Linton — The Marquesas Islands 367 



box to the marginal, and the round box to the western cuUure. Vessels with legs 

 are common in AA'estern Polynesia and in the Society Islands, but are rare in 

 Hawaii. They are absent in the Marquesas, and the only utensils which approach 

 this form in New Zealand are certain large gourds used for potting birds which, 

 according to Tregear (82, p. 98), were fitted with three or four legs to make them 

 stand upright. It is probable, therefore, that the use of legs cut in one piece with 

 the utensil was a feature of the western culture, their absence a feature of the 

 eastern. 



A comparison of Marquesan and Micronesian containers yields some in- 

 teresting results. The Micronesian containers are uniformly flat bottomed and 

 many are provided with bases. The ]\Iarquesan containers are round bottomed 

 and the aboriginal use of a base is questionable. The bases of modern utensils 

 appear identical with those used in the Pelew group. (Kubary, 76, Plates 23-7.) 

 Bird shaped containers similar to those of the Marquesas were used in Pelew and 

 the Caroline Islands. (See Finsch, y2» V 3^1, and Wilson, 83, p. 102.) These 

 bird forms are not found in any other part of Polynesia or Micronesia. 



Melanesian containers have never been studied or described as a whole, 

 but it seems certain that the long oval box, which is a feature of eastern Poly- 

 nesian culture, does not occur in this region. Legged utensils on the other hand 

 are rather common, being most numerous in the Solomon Islands and in Fiji. 

 Bases similar to those of the Pelew and IMarquesas Islands seem to have been 

 rather common in the Solomon Islands. 



DECORATION OF CONTAINERS 



Marquesan containers were decorated by several methods of which carv- 

 ing was the most important. The handles were decorated with seeds and bone 

 tubes, and feathers or locks of hair seem to have been attached to the bodies of 

 some of the containers. The lids of some bowls were covered with an incrusta- 

 tion of red or black seeds imbedded in breadfruit gum. Single red seeds, applied 

 here and there, were used to heighten the effect of the carving, especially when 

 the container was made of the dark colored niio wood. These seeds were either 

 wedged in deep grooves of the carving or partly imbedded in the wood. This im- 

 bedding of seeds is an approach to inla3nng, but it is significant that in spite 

 of the strong aesthetic sense of the Marquesans and their extensive use of bone 

 and mother of pearl in personal ornaments, they appear never to have inlaid 

 wood with these materials. 



The elaborate carved decoration of many Marquesan containers made 

 them much sought after by collectors, and the demand for objects of this sort 

 has led to a persistence of the art, although in a rather decadent form. In pre- 



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