Lin foil — The Marquesas Islands 345 



None of these fish figures were obtained by the expedition and they are 

 rare in collections. Those seen were for the most part of cylindrical or flat oval 

 form, poorly finished and having incised upon one end a rude representation of a 

 fish's head. In one specimen the only feature indicated was the curve of the 

 gill cover. A single very fine specimen in the collection of M. George La Garde 

 of Tahiti has a flat base and high back which slopes upward alinost to a point. It 

 is highly polished all over, and bears upon one end a carved head of human or 

 semi-human type. 



The small human figures were of two types, single and double. They 

 were used in healing the sick, and also as real votive offerings. They were made 

 by special full una, and were carried to the ine'ae of the god invoked and there left 

 by persons desiring success in any enterprise. (Handy, personal correspondence.) 



The single figures show more or less variation, but all appear to fall be- 

 tween the extremes represented by two specimens in the Bishop Museum's col- 

 lections. Plate LV, A shows a short squat figure having a large head with a pro- 

 jecting jaw. 



The features are like those of the heads of tiki headed popoi pounders of normal type 

 except that the ears are represented as simple knobs. The head is set directly on the shoulders, 

 and the bottom of the jaw is some distance below the level of the top of the shoulders. The 

 arms are thin and unmodeled with short upper and long lower parts, and are shown flexed, 

 with the hands resting upon either side of the body in front. The space between the upper 

 arm and the body is pierced, while the lower arm is carved in high relief and the hand in low 

 relief. The fingers are barely indicated. The back of the figure is concave with a well marked 

 ridge across the shoulders. The breast slopes outward and downward from the head to the 

 level of the hands, and the stomach, between lhe hands, is shown as a rounded protuberance. 

 The legs are short and are shown in a flexed position, the upper edge of the thighs being 

 parallel to the forearms. The thighs are thin and the buttocks project in the rear as a flange. 

 The lower leg is very heavy, and is separated from the thigh by a horizontal groove which runs 

 across the back and around to the middle of the outer side of either leg. The space between 

 the legs is pierced nearly to the level of the knee. The lower leg tapers slightly toward the 

 foot, which is represented by a thin flange, longest in front. In the middle of the side just 

 above this flange, there is a small knob, probably representing the ankle bone. The sex of 

 this figure is not indicated. A raised band, running from the back of the head to the middle 

 of the shoulders, is pierced with a transverse hole which probably served for the attachment of 

 a cord. The dimensions are : height, 7 inches ; maximum width, 4 inches ; shoulder width, 3 

 inches ; length of head, 2j^ inches ; width of head, 2^ inches. The whole surface appears 

 originally to have been polished, even the bottoms of the deepest cuts being rubbed smooth. 



It is evident that the maker of this figure possessed remarkable technical 

 skill, and its grotesque proportions can only be explained by the assumption that 

 he was not attempting to represent an actual human being, but to reproduce an 

 established convention. The majority of the small stone figures agree more 

 closely with this specimen, especially in facial type, than with the one about to be 

 described. 



[85] 



