432 Memoirs Bciiiicc P. Bisliof^ Miisciiiii 



EAR ORXAMEXTS WORN RY MEX OR WOMEX 



The ]iair of very simj^le ear ornaments shown on Plate i.xxix. D are 

 made from heavy white shell, probably the lip of the Tridacna. One end is 

 carved in imitation of the caps on women's ear ornaments of the taiaiia tvjie. 

 The remainder of the ornament is a simple spur, which, in one specimen, is per- 

 forated about midway between the base of the large end and the tip. It has 

 been suggested that these objects were used to keep open freshly perforated holes 

 in the ears. 



A number of ear ornaments which appear to be intermediate Ix-tween the 

 taiana and liaakai types have been preserved. Certain specimens in the American 

 Museum of Natural History are shaped and carved like the spurs of the liaakai, 

 but are provided at the forward ends with shell caps identical with those used on 

 the taiana. A specimen in the Peabody Museum of Harvard University re- 

 sembles still more closelv the spur of a liaakai. It is made of whale ivory, and 

 has a tiki figure in high relief carved on one side and two smaller figures on the 

 tip. The inner end is blunt and irregular, but there are no indications that it 

 has ever been attached to a disc. It was probably fitted with a shell cap. A 

 specimen in the American Museum of Natural History seems to be a modification 

 of the liaakai type, but is made from shell. The forward end is worked into a 

 disc considerably larger than the usual shell cap, while the spur is carved with 

 a tiki figure in high relief. 



COMPARISON 



The only ^Marquesan ear ornament for which there is any parallel in the 

 Pacific is that made from tortoise shell, porpoise teeth and beads. This orna- 

 ment bears some slight resemblance to those worn on the Island of Vap^ of which 

 Furness (74, p. 62) says: 



[This] ear ornament is a piece of thin tortoise shell, aliout a third of an inch wide, 

 bent in the form of a "L"": this is liooked in the lube of the ear and from the outer ends arc 

 suspended little strings of beads. 



The more typical ]\Iarquesan ornaments of bone, shell and ivory are un- 

 like those used in any other part of Oceania, and must be considered as a local 

 development. The peculiar practice of placing the most highly decorated part of 

 the ornament behind the ear, where it can be seen only on side view, is almost 

 unicjue. 



HEADDRESSES 



A great variety of headdresses were used by the Marquesans. In Nuku 

 Hiva at least the most important of these appears to have been a crest of black 

 cocks" plumes, called faaz'alia or taaz'alia pcpaiia (Handy). A well preserved 



[17-'] 



