ETHNOLOGY HEDLEY. 269 



is compound, being lengthened and strengthened by 

 a strip of pearl shell, neatly fitted and lashed to the 

 butt-piece. This is the only instance of such that 

 has come to my notice, and doubtless was the result 

 of economy in the use of a rare and valued sub- 

 stance. This hook is the largest of the series from 

 Funafuti, being three inches and a quarter in 

 length, but it is dwarfed by a specimen from 

 Manihiki, six inches long. In weight it is six 

 drachms nine grains. I did not see the whole 

 process of manufacture, but such as I saw, nearly 

 completed, in Funafuti were fashioned with but one 

 tool, a small hard piece of Montipora coral called 

 " lapa," with which the implement was rasped into the desired 

 shape. The tail end of the shank is either made forked or 

 square. The opposite thicker end of the shank is so designed 

 to bear the perforation necessary for lashing on the fishing-line. 



In the article (fig. 35) taken half-finished 

 from the workshop, the perforation has 

 not yet been made This hole is drilled 

 with a tool just like that figured by 

 Pig. 35. Wilkes* from Fakaafu, in the Union 



Group. No specimens of this existed on 



Funafuti when we were there, though they were described to me 

 as having formerly been used tipped with Terebra maculata or 

 Mitra episcopalis. Critical examination reveals that these per- 

 forations were not drilled from one side through to the other, but 

 half through from one side to meet half through from the other. The 

 face of the shank corresponding to the exterior surface of the valve 

 was ground till the dull dark surface disappeared, the convex sur- 

 face of the finished hook always presenting the most brilliant lustre. 

 It is asserted by fishermen that a particular color of the nacre is 

 preferred by the fish, and a hook is tried, polished, and re-polished 

 till the exact play of light is obtained. 



Among the hooks from Funafuti the makers have chosen as 

 material for barbs, "wonga," bone (probably of Delphinus, possibly 

 of Sus), mother-of-pearl (Avicula), and turtle-shell (Chelone). One 

 from Tahiti with a barb of Pinna shell is figured by Edge- 

 Partington.f and doubtless other substances would be found on 

 examination of a large series. A Gilbert Island example in the 

 Museum Collection has for barb a bent copper nail ; and a hook 

 from Funafuti (fig. 36) is armed with a piece of steel wire bent 

 and pointed. The separate pearl shell barb from a half finished 

 article (fig. 37) of Funafuti will convey an idea of its proportions. 



* Wilkes Nar. U.S. Explor. Exped., v., 1845, p. 18. 

 t Edge-Partington loc. tit., ii., pi. xxi., fig. 2. 



