Shell-Trumpets and thetr Distribution. 45 
and hollow it was a bad sign; but if clear and euphonic 
all were cheered, and went off joyfully under the good 
omen. In the island of Savaii a village god named Titi 
usi (Glittering leaf girdle) was worshipped at the new 
moon, and after prayer and feasting a man went about 
blowing a shell-trumpet as a sign that the ceremonies 
were over, and that the usual routine of village and family 
life might be resumed." A further use of shell-trumpets 
noted by Turner in Samoa was to herald the approach of 
some important personage. A chief of importance must 
have one, or perhaps two, large shells in his canoe, to 
answer the purpose of trumpets, to blow now and then as 
65 
the canoe passed along. 
In Manahiki, or Humphrey’s Island, Turner states 
that when the constellation Pleiades was seen there was 
unusual joy expressed by singing, dancing, and blowing 
shell-trumpets.” 
In the Society Is. large shells of Zreton tritonts, L, 
are used as trumpets, and these are blown when proces- 
sions walk to the temple, or warriors march to battle, at 
the inauguration of the king, during the worship at the 
temple, or when a tabu, or restriction is imposed in the 
name of the gods. Ellis” tells us that large shells were 
selected for this purpose, and these were sometimes above 
a foot in length, and seven or eight inches in diameter at 
the mouth. In order to facilitate the blowing of the 
trumpet, a perforation, about an inch in diameter, was 
made near the apex of the shell. Into this a bamboo 
cane, some three feet in length, was inserted, and secured 
to the shell with fine braid. The outside of the aperture 
was rendered air-tight by a resinous gum from the bread- 
Ss, Lurmer OP. C22... (Pp. 275,545 00. 
%® /bid. pp. 1605-6. 
CON 67d. (p.1270- 
67 
** Polynesian Researches,” i., 1836, pp. 196-7. 
