the New Guinea form, 

 in ni}- opinion the progenitor of the Hawaiian, 

 sleeves of braided rattan are used to hold the 

 rotating blade, while on Hawaii coconut cord 

 serves the same purpose, the former palm not 

 extending eastward in the Pacific. In the Caroline islands the portion to which the 

 stone (shell) was fitted had a projeAiou against which the head of the adze rested 

 (Fig. 83, No. 8063), giving additional firmness. In the Marshall islands the form of 

 the Kupaaikee adze appears rather clumsy, but the original purpose has disappeared, 

 the blade being immovable. 



Laying the museums of Europe under contribution, we have in Fig. 86 some 

 other Pacific handles. The two from New Caledonia show in a rather clumsy form 

 the ingenious method of giving weight to the adze by a heavy block of wood, hemi- 

 spherical in form, adding much to the efificiency of the tool. These handles are often 

 in one piece, but sometimes hand-piece and socket for the blade are inserted into the 

 block. In the specimen from the Dresden museum the blade socket can revolve in the 



[419] 



FIG 



MORIORI ADZKS. 



