298 



FUNAFUTI ATOLL. 



of ornament, so marked a feature in all the appurtenances of the 

 Ellice Islanders, is again obvious in surveying the bowls. The 

 fanciful carving which other Pacific people delight to lavish upon 

 these receptacles, is here totally wanting. 



Fig. 66. 



Fig. 65. 



Fig. 67. 



A wooden dish of an uncommon pattern is the " babanak," 

 shown by fig. 65, the name of which suggests to me a Micronesian 

 derivation. This article is rudely circular, with outwardly sloping 

 wall, ending in a lip. It weighs one pound thirteen ounces, 

 stands four and a half inches high, is twelve and a half inches 

 in diameter above and seven inches across the base. The rim is 

 half an inch thick, three-quarters wide, and projects half an inch 

 from the walL 



The common food bowl of which fig. 66 is an instance, is here 

 known as "kumiti," a name which seems to be associated with 

 this article from Samoa to the Solomons. The specimen of this 

 before me is an elliptical trough, tapering to lugs at either end, 

 standing on a flat base of half the total length ; it weighs two 

 pounds nine ounces, stands three and a quarter inches high, is 

 nineteen and a half inches long, and nine and a quarter wide. 

 Another form of kumiti, larger and without lugs, is shown on 

 p. 28, employed as a tank. 



A wooden mortar, in which taro or coconut is pounded for 

 cooking, is called " kumiti tuki." Except that it is elliptical 

 rather than circular, the shape is that of the European equivalent. 

 This form is here exemplified by a specimen (fig. 67) apparently 

 of Calophyllum timber, weighing six pounds, eight inches high, 

 excavated to a depth of six inches, at the aperture twelve inches 

 by ten, and at the base eight by seven. 



PESTLES. 



Pestles for mashing taro and coconut form part of 

 the equipment of every kitchen. A pattern called 

 " jini" is exemplified by fig. 68. It is unsymmetrically 

 ovate, truncate at the broad end and surmounted by 

 a knob, which is much chipped in our example, at the 

 opposite end. It is of a hard heavy polished wood, 

 perhaps Thespesia, weighs three pounds six ounces, is 

 ten inches long, and five and a quarter broad at its 

 greatest diameter. 



Fig. 68. 



