Hoiv tJic Ic Kuku Were Carved. 



85 



failure had already ceased wBen I first came to this group, and so great was the supply 

 on hand that it fully sufficed for the needs of the rapidly disappearing industry. We 

 have, however, certain specimens in this Museum partly made, or altered from an 

 earlier pattern. These are shown in Fig. 43, and to this is referred the following 

 description. The side of the ie kuku to be carved was first smoothed by polishing stones 

 until a dead flat surface was obtained, the mole ( abbreviated from omole^nole^ smooth). 

 If the pattern desired was the most useful and common lioopai {pai s. line and hoo the 

 causative prefix), a straight edge made of a split bambu was held securely in place 



FIG. 40. CUTTER WITH HrM.\X BOXE HAXDI,E. 



while a \'-shaped groove was cut b}' a sharp splinter of clinkstone, or more commonly 

 in later times by a shark's tooth set in a suitable handle."' Examples of these are 

 shown in Fig. 41, from models in this Museum careful!}- copied from originals in 

 other colle6lions. The various forms are well suited to hard wood carving, and are 

 much more efficient than their rude form would promise. It would seem that the 

 workman must have used some sort of gauge, so regular are the lines ; in specimen 

 S673, each of the four faces measures 2.5 inches, and has fift}' grooves or twenty to 

 the inch : a good modern mechanic could hardly surpass this without machinery. 



"A curious example of one of these cutters, a shark's tooth set in the end of a human clavicle, has been given 

 on page 177 of the last volume of ilemoirs, and is here reprinted in Fig. 40. 



