348 Memoirs Bcniicc P. Bishop Museum 



and the method of hafting is problematical. The objects carved with rats' 

 teeth indicate that the work was done by continued rubbing- rather than by 

 strokes of the chisel, as the bottoms of the carved lines show a high polish. 



The most important wooden tool appears to ha\e been the mallet. This 

 was employed with the chisel in shaping and car\ing wooden objects, and was 

 also used with caulking tools. Mallets were made of toa wood, and were short 

 and heavy. The specimen shown ( PI. Lvr, B) is 11 inches long, with a maximum 

 width at the head of 4 inches, and a maximum thickness of i^^4 inches. The 

 handle of the mallet was round or rectangular and was frequently ]Merced near 

 the outer end for the attachment of a wrist loop. The head was pear shaped in 

 outline, expanding and thickening gradually toward the outer end. The sides and 

 end of the head were flat, with a surface at right angles to that of the broad sur- 

 faces. In use the blow was struck with the broad face, not with the edge. 



No specimens of the ancient caulking tools were seen, but those used on 

 the bow and stern seams of canoes are said to have been wedge shaped. Those 

 used for the lashing holes along the sides were simply pointed sticks with a flat 

 upper end. The favorite material for these implements was toa wood. 



A long needle of hard wood (I'l. lvi, C) was used to sew- on house thatch 

 and to pass the cord used in canoe lashings through the lashing holes. The 

 specimen collected is slightly over a foot in length. On one side of the point 

 there is a short barb. The butt has a small knob, to which the cord was attached. 



The inimp drill was the most elaborate of the Marquesan tools. Appar- 

 ently no examples have been preserved, but their form and method of use are still 

 remembered by the older natives. The Marquesan drills appear to have been 

 identical with those used elsewhere in Polynesia, although there are indications 

 that some of them were equipped with stime whorls, a rare feature. According 

 to informants, drill points were made in ancient times from a sliver of stone, a 

 shark's tooth, or a rat's tooth. All these materials were replaced at a very early 

 date by iron nails obtained from Europeans. 



[88] 



