202 Appendix. 



evident that it is regarded with some significance, as 

 in the Berlin Museum there are three poles strung with 

 7W/o«-shells from this' island.'^ In Ratzel's " History of 

 Mankind " (vol. i., p. 260) there is a figure of one of these 

 7V?Vo«-decorated poles surmounting the roof of a New 

 Caledonian hut. It is interesting also to note that a 

 bunch of Ovidum ovum shells is attached to the base of 

 the pole. That the Oimlmn shell is regarded in Oceania 

 as having an intimate connection with cosmogony is 

 gathered from its association with the god Tangaroa, who 

 is revered even in the remoter islands, such as Taaroa and 

 Kanaloa. " A Raiatean legend gives a grand picture of 

 his all-pervading power ; how at first, concealed in an egg- 

 shaped shell, he hovered around in the dark space of air, 

 until weary of the monotonous movement, he stretched 

 forth his hand and rose upright, and all became light 

 around him. He looked down to the sand on the sea- 

 shore, and said : 'Come up hither.' The sand replied : ' I 

 cannot fly to thee in the sky.' Then he said to the rocks : 

 ' Come up hither to me.' They answered : ' V\'e are rooted 

 in the ground, and cannot leap on high to thee.' So the 

 god came down to them, flung off his shell, and added it 

 to the mass of the earth, which became greater thereby. 

 From the sherds of the shell were made the islands. Then 

 he formed men out of his back, and turned himself into a 

 boat. As he rowed in the storm, space was filled with 

 his blood, which gave its colour to the sea, and, spreading 

 from the sea to the air, made the morning and evening 

 glows. At last his skeleton, as it lay on the ground with 

 the backbone uppermost, became an abode for all gods, 

 and at the same time the model for the temple ; and 

 Tangaroa became the sky." " 



According to Pickering,"'" war-conchs, made of Triton- 

 shells, were met with at Aratika, in the western Paumotu 

 Islands. In this group, also, and especial!)' in Manihiki, 

 ornamentation by means of pearl-shell is very character- 

 istic, canoes and their paddles, clubs, and bowls, being 

 inlaid with discs of this shell.'' The associated use of 

 pearl-shell and Triton-^€i\ trumpets is also present in the 



^' Bernice Pauhi Bishop Museum, vol. i. , No, i. , Honolulu, 1898, p. 18. 



^' Ratzel, ol>. cit., i., pp. 308-9, 



•^» "Racesof Man" (Bohns Ed.), 1850, p. 56. 



-' Bern. Pauht Bish. Mus., op. cit., various pages. 



