Linton — The Marquesas Islands 



357 



GOUJIDS 



The Marquesans appear to have made a rather limited use of goitrd con- 

 tainers. No gourd plants were seen growing, but from a comparison of the 

 utensils collected with those in the Bishop Museum the species was probably 

 Lagenaria znilgaris. According to informants, both necked bottles and neckless 

 containers were formerly used, but all the specimens seen were neckless and were 

 called by the natives hue. To make a Jiuc the ripe gourd was plucked from the 

 vine while still soft and the stem and adjacent shell cut away to form a round 

 aperture three inches or more in diameter. The seeds and pulp were emptied out 

 and the shell carefully dried in the shade. The interior was then scoured smooth 

 with beach sand. Utensils of this sort appear never to have been decorated and 

 ornamental shapes made by deforming the growing fruit had never been heard of 

 by the informants questioned. All the hue seen were comparatively small, the 

 largest being slightly under one foot in diameter, but the size of some of the 

 wooden hue tops seen in burial caves would indicate that much larger utensils of 

 this sort were formerly used. (See PL Lviii, E). 



When in use the Jiue was supported and protected by a network of cords 

 similar in principle to the Hawaiian koko (net), but rather inferior in design 

 and execution. The manufacture of these nets has been discontinued and only 

 two specimens were seen in the group, both in Pua Ma'u, Hiva Oa. Both were 

 made of coconut fiber cord. Ordinary sennit of the sort used for house lashings 

 ^vas used for one specimen, and for the other, a flat five strand plait. The form 

 of the nets may be seen from the accompanying sketches. For hue No. i, on Plate 

 ivViii, E, the process of manufacture appears to have been as follows : 



B 



FiGURi: 7. — Sketches of network of cords used to support gourd containers. 



[97] 



