Linton — TJic Jllarqucsas Islands 371 



G. Pokaa is the name given a small circle, oval or rectangle broken at some point in 

 its circumference. In the container designs pokaa figures grade imperceptibly into small circles 

 bisected by a groove or bar. and from these into various forms of double spiral and scroll. 

 The term is used here to include all figures of this class not certainly spirals or scrolls although 

 its native application is probably more limited. The extent of the variation can be seen from 

 the accompanying plate taken from those used upon commercial clubs. The pokaa was used 

 to a minor degree upon bowls, and is fairly common in modern carving, but appears to have 

 been primarily a tattooing design. It was also used on ancient war clubs. Arrangements 

 of two pokaa placed back to back and joined by a bar do not appear to have been used in 

 tattooing, but are found in the carving. fSee drawings 15 to 20.) 



H. The natives designate a series of concentric circles, ovals or rectangles 

 broken by a bar or groove extending from the center to beyond the rim as cipuoto. These 

 figures grade into pokaa and the two motifs are closely related. They are of only minor im- 

 portance upon bowls, but appear in tattooing, upon house posts, and as petroglyphs. From their 

 use in rock carvings it seems probable that these designs have a special significance, being pos- 

 sibly a conventionalized representation of a vagina and phallus. (See drawings 21-27.) 



/. The use of hooks of characteristic form does much to give Marquesan art 

 its distinctive quality. These hooks are of two types : One hook has a short vertical and a 

 long horizontal arm meeting at right angles. The sides of the vertical arm are parallel; the 

 lower side of the horizontal arm is straight and the upper irregularly convex. The end of the 

 horizontal end is pointed. ( See drawing 28. ) The second hook contains either two or three 

 sections which meet approximately at right angles, the sides being parallel throughout and 

 the ends straight or rounded. (See drawing 29.) The pointed hooks are rare in con- 

 tainer decoration, but are common in tattooing. The other type of hook is constantly used in 

 container design, ranking even before the spiral in frequency. It is used principaUy to fill 

 segments of ovals or rectangles, and the arrangement is more or less stereotyped. In filling a 

 half oval a series of three section hooks are placed with their bases resting upon the straight 

 edge of the figure and their points at alternate ends. The innermost hooks are usually of 

 two sections only. (See drawing 30.) In filling a quarter oval two sections are employed, the 

 bases of alternate hooks resting against first one and then the other of the straight sides of 

 the segment. (See drawing 31.) The hooks are always incised and the raised surface left 

 between the cuts forms a continuous scroll which will be referred to as a hook scroll. 



J. Crosses. Both plain (drawing 32) and staggered (drawing 33) crosses were em- 

 ployed, but always in connection with other designs which filled the spaces between their arms 

 and the edges of the section. 



K. Triangles rarely appear outside of tlie band decorations. They are used principally 

 upon the bottoms of bowds and are filled either with angular spirals or with concentric tri- 

 angles (drawing 34). 



(4) MOTIFS 



Alotifs include the various standardiation combinations of design elements other than 

 those which appear to be representations of natural objects. These are illustrated in Plate 

 LXiii, B as follows : 



1. Crosses, either plain or staggered, with arms continued into hook scrolls which fill 

 the four quarters of the section. 



2. Kaakc, broad, straight-ended elbow figures with ends and bodies decorated with de- 

 signs. (The kaakc motif is common in tattooing, but rare in container decoration.) 



3. Mata. The simplest form of the mat a consists of two half ovals (convex side down- 

 ward) each of which is filled with hooks or concentric half ovals, below which cen- 

 trally there is some variant of the pokaa. The space on either side of the pokaa, below the 

 half ovals, is usually filled with small designs not connected with these main elements. The 

 whole arrangement apparently represents a highly conventionalized face in which the half ovals 

 serve as eyes and the pokaa as nose. Some forms of double spiral seem to be related to the 

 mata motif. Mata are rather rare in container decoration, but are common in tattooing. 



[lU] 



