ISLAND CURIOS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2928, 14 November 1916, Page 3

ISLAND CURIOS

ADDITIONS TO DO.NfINION COLLECTIONS. _ Tho sale of an important collection of South Sea Island curios and other objects of interest in Auckland recently gave the Doinin.on Museum an.opportunity to extend its collections. The authorities of the Museum were the chief buyers at the sale, and the purchases are now on exhibition in the galleries, where they are interesting many visitors. The lack of spaco in tho Museum has made effective display difficult, but the officers have done their best to overcome this trouble. The Island curios are of wido variety. Some of the weapons show remarkably clover workmanship, both in design and in ormentation. A cuirass of woven reeds from tho Killswill Islands is accompanied by the wooden swords, edged with sharks' teeth, that made the protection desirable from the point of view of the dusky warriors. A headhunter's weapon, from the Solomon Islands, resembles a flail in pattern, with a broad, wooden blade of cruel appearance. A curious exhibit is a ("bou-bou," or cigarette holder, of bamboo, about thirty inches long and three inches in diametre, with an aperture for the cigarette at the side. A very scanty garment from the New Hebrides was brought to Auckland by H.M. S. Iris in 18G0. _ Indian spear and arrow heads, drills and gorgets, from North America, were included in the purchases, and they have been added to specimens previously acquired by the Museum, but not then on display. They illustrate the skill acquired by the North American natives in the now almost forgotten art of chipping flint. The finely-pointed, accurately barbed arrow heads are chipped from the lVxugh flint without grinding. Some specimens of lip-stones, used by Esquimaux women, are in the same case. These stones, which were inserted in holes cut in the lower lip, were collected by members of tlie Franklin Relief Expedition.