Linton — The Marquesas Islands 375 



development in the Marquesas. A superficial study of the designs employed in 

 the regions of their occurrence shows the following: 



In southeastern Polynesia, to judge from the few examples available for 

 study, we have a division of the surface to be decorated into a number of small 

 sections or bands which are filled with small angular geometric motifs. These 

 motifs are usually applied in bands, and are not as a rule combined to form 

 larger designs. The only curvilinear form is the concentric circle. 



In the Marquesas we have a division of the surface to be decorated into 

 sections of relatively large size which are often separated by bands of simple de- 

 sign. These sections are treated as units, being filled with large designs formed 

 by the combination of several design elements. Both curvilinear and angular- 

 geometric designs are employed, but curvilinear designs are clearly dominant in 

 container decoration. There is a tendency to give angularity to basicly curvilinear 

 forms, such as the spiral, but there is an equall}' strong tendency to round the 

 angles of basicly angular forms, such as the oblong. 



In northern New Zealand the surface to be decorated is either treated as 

 a whole, or divided into a very few large sections by bands of narrow design. 

 Only curvilinear designs are employed, the dominant motif being the spiral. An 

 important feature of the technique is the use of a beaded interline. 



If we compare the southeastern Polynesian carvings with those on western 

 Polynesian weapons, the most elaborately carved objects from that region, we 

 are at once struck by a basic similarity in design and execut'on. There is the 

 same division of the surface into many bands or sections which are filled with 

 small angular-geometric motifs. The southeastern Polynesian examples show an 

 additional motif, the concentric circle. ? nd show^ superior workmanship, but the 

 carvings from both regions resemble each other much more closely than they do 

 those of either the Marquesans of Maoris. 



The ]\Iarc|uesan and Maori carvings have little superficial resemblance, but 

 they possess two features in common which are foreign to the regions just com- 

 pared; a predominance of curvilinear designs, and an extensive use of the spiral. 

 The toothed line, important in New Zealand, occurs in the ^Marquesas but 

 is rare there. The practise of dividing the surface to be decorated into sections, 

 constant in the Marcjuesas, is rare among the northern Maori, but angular-geo- 

 metric designs seem to have been used in carving in some parts of New Zealand. 



It appears that there existed originally in marginal Polynesia, exclusive of 

 Hawaii, a predominantly curvilinear art which treated surfaces as a whole or in 

 large sections. The original western Polynesian art was angular-geometric, with 

 a division of the surfaces treated into many small sections. In the Cook Islands, 

 Austral Islands and Society Islands, the original marginal art was almost de- 



[115] 



