IV SHELLS AS ORNAMENTS 99 



The native Papuans employ shells for an immense variety of 

 purposes. Circlets for the head are formed of rows of N^assa 

 gihhosula, rubbed down till little but the mouth remains. 

 Necklaces are worn which consist of strings of Oliva, young 

 Avicula, Natica melanostoma, opercula of Turho, and valves of 

 a rich brown species of Cardium, pendent at the end of strings 

 of the seeds known as Job's tears. Struthiolaria is rubbed 

 down until nothing but the mouth is left, and worn in strings 

 round the neck. This is remarkable, since Struthiolaria is not 

 a native Papuan shell, and indeed occurs no nearer than New 

 Zealand. Sections of Melo are also worn as a breast ornament, 

 dependent from a necklace of cornelian stones. Cypraea erosa 

 is used to ornament drinking bowls, and Ovulum ovum is 

 attached to the native drums, at the base of a bunch of casso- 

 wary feathers, as well as being fastened to the handle of a 

 sago-beater. 



In the same island, the great Turho and Co/ms millepunctatus 

 are ground down to form bracelets, which are worn on the 

 biceps. The crimson lip of Stromltis luhuanus is cut into beads 

 and perforated for necklaces. Village elders are distinguished 

 by a single Ovulum verrucosum, worn in the centre of the fore- 

 head. The thick lip of Cassis cornuta is ground down to form 

 nose pieces, 4:\ inches long. Fragments of a shell called Kdima 

 (probably valves of a large Spondylus) are worn suspended from 

 the ears, with little wisps of hair twisted up and thrust through 

 a hole in the centre. Por trumpets. Cassis cornuta, Triton 

 tritonis, and Banclla lampas are used, with a hole drilled as a 

 mouthpiece in one of the upper whorls. Valves of Batissa, 

 Unio, and Mytilus are used as knives for peeling yams. Spoons 

 for scooping the white from the cocoa-nut are made from 

 Avicula margaritifera. Melo diadema is used as a baler in the 

 canoes.^ 



In the Sandwich Islands Melampus luteus is worn as a 

 necklace, as well as in the Navigator Islands. A very striking 

 necklace, in the latter group, is formed of the apices of a 

 Nautilus, rubbed down to show the nacre. The New Zealanders 

 use the green opercula of a Turbo, a small species of Venus, and 

 Cypraea asellus to form the eyes of their idols. Fish-hooks are 

 made throughout the Pacific of the shells of Avicula and 



^ C. Hedley in J. P. Thomson, Brit. New Guinea, p. 283. 



