Shell-Tnunpets and their 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." 4 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, tc 

 answer the purpose of trumpets, to blow now and then as 

 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 Triton tritonis, 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 117 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- 



04 Turner, op. cit., pp. 27, 54, 60. 



06 Ibid. pp. 165-6. 



"" Ibid. p. 279. 



i "Polynesian Researches," i., 1836, pp. 196-7. 



