142 CLUB TYPES OF NUCLEAR POLYNESIA. 
thus the sac must obliterate the view of certain of the points of the 
web and will give in horizontal profile some such figure as this under 
examination. I attach particular importance to the identification 
because it is so commonly accepted by the islanders in their own art 
that I have more than once discovered a particular respect for the 
American ensign over those of other nations because of the prepon- 
derance of the field of stars, for the octopus is one of the high gods of 
war. The figures 93 to 95 show this detail worked out in another 
method, and in 94 the socket as well as the inlaid ivory piece is included 
in the drawing. In figure 98 we find a realistic picture of the same 
animal; it is quite often seen propelling itself through the still and 
clear waters of the coral pools, and it is possible that the radiant lines 
about the sac, which is foremost in such jet-directed movement, may 
be the suggestion of motion through the water. 
We come at last to the study of the engravings of mankind, a theme 
which more than all others has engaged the attention of these primi- 
tive artists, for we have half a hundred such drawings before us in the 
remainder of these illustrations. In the descriptive catalogue I have 
gone on the principle, which in many cases is susceptible of proof, that 
the men of the clubs are represented as looking outward from the carved 
surface. ‘This establishes itself in the series of armed men, for it is a 
valid supposition that the club is carried in the right hand, and this is 
invariably to the left of the picture, except in figures 139 and 140, in 
which both hands are employed in wielding mighty weapons. Acting 
upon this assumption, right and left in these descriptions are directly 
opposite the right and left of the pictures. 
In figure 130 it is seen how little it takes to depict a man; seven lines 
suffice—a pair of arms, a pair of legs, a head, two strokes for the body. 
This last item has peculiar importance in the reading of the designs, as 
will be made apparent when we reach that point in the list of distinct 
characters. It will be of advantage to present at the beginning the 
results of the collation of these figures upon the several units of design 
before we study particular pictures. The head is presented in six 
forms: 
Semicircular with lower line straight: Nos. 98-104, 108, 111, 118, 122, 138. 
Circular: Nos. 105-107, 109, I10, 112-114, 117, II9-12I, 123-130, 135, 139-I4I, 
144-146. 
Quadrant with curve downward: Nos. 115, 142, 143. 
Triangular with apex upward: Nos. 136, 142. 
Oval with straight top: Nos. 131, 132, 134. 
Oval with straight bottom: No. 133. 
Are overhead: Nos. 104, 106-117. 
The semicircular head is evidently drawn in recognition of the ancient 
head-dress of the men as extending outward in a well-trimmed dome. 
The triangular head may be an attempt at the same design, but accom- 
plished without the use of the curved line. We note, however, a con- 
