Linton — TJic Marquesas Islands 333 



expect to find many specimens, whereas perforated stone disks are so rare that 

 most natives had never seen one and could offer no suggestion as to their use. 

 The actual specimens are, moreover, poorly adapted for this purpose as No. 2 is 

 quite asymmetrical while the perforation of No. i is much too narrow to admit a 

 drill shaft. Perforated disks of this sort are also found in Hawaii as a rare form. 



SINKERS 



Stone sinkers were used with at least one of the Marquesan types of fish- 

 net, but specimens deliberately shaped for this purpose are extremely rare. Only 

 one object which could be identified as a net sinker was seen. This was a rather 

 crudely finished specimen of coarse lava having an almost globular body term- 

 inating in a short knob with a somewhat expanded outer end, in which a shallow 

 transverse groove was pecked. It was about 2^ inches long and i^ inches in dia- 

 meter. The neck and the single groove across the center of the top are said to 

 have served for the attachment of cords. According to the owner of this speci- 

 men, an unusually intelligent native, sinkers of this type were attached to the 

 lower edge of the long seins used in turtle fishing. 



A second specimen, clearly related to this form but of such fine finish 

 that its purpose was probably ceremonial rather than utilitarian, was seen in a 

 collection in Taiohae, Nuku Hiva. The body was between 3 and 4 inches in 

 diameter and almost perfectly spherical. The neck was very short and oval in 

 cross section and each of the two parts into which the end was divided had 

 been carved into a flat tiki face directed upward. The specimen appeared to be 

 made of phonolite or some other equally hard and fine grained stone and had 

 been carefully polished on all surfaces. Its heavy patination indicated a consider- 

 able age. This sinker, if it is a sinker, bears a remarkable resemblance to certain 

 specimens found near the East Cape of New Zealand, which are identical in out- 

 line and in having two heads carved upon the projections at the top. A crudely 

 made object of the same type, now in the Museum of the University of Pennsyl- 

 vania, is shown in Plate XLix, A-B. The New Zealand sinkers dift'er from the 

 Marquesan examples in having the body of the sinker covered with elaborate 

 carving. 



A stone object in the collection of Mme. Maleius, in Ta'aoa Hiva Oa, can 

 probablv be classed as a sinker. It is oval in outline, with one flat and one 

 convex side. Down the center of the convex side a groove has been pecked, 

 giving the whole much the form of a coffee bean. The material is a rather 

 coarse lava, and the whole finish is rough. As far as known no other 

 object of this sort has been reported from the Marquesas and the owner, who was 

 thoroughly conversant with native matters, could offer no suggestion as to its use. 



[73] 



