262 



FUNAFUTI ATOLL. 



blade, bored respectively at five and seven inches from the stem. 

 The blade is straight longitudinally, but transversely the curving 

 sides rise an inch and a half above the centre. Such are frequently 

 constructed of broken or disused wooden basins. 



KOUTEKI. 



The method of climbing palms in Funafuti has been described 

 The " kouteki " used in that operation is illustrated 



on p. 



Pig. 25. 



by fig. 25 ; the side 

 shaded in my draw- 

 ing being the face 

 applied to the palm 

 trunk. This article 

 is carved from a 



hard dark wood, perhaps Calophyllum, weighs four and a half 

 ounces, is twenty-one inches long, two broad, and one thick. 



COCONUT SCRAPERS. 

 An ordinary kitchen utensil is the " twaikarea," or mounted 



scraper. Of this the old form has entirely passed out of use, 

 having been replaced by an iron instru- 

 ment. I was, however, by the courtesy 

 of the late king's daughter, so fortunate 

 as to receive from her as a return gift for 

 a bottle of European scent, the specimen 

 shown by fig. 26, which was, I was 

 assured, the last survival in the- atoll, 

 if not in the archipelago, of the ancient 

 pattern, where its place is taken by a 

 metal substitute. In use the twaikarea 

 is laid upon the ground and the blade is 

 thrust through one of the loose coco-leaf 

 mats ; sitting down, the operator rests the 

 thigh on the straight shaft of the utensil 

 to keep it firm, arid grasping a split coco- 

 nut rocks it over the blade till the kernel 

 is shredded away. The shreds are then 

 gathered from the mat for cooking or 

 making oil. 



The method of using this instrument on 

 Funafuti is shown in the accompanying 

 sketch (Plate xiv.),for which I am indebted 



to my friend Mr. Norman Hardy. In Matty Island it appears 



that the operator does not sit, but stands on the instrument and 



stoops to his work. 



The wooden holder whose worn and discolored appearance 



indicates a respectable antiquity, consists of a cone departing at 



Fig. 26. 



