48 Director's Report for 1916. 
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 Southern 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.s 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 description 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. 5B. P. B. M. Memoirs, I, 345. 
*TOlut, Pp. 133: °B. P. B. M. Memoirs, II, 316-318. 
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