10"-' MASKS AND LABRETS. 



The lace is colored white with a (sort of lime-wash, which has scaled off 

 in spots. The margin is black, with radiating white lines nearly effaced. 

 There is a laded band of red on the border and under the brows. The 

 eves are indicated byniere grooves, nealy closed. Touches of white in 

 the mouth indicate teeth. A rounded lump of wood is attached at one 

 of the upper corners, which has been much bored by ants or boring 

 ciustacca. The wood seems to have been drift-wood. At the back is 

 i roughly-hewn keel through a hole in which passes a cord of vegetable 

 fiber by which it was tied to a wall or post. There is a small wooden 

 projection behind the right upper margin, which is pierced with a hole. 

 Use and history unknown. 



From the Mortlock Islands of the Caroline group the Museum Godef- 

 froy has several masks or maskettes very similar to the one here fig- 

 ured from the museum in New York. They are used in the dance, and 

 are called by the natives " To-pa' nu." There is only one wooden knob 

 above, as in the figured specimen. 



Plate VIII, fig. 7; Plate IX, fig. 8. This is a wooden maskette or 

 helmet recalling some of the Tlinkit dancing masks, and was probably 

 put to a similar use. It is said to have come from New Ireland, near 

 New Guinea. Itis one of a collection deposited in the American Museum 

 of Natural History, New York City, with the preceding, and figured 

 with the kind permission of Professor Bickmore. The wood is that 

 known as "burau" iu the South Seas ; the hair is of vegetable fiber of 

 the natural (dark) grayish color. The base coloration is dull red, with 

 white tracery iu a sort of thick lime-wash. The pupils of the eyes are 

 formed of the calcareous opercula of Turbo petholatus Linnd, exactly iu 

 the way iu which the opercula of Pachypoma gibber o sum ave used on the 

 northwest coast of America. 



From the lower part of the front edge to the top of head is 104 inches. 

 The total width, exclusive of the hair, is about 8 inches; the spike ou 

 top of the head is 5£ inches; and from the back to the front edge is 

 about 15 inches. The lower part of the face is not represented. His- 

 tory and exact uses unknown. 



Plate X, figs. 11-12. This is a maskoid carving similar to some which 

 have been considered by Schmeltz to be idols, or ornaments for boats 

 intended to be set into a post or socket. It is stated to have come from 

 New Ireland, and belongs to the same series as the two preceding speci- 

 mens. From the base on which the figure stands to the top of the ap- 

 pendages over the head is about 2 feet, the diameter is about 6 iuches. 

 It is of "burau" wood, with a fringe of cocoa fiber, eye pupils of the 

 Turbo operculum, colors dull red, black, and chalky white. The head 

 somewhat resembles the maskette just described; except that fiber used 

 for hair is of the cocoa husk. The two appendages over the head may 

 be supposed analogous to the lump of wood on the first-mentioned speci- 

 men from Mortlock. 



This specimen is figured as the best accessible Melanesian example of 



