Linton — The Marquesas Islands 285 



ment of another slab, but as it projected beyond the end wall of the paepae, which 

 was still in good condition, the carving was probably ornamental. 



The use of stone figures for dwelling paepae was observed only in the 

 valley of Pua ]\Ia"u, Hiva Oa, although certain structures in Tai-pi \''ai, Nuku 

 Hiva, which were decorated in this way may have been the house paepae of re- 

 ligious personages. The Pua Ma'u paepae were certainly the dwellings of chiefs, 

 and had been occupied as residences within the memory of persons living in 

 1920. In all of them the decoration consisted of three stone figures which were 

 inset between the large ke'cfii facing the raised rear section of the paepae. One 

 of the figures was placed approximately in the middle, and the other two on 

 either side about midway between the central figure and the ends of the plat- 

 form. The heads of the statues projected wholly or in part above the level of 

 the house floor, and in one instance the head had been carved in full round. All 

 the other figures were carved in half to three-quarters round. A tenon approxim- 

 ately two-thirds of the width of the body was left on the back of the figures. 

 The slabs adjoining the figures fitted closeh'- against the tenons on either side so 

 that when seen from the front, the statues appeared to stand in front of and 

 against the wall rather than to be incorporated in it. (See PI. XLi, D-B.) The 

 faces, with the exception of one unfinished figure, were of the usual highly con- 

 ventionalized Marcjuesan type, while the carving of all the figures was remark- 

 ably fine. The statues in one paepae are known to have been made in a neigh- 

 boring valley and brought as gifts to the chief of Pua Ma'u at the time he built 

 the house less than a century ago, but these figures represent the highest develop- 

 ment of the Marquesan sculptor's art. They are truly admirable in both design 

 and execution and prove that this phase of the native culture was anything but 

 decadent at the time of the European conquest. 



DECORATION OF THE HOUSE 



The most important features of the house decorations were the carving of 

 certain parts of the frame and the use of ornamental sennit lashings. In the 

 carved decoration two distinct techniques were employed — the timbers were either 

 sculptured into human figures, or ornamented with non-naturalistic designs. 



Human Figures 



The end and front posts of most ceremonial buildings and of at least some 

 chiefs" dwellings were carved into human figures (PI. XLi, B). A ntunber of ex- 

 amples were seen, but only one site was visited in which the original position of the 

 figures could be determined. In this structure, which was certainly ceremonial, the 

 figures supporting the ridgepole had been placed with their faces toward the 

 interior of the house. The corner posts of the front wall also faced mward; 



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