34^ Memoirs Bcniicc P. Bislio/^ Museum 



also have been used as pestles to grind medicines or pigment. According to in- 

 formants little ])ounders of this sort were made for an adopted child in order that 

 he might ])ound food for his ])ig. All those seen were miniature reproductions of 

 pof^oi pounders, although never of phallic type. One specimen, of o[^u tvpe, is 

 onlv 3^ inches high and 3 inches wide at the base. (See PI. Liv, B.) 



CONICAL POUXDERS 



The natives recognized Conical Pounders as a distinct class, but thev a])- 

 ])ear to have no name for them and can assign no special use ; so the recognition 

 is probably nothing more than a realization that these implements differ from all 

 other pounders and cannot be placed in any of the regular categories. Thev are 

 rare; only five examples were located. 



The conical poniulers are characterized l>y heavy conical boches which entirely lack the 

 slender neck and graceful bottom flare of ordinary popoi pounders, and by the peculiar finish 

 of the upper end, which bears a short transverse grip, hi four of the five specimens this part 

 is carved, hi the uncarved specimen, the grip is formed by two short cylindrical knobs which 

 jut out from op]josite sides of the top of the implement. Between their inner ends there is a 

 rounded transverse ridge. (See PI. lu, F.) Two of the carved pounders are large and two 

 small. The size, shape and decoration of each pair are so closely similar as to indicate that they 

 are either the work of the same artist or examples of an established type. 



In the small pounders (PI. Lii, D) the grip is car\ed into a single human 

 head, disproportionately large, with the face up. 



The treatment of the head is decidedly naturalistic, the face being long and narrow with 

 a projecting jaw. The mouth is almost circular, with thick rounded lips and a protruding 

 tongue. The nose is high, with a sharp bridge : the cheeks sunken : and the eyes are in the 

 form of long ovals, with a slight groove indicating the lower lid. The ears are indicated by 

 shapeless knobs which are set above the level of the outer corner of the eye and do not appear 

 to be connected to it. There is a suggestion of a smoothly rounded supra-orbital ridge. The 

 head above the face is round and disproportionately short, its back projecting only slightly 

 bevond the neck of the implement, hi both specimens the execution is rather poor, the eyes 

 being at slightly different levels. 



In the large pounders (PI. Lii, B) the horizontal grip is divided into two 

 ecjual parts by a transverse groove. 



Each of these lobes is carved into a head, chin out. These heads, although worked 

 out in less detail, are evidently much more closely related to these on the small pounders 

 just described than to the ordinary Marquesan convention. They show the same projecting 

 jaw, high nose, sunken cheeks, long oval eye, and knob ear. The nioutli is not indicated. The 

 carving is remarkably angular, suggesting the use of metal tools, but from certain details of 

 the specimen examined it seems certain that they are pre-European. 



These conical pounders offer an interesting jiroblem, for thev differ con- 

 siderably from all other Mar(|uesan types in both shajjc and decoration. The un- 

 carved si)ecimen was said by its donor to have been found in a sand dune in a 

 small vallev oi: the north side of Xuku Fliva. It is heavilv palinated, suggesting a 



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