AGRICULTURE. 



l 7S 



I do not know how they split up thèse large pièces. BlNK [1897, 168], when dealing 



with the working of the stone hatchets of H. B., simply states: "a pièce of stone is cloven, 



eut and split until the desired shape and a good sharp edge is obtained". SELIGMANN 



[1906, 353], who got some information about the lost art of stone- working of the Suloga- 



villages, writes: "free flaking was the method by which implements were roughed out; the 



flakes occasionally being of 



such size and shape as to make 



a useful adze-blade when one 



edge was ground. A slab of 



suitable size and shape was 



brought to the village, but 



no quarrying or serious trim- 



ming was attempted, and it 



was a case of finding the 



proper thing ready-made". 

 I présume that the 



people of Asé hâve a simple 



method, of which, possibly, 



heating and local cooling 



form a part, otherwise smal- 

 ler and more suitable pièces 

 would hâve been brought 

 from the place where they 

 were found. 



The manufacture of 



the stone head of the sago club and of the hatchet, is the work of the men, apparently only 

 of old and experienced hands. At Asé the stone was held in the left hand (fig. 112J, whilst 

 the right with a pièce of an old stone hatchet, which served as a hammer, tsè wèri, 

 constantly knocked off small flakes. Similar flaking by the former Suloga people was done 

 with spherical water-worn stones about 2 to 3 inches in diameter (SELIGMANN 1. a). This 

 knocking, wèri woi, caused the fèmâ to obtain during the opération, which lasts several weeks, 

 a light, greyish white colour (see the fig.). I saw the concave hollow, called ani, finie or owje, 

 made by a revolving friction with another stone of a pointed shape, called obi, obtained, it 

 was said, from the yJ^-Mountain, situated close to Jotéfa Bay, but chloromelanite may 

 be used for this purpose. 



The stone hatchets, tsè or se, receive their shape in the same manner, also at the 

 hands of the older people, see again fig. 112. The old village chief of Asé, whom I saw almost 

 daily during my stay of 16 days, was occupied ail the time knocking on a stone hatchet, 

 which in fig. 163 is lying under his right hand. The lighter coloured stone is hère again the 

 hatchet, the darker one, a pièce of an old hatchet, tsè weri, with which the knocking is 

 performed. The stones having got their required form by flaking, the grinding and polishing, 

 tsétjai, sèsè, sèsai, are done at the same time. This work appears of less importance, at ail 

 events, I saw it done by a boy on a big, flat grinding stone, sidère, without sand, but with 



Fig. III. Toi' are River: where chloromelanite is found. 



