International studio (25.1905)

is often carved with some
skiH, the lower portion
in imitation of the body
of a shark, the head
upwards, with the mouth
agape. Another post
represents a man wearing
a hat, and sitting on the
upper lip or snout of a
ishark, with his legs dang-
ling in its mouth ; in this
instance the man's hat
supports the ridge. In
another post the man's
head and body were in the
shark's mouth, and his feet
supported the ridge.
In the islands of Bourgainville Straits, posts
from six to eight feet high bore rudely carved
human heads. These were placed facing the sea,
and were thought to keep away enemies and sick-
ness. Similar posts were placed round plantations
to warn off intruders ; although these posts are


SAN CIIRISTOVAL BOX FORMED OF A
COCOANUT INLAID WITH PEARL SHELL


SPOONS OF COCOANUT SHELL
FROM GUADAI.CANAR ISLAND


FISHING FLOATS

roughly carved, and are not so skilfully made as
many of the personal ornaments, yet they show
much variety in choice of subject together with
grotesque imagination on the part of the carver.
There is not much to say of the carving tools
and implements with which the many specimens of
savage craftsmanship were produced. Like other
savage people, they used the most suitable appli-
ances they could get, whether a shark tooth, as a
chisel, stone axes and adzes, or a shell for cutting,
scraping, or smoothing. They had large grinding
slabs of rock, on which they fashioned and after-
wards sharpened the stone implements. Bow drills
were used by these people, and were doubtless
much in request when making their perforated
shell ornaments and beads.
The .work of the Solomon Island natives,
although rude and undeveloped by instruction,
is of a distinct character. They are not mere
imitators of objects they see around them in
daily life as many primitive people are; their
efforts in depicting human forms are poor, and
not equal to the work of other savage artists. In
designing patterns and arrangement of curves
there is a quaint imaginative power and a sense
of beauty.
In the head ornaments of turtle shell, they have
produced a personal ornament of lace-like delicacy,
only obtained by great patience and skill. In
their bowls of blackened wood, the decoration by
inlaying small pieces of pearl shell is a pleasant
combination of colour, and the patterns simple and
fitting; the general contours of these objects are
graceful and well balanced.
lake all savage people they love gorgeous
effects and colourings, and many curious , objects
are made use of to obtain their ends. When

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