430 Memoirs Bcniicc P. Bisliol' Miiscuui 



According to Handy (t,2) collars of pearl, called fiipici. were sometimes 

 placed with a body at burial, and three types of headdress, the taavaJia, packiia, 

 and hci kiia were sometimes worn around the neck or on the breast. 



EAR ORXAMEXTS FOR WOMEX 



A pair of car ornaments of rare type are illustrated in Plate i.xxix, . /, i, 3. 

 The "S" shaped body of these ornaments is made of a narrow strij) of tortoise 

 shell which was softened bv heat and bent into shape. At about a third of its 

 length the strip is perforated for the attachment of an ornament composed of 

 porpoise teeth and beads. The teeth are somewhat smaller than those usually 

 used for crowns, but like them are strung on loops of coconut fiber. The beads 

 are, of course, of European manufacture. The long projecting end of the strip 

 was thrust through the lobe of the ear, the body of the ornament hanging below 

 with the toothed portion to the rear. These ornaments were used by women. 



The object shown on Plate Lxxix, .1. 2, may be classed as a woman's ear 

 ornament. Its construction is essentially the same as that of the ornaments just 

 described, but the strip is replaced by a large black seed which has apparently 

 been oiled and polished. The method of wearing this ornament is unknown, but 

 it seems probable that the seed and bead tassel were worn in fnmt of the ear 

 with the teeth behind. 



The commonest form of woman's ear ornament, called faiaiia is shown at 

 the bottom of Plate Lxxix, B. 



The taiaiia is made of two pieces, a cap and a body. The cap. called puiu. is made from 

 some white shell, probably Tridacna, and has on the inner side a cylindrical cavity about 

 one-fourth of an inch deep. The sides of this cavity are lined with a thin layer of pith or 

 soft wood. The body consists of a thin strip of human bone whose inner end is finished with 

 a short cylindrical shank. The tip of this shank is cut to accurately fit the cavity in the cap. 

 The rest of the body is decorated with highly conventionalized human figures. A large figure 

 with extended arms is represented in profile at either end, and between these, two smaller 

 figures, shown in front view. The heads of these small figures are supported by the hands of 

 the end figures, while their legs appear at the bottom. Their bodies are not represented. The 

 two ornaments shown at the top of the plate differ considerably from this normal type, but the 

 basic concept is probably the same as the four heads are still recognizable. The inner sides 

 of the ornaments are left rough. The elaborate piercing used in working out the designs is 

 especially interesting as this technique seems not to have been employed in any other Mar- 

 quesan objects. Ornaments of this sort were worn with carved portion projecting horizontally 

 behind the ear, the cap. which was fitted on the shank, resting against the front of the 

 ear lobe. 



The bone of which they were made is said to have been obtained from dead relatives, 

 not, as was the usual practice, from revenge victims. The figures represent ancestors, one of 

 the large figures being male and the other female. Such ornaments were highly prized, and 

 were inherited in the female line. 



According to an informant in Fatu Hiva women sometimes wore ornaments similar to 

 the taiaiia, but made from a boar's tusk instead of human bone. Early writers make little 

 or no reference to women's ear ornaments, although they describe those of the men in con- 

 siderable detail. 



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