Linton — Tlic Marquesas Islands 321 



counts of informants it appears probable that the stone was obtained from rock 

 slides and bowlders in the river beds. According to information obtained by 

 Handy in Pua Ma'u, Hiva Oa. a boy's first adz was made from a fragment of a 

 special black stone which was kept for that purpose in the nic'ac. Informants 

 were ignorant of the original source of these stones, and of how they were re- 

 placed when used up. No objects which might answer this description were seen 

 in any of the vie'ae visited. 



The only large adz workshops visited were on the island of Ei Ao. During 

 the late prehistoric period this island was a tributary of one of the tribes of Nuku 

 Hiva, and the adzes made there were brought to Nuku Hiva and from there dis- 

 tributed in trade to all the other islands of the group. The area of these work- 

 shops, and the quantity of chips and rejects, would indicate a highly developed, 

 long continued industry. No regular quarries were known to natives familiar 

 with the island, but a few bowlders of phonolite suitable for adz making were 

 seen. Small workshops are scattered all over the island, but curiously enough 

 the center of the industry appears to have been on the top of a high ridge 

 running along the southern side of the island, at a considerable distance from any 

 source of material. Two striking features of the workshops of Ei Ao are the 

 preponderance among the rejects of small thin forms, and the lack of ground 

 specimens and grinding stones. This would seem to indicate that the trade called 

 for chisels and carving tools rather than for large adzes and that the blades 

 were exported unground. 



The only tools employed in adz manufacture were hammerstones and 

 grinding stones. The grinding stones consisted of smooth surfaced natural rocks 

 of varying grain upon which the adzes were rubbed. Large natural bowlders 

 whose surfaces have been worn into pits and grooves by adz grinding are still 

 visible in the neighborhood of many settlements. The grinding of the gouges 

 must have been done with some sort of small whetstone, but no examples were 

 seen. Chants collected by Handy (personal correspondence) mention the use of 

 sand in either the grinding or finishing of adzes, and it seems probable that the 

 sand was placed in the grooves and hollows already worn in the large grinding 

 rocks to hasten the abrasion. 



The processes employed in adz manufacture were chipping and grinding, 

 with a limited use of pecking. This last appears to have been used only in con- 

 nection with a single specialized adz type, the toki aa. It is evident from rejects 

 that the adz makers were especially skillful in chipping, bringing the implement 

 to approximately its final form by this method. The chipping upon the bits of 

 adzes is especially fine, the work approaching in excellence that done elsewhere 

 by the pressure flaking process. The cutting edge of the adz was always ground 



[61] 



