OF THE SOUTH SEAS 477 



the Marquesas, as big as hens' eggs, and rounded by the 

 action of the streams in which they were found. Braided 

 cocoanut-fiber formed the shng, or flax was used, and 

 looped about the wrist the shng was flung down the 

 back, whirled about the head, and the missile shot with 

 deadly force and accuracy. 



Archery was associated with religion in Tahiti, as in 

 Japan, between which countries there are many strange 

 similarities of custom. The costumes of the bowmen 

 and their weapons were housed in the temple, and kept 

 by devotees, and were removed and returned with cere- 

 monies. The bows, less than six feet, the arrows, half 

 that long, were never used in war or for striking a mark, 

 but merely for distance shooting, and the experts were 

 credited with reaching a thousand feet. 



Tatini had pointed out to me, when we walked the 

 peninsula of Taravao, a projecting rock, marked with 

 deep-wora grooves, from which the Tahitians once flew 

 very large kites. These were tied to the rocks, and the 

 ropes of cocoanut sennit in the course of hundreds of 

 years had worn the stones away. Often when the wind 

 was favorable, they intrusted themselves to their kites, 

 and slipping the ropes, flew to the opposite side of the 

 bay, forerunners in the air of a certain Lyonnais of 

 1783, and contemporaneous with the Siamese who cen- 

 turies ago indulged their levitative dreams by leaping 

 with parachutes. 



Alfred had registered all these obsolete things in his 

 memory, while most Tahitians had no detailed knowl- 

 edge of them, being crammed with the lore of theology, 

 of saints, of automobiles, and moving pictures, and prize- 

 fights for money. Matatini Afaraauia, son of Faaruia, 



