48 Director s Report for igi6. 



two slings did not terminate in a loop, but a large tassel of the 

 sheath fibre. These islands are, of course, outside the Polyne- 

 sian area. 



Ellis' other notes on the vSouthern Polynesian weapon are in- 

 teresting. "The sling was held in the right hand, and, armed 

 with the stone, was hung over the right .shoulder, and caught by 

 the left hand on the left side of the back. When thrown, the sling, 

 after being stretched across the back, was whirled around over the 

 head, and the stone discharged with great force." ' They were, 

 he said, powerful and expert marksmen, and the stones when (as 

 was general) thrown horizontally four or five feet from the ground, 

 were seen with difficulty, and often did much execution.- He noted 

 further that the Hawaiians slung their stones with great force and 

 precision, and were supposed to have been able to strike a small 

 stick at fifty yards' distance, four times out of five.^ The latter 

 were very expert in avoiding a stone, if they saw it thrown.^ 



The stones seen by Ellis, in the South, were water-worn peb- 

 bles, and some "sharp, angular and rugged." The latter may 

 have been the double conical form, artificially shaped, found 

 through Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia. He failed to see 

 the latter type (outlined in Fig. 7) in these islands, as he men- 

 tioned only those which were stream- and beach-worn. 



In Dr. Brigham's descriptions of various Oceanic sling-stones, 

 he seems to infer that the pointed oval stone was so shaped that it 

 could be made to revolve on its axis by the skill of the slinger and 

 thereby attain directness of aim. I would be more inclined to at- 

 tribute a simpler motive in the manufacture and to suppose that 

 the development of a longer axis was a requirement necessary to 

 prevent the stone from rolling out of the pocket of the sling. 



A POI-POUNDER PLATTER OF STONE. 



The wooden platters or troughs, on which poi was pounded, 

 have been described and figured by Dr. W. T. Brigham.^' The ordi- 

 nary form was a long, wide and thick platter, slightly concave on 

 the upper surface, with straight parallel sides and rounded ends, 

 and was generally large enough to accommodate a worker at each 



'Polynesian Researches, II, 490. ''Tour, p. 141. 



^Polynesian Researches, II, 491. ^B. P. B. M. Memoirs, I, 345. 



3Tour, p. 133. M?. P. B. M. Memoirs, II, 316-318. 



[ 24^'] 



