Linton — The Marquesas Islands 407 



by a tongue about five-sixteenths of an inch wide, made of the inner layers of the bamboo, 

 which acts upon the same principle as the reed of a clarionet. This tongue is placed just 

 below the septum and as it has a tendency to stick, one or two hairs are often drawn across 

 under it at the bottom. There are usually three stops, but in rare instruments four may be 

 present. These stops are placed at equal intervals, the distances between them corresponding 

 to the distance from the lowest stop to the bottom of the flute. The actual distances between 

 stops vary in different flutes, but the regular spacing seems to be a constant feature. In ob- 

 serving the process of manufacture it was noted that the distances were measured by the width 

 of the first two fingers of the right hand. Unlike those of nose flutes the stops of the piiakahau 

 were alwaj's cut (not burned) out. 



A curious form of puakahau (PI. lxxiii, C) for which there seems to 

 have been no special name, was made from two pieces of bamboo one of which 

 fitted accurately inside the other. 



The larger piece, which formed the upper end of the flute, was closed, and was provided 

 with a tongue. The stops were cut in the smaller piece. The section bearing the stops could 

 be slid in and out, varying the pitch of the instrument. A flute of this sort was tuned to har- 

 monize with another of ordinary type when the two were to be played together. 



Some puakahau were made of two, or even three, pieces of bamboo which fitted together 

 closely. Such instruments could not be tuned but they might be taken to pieces and carried in a 

 small space. 



Players of the puakahau, as of the nose flute, began by mastering one stop 

 before attempting to use more. Puakahau are still occasionally used for dances, 

 but in recent times have been employed principally by the men in courting. In 

 former times there are said to have been regular puakahau orchestras, composed 

 of as many as twelve men, who were trained to play together. Such orchestras 

 took part iii fetes and dances, but it is doubtful whether they were employed in 

 religious ceremonies. 



WHISTLES 



Bamboo whistles are still used by the children as toys, but they agree so 

 closely with European whistles in shape and principle that it seems doubtful 

 whether they are aboriginal (PI. Lxxiii, A). 



Whistles are made from a section of bamboo eight to twelve inches long and about one 

 inch in diameter. The lower end is closed by the septum of the joint while the upper end is 

 cut at a long angle and plugged with a piece of wood cut exactly like the plug in an ordinary 

 wooden whistle. A hole is cut in the side of the bamboo just below the inner end of this plug. 



The Marquesans occasionally use a hybrid wind instrument, half whistle 

 and half flute, which the natives believe to be aboriginal, but the type appears 

 to be very rare. The upper end of this instrument is identical with that of the 

 whistle, but three stops, like those of the puakahau, are cut in the lower part of 

 the tube. In the specimen illustrated (PI. 1.XXIII, B), two of the three stops 

 ha\-e been plugged with cloth. 



The following names for flutes ha\'e beeii recorded by Handy, or compiled 

 by him from Dordillon's Dictionary : 



[147] 



