110 Shells as evidence of the Migrations. 
interesting account of their manufacture and distribution 
in the various islands of the Pacific. The pearl-shell 
hooks he remarks, “represented to the Ellice Islanders: 
of past generations their most valued treasures. Apart 
from their intrinsic worth they acquired, as conveying a 
maximum of wealth in a minimum of space, an artificial 
value approximating to the coins of more advanced 
civilisations.” “They were appreciated to such an extent 
that they were frequently offered to the gods, and on 
Vaitupu, or Tracey Island, where the dead were buried 
inside the houses, they were deposited in the grave with 
the body, accompanied by necklaces and other ornaments. 
In former times messages were transmitted from atoll to 
atoll by means of pearl fish-hooks attached to the wings 
of Frigate-birds."” 
According to ITledley the value of these hooks in the 
Ellice Archipelago was heightened by the rarity and 
inaccessibility of the shell (dwzenla cumingiz) from which 
they are made, the supply being principally from a bed 
in the Lagoon of Nukulailai. This type of hook, he 
informs us, is universal throughout the Pacific, being used 
alike by Melanesians, Polynesians, and Micronesians. 
Examples are recorded from Manihiki and Mortlock 
Islands, the Gilbert and Hawaiian Groups, Danger Island, 
Strong’s Island, Tahiti, Tonga, Samoa, and the Solomons; 
also from the Carolines, the Marshalls, and the Marquesas, 
in New Zealand, owing to the absence of the true pearl- 
shell, the Maories made use of “ pawa” (/fadtotis irts) as 
a substitute for the flashing nacre of the Aveci/a. 
‘Turner’ informs us that at Nukulailai offerings con- 
sisting of pearl-shell were taken to the temple, and at 
'e* Hedley, of. cit., p. 266; see also pp. 47, §3and §9; andG. Turner, 
** Samoa, etc.,” London, 1884, pp. 282 and 284. 
s0° G, Turner, of. c¢/,, pp. 250 and 288. 
