Linton — The Marquesas Islands 2)~7 



Oceanic approach to the toki koiuna form of blade and bit seems to be found in 

 certain sliell specimens from Micronesia. 



Tangless adzes have been reported from every part of Polynesia for which 

 there is satisfactory information. In New Zealand a well marked local type had 

 been developed, with a thin blade of rectangular or nearly rectangular cross sec- 

 tion ground on all surfaces. In Tonga also there appears to have been a distinct 

 local type, characterized by a short, broad blade, relatively thin, and completely 

 ground. The bulk of the Tongan specimens, and of the tangless adzes from all 

 other parts of Polynesia, show such uniformity that one is forced to conclude that 

 all were made after an established pattern. This universal type is characterized 

 by quadrangular to subtriangular cross section, sides which converge toward the 

 poll, and grinding upon the bit and outer face only. (See PI. xlvii, A.) 



The dominance of the two main adz types — that is, tanged and tangless — 

 shows the same distinction between Samoa and Tonga on the one hand and mar- 

 ginal Polynesia on the other, which we have already noted in our study of houses 

 and canoes. The tanged adz is dominant everywhere in marginal Polynesia, and 

 lacking in the Samoa and Tonga. The tangless adzes throughout marginal 

 Polynesia may be explained as a result of western Polynesian influence, but their 

 comparative rarity in the Society Islands where western Polynesian influence is 

 strong, and their frequency in the Marquesas, where such influence appears slight, 

 is an argument against this. The wide distribution of tangless adzes, their' rela- 

 tive simplicity and ease of manufacture, and their remarkable uniformity where- 

 ever found, suggest that they represent a primitive type originally known to all the 

 Polynesians. Specimens collected in the Marquesas link the tangless adzes with 

 both the rectangular and triangular tanged forms and both probably have been 

 developed from the tangless adz. 



The Polynesian distribution of the Aiarquesan adz types would seem to in- 

 dicate more or less contact with the Society Islands and Southeastern Polynesia in 

 general, while the remarkable similarity of some of the specimens to normal 

 Hawaiian forms suggests an influence from that group also. The importance 

 of the tangless adz may indicate a western Polynesian influence, but is more 

 easily explained as a primitive survival. 



METHODS OF HAFTING 



Different methods were employed in the hafting of chisels and adzes. No 

 really ancient specimens of either type were seen but the hafted adzes studied 

 agree with the descriptions of informants and are almost identical with the iron 

 bladed adzes still in ordinary vise throughout the group, so they are probably 

 good reproductions of the ancient form. The data in regard to the hafting of 



[67] 



