Linton — The Marquesas Islands 441 



CEREMONIAL OBJECTS 



There are a number of Marquesan objects which probably had a rehgious 

 or ceremonial significance. The most interesting of these is a tapa covered object 

 hewn from a single piece of breadfruit wood (PL Lxxxiv, x4) which is listed in 

 the Bishop Museum catalog as an idol. 



The lower part or body is in the form of a thin fiat tablet. The upper part, or head, 

 juts out sharply from the body in front and protrudes slightly beyond it in the rear. The 

 two sides of the face are slightly concave, meeting in a sharp longitudinal keel. The interior 

 of the head has been roughly hollowed out from the rear, probably to reduce the weight of 

 the object. Two short double pointed sticks of fau wood, only one of which is now in posi- 

 tion, were fastened to the back of the head transversely. They were attached with sennit 

 cords which passed through holes in the edges of the object. The body, and the front, top 

 and sides of the head, are covered with ute tapa, which was evidently put on while moist. 

 The back of the head does not seem to have been covered. The tapa is gathered in a knot 

 on the top of the head, and is glued together on the back of the body so skillfully that the 

 joining is hard to detect. The whole object, exclusive of the back of the head, is covered 

 with designs painted in red and black. It is evident that the designs upon the front of the 

 head are intended to represent two large eyes, while bands along the lower edge of the head 

 and on the upper part of the body represent the upper and lower jaws of an open mouth. 

 The spaces around the eyes and inside the mouth, and the front and back of the body, are 

 filled with decorative designs most of which seem to be tattoo designs. The painting was 

 evidently done free hand, and shows considerable skill. 



The rough finish of the back of the head in this figure suggests that it was formerly 

 attached to some object in such a way that this part was concealed, but the body of the figure 

 is painted on both sides. Although we have no information as to the use of such figures, it 

 seems possible that they were attached to the beams of houses in nie'ac, the back of the head 

 resting against the beam and the body hanging below it. Tapa covered bird efifigies, painted 

 red, were placed on the ridge pole of the tall pyramidal sacred house at Pua ]\Ia'u, Hiva Oa. 



The use of effigies covered with painted tapa in the Marquesas brings to 

 mind the similar Easter Island practice. The figures from the two localities have 

 little more than the principle in common, but in view of the complete absence of 

 such figures elsewhere in Polynesia even this is significant. They are not re- 

 corded from Micronesia, and even in Melanesia we find no close parallels, except 

 in New Britain where the Baining are said to make huge tapa covered figures 

 thirty feet high (Lewis). 



Small wooden figures were probably made by the Marquesans in ancient 

 times, although the few examples known seem to be post-European. There is no 

 definite information as to their use, but they may have been employed for the same 

 purpose as the small stone figures. (See p. 345.) Plate lxxxiv, B, shows a 

 modern wooden figure which is interesting chiefly as an example of the breaking 

 down of the old artistic convention under European influence. The proportions 

 of the body and legs, and the modeling of the legs, are much more naturalistic 

 than in the old stone figures. The arms, on the other hand, are smaller in pro- 

 portion to the figure than those of the old statuettes. The head is more nearly in 



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