Old Hcnvaiian Unickes. 



155 



In no one thing has the artistic taste of the old Hawaiian come into closer touch 

 with the best taste of older civilized nations than in the making of wooden bowls. 

 Unlike the Maori, who carefully kept and honored the memor}- of the artists among 

 them whose carving was good, the Hawaiian has not preserved a single name of those 

 who patiently with stone tools fashioned the umeke, plain or grotesquely carved, that 

 have come down to us. The Maori sculptor made astonishing relief work as we have 

 seen in the portions of houses and figures alread}- ilhrstrated in these pages ; his carved 

 bowls or dishes were curious, some of them so close in motive to some of the Hawaiian 



FIG. 136. UMEKE NO. 416: VERY OLD. 



dishes that I shall show later a Maori dish that closely resembles a favorite Hawaiian 

 form ; but when we look through his bowls, dishes and general household utensils we 

 shall find nothing to compare with some of the Hawaiian umeke, and if we extend our 

 examination through the other groups the result will be the same. Grotesque and most 

 interesting work we shall find in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, very original 

 dishes on the little Matty Island, but these Papuans had pottery to make bowls and 

 dishes which would parallel the uses of the Hawaiian umeke. The Admiralty Island- 

 ers made huge bowls, but their decorations were more striking than their shapes. 

 The Marquesans made bowls after the general form of the Hawaiians but with none 

 of the finish. Perhaps if we knew more of these and other groups, and had adequate 

 colleAions of the work in this class that each has in the past fabricated, — for this is 

 all past now, — our judgment might be modified ; but in the absence of sufficient explora- 



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