Linton — Tlie Marquesas Islands 337 



bowl was made of some rather hard close grained stone and was finely finished 

 inside and out. Still another specimen (B3699C) appears to be a fragmnet of a 

 rather shallow bowl 8 to 10 inches in diameter. It is made of a soft grey stone, 

 possibly an indurated ash. At the lower end of the curve it bears a chevron 

 carved in high relief along whose center there is a single incised line. It seems 

 probable that this formed part of a zigzag band running around the bowl, but 

 the fragment is too narrow to tell certainly. Xo. B3699D is a fragment from the 

 side of a rather large and heavy bowl or tray having a bottom thickness of about 

 one inch. The outer surface was smoothly finished and decorated with closely 

 spaced incised lines forming simple curvilinear designs. (See PL xlix, E.) 



POUNDERS 

 INTRODUCTIOX 



Pounders were, with the possible exception of adzes, the commonest of ^Nlar- 

 quesan stone artifacts, and they still form a regxilar part of the domestic equip- 

 ment of all native households. In ancient times they appear to have been manu- 

 factured to some extent in all the valleys but even in prehistoric days the 

 superiority of the stone found in Ua Pou and Ua Huka had led to a 

 localization of the industry. The finished implements were traded from these 

 islands to the rest of the group. The manufacture of popoi pounders has con- 

 tinued in Ua Huka down to the present time, and shortly before the war large 

 numbers are said to have been made for a German trading company which sold 

 them in their stores throughout the group and even in Tahiti. 



At the present time the making of popoi pounders appears to be essentially 

 a spare time industry, the natives working upon them when they have nothing 

 more pressing to do. 



For the pounders three varieties of stone were formerly used, all of which appear to 

 have been rather soft, even grained magmatic rocks. The best grade was called ovao, a grey 

 rock, fine grained, strong and light. The second best was called puhite'a, and the third best 

 patako. All these varieties are said to have been obtained from the high part of the island lying 

 to the east of the valley of Hokatu. but as bowlders in two other valleys were pointed out 

 as good pounder stone, it is probable that the deposits were rather wide spread. The stone does 

 not appear to have been regularly quarried, but was obtained from rock slides and stream beds. 



The only tool used in making modern popoi pounders is an ordinary steel 

 axe, and even the finishing touches are given with this unwieldy instrument. The 

 process of manufacture is as follows : 



An irregular piece of stone about three times the size of the finished implement is 

 roughed out with heavy blows of the axe until it becomes a cone. (See PI. li. A, 1.) This 

 cone is then worked down by light blows on all sides until the general form of the finished 

 implement is produced. This is then smoothed by light, even blows with the comer of the 

 axe until all the contours are perfect. The neck and body of the implement are then shaved 

 with the edge of the axe until the scratches left by the last process are obHterated. The head 



[77] 



