16 
from the Cornelius Crane estate - Mr. Gopperthwaite v/as Mr , 
Crane’s representative in Tahiti. The skull had been unearthed 
by a native gardner who quickly covered it over again — amoni^ 
■^^Z?l®s_ians burial sites are tabu, and not to be disturbed. 
/T^r~ vy.s ^ — ' 
But/tlae temptation v/as too grea-^ The next morning I hurried 
out wit h spade, sieve, and carton, and found not one skull but 
two^ather badly fractured by the man’s spade. Carefully 
sieving the soil, practically all the fragments were recovered, 
but surprisingly enough no other bones were present. The 
interment ha-ppened to be on the property of Mr. Medford Eellum, 
residing on Moorea. I wrote him at once 
Lis letter granting 
me piffrmission to take the find back to the Smithsonian 
Institution Included an invitation to visit him, should we come 
to collect in Moorea. 
CPie 
letter contained the reassuring vrords: 
"It is certainly better that a musem have those fragments than 
to rebury them in the sands of Paea. I feel certain that no 
living natives., had any idea that there were hones burled at that 
place.- It should therefore not cause any ill-feelings among the 
natives if the fragments are removed.” 
The day we departed for Bora Bora was Easter Sunday, April 
22, and Jack Randall, Dr. Rehder, and I took the opportunity of 
again visiting the early Simday market. We arrived there shortly 
. 0 - , T , through 
alter five o’clock, and the guard, who Imew Jack, let us in, the 
iron gate. -This time we were after unusual fish for our collections, 
and we were able to examine the catches brought in by fishermen 
and displayed for sale at comparative leisure, undisturbed by 
