364 THE MAGIC OF JEWELS AND CHAEMS
donia.
This is a more or less circular disk of jade, with a cutting edge. In
most cases this disk is attached through two perforations to a straight
cylindrical handle, having a slit at the upper extremity into which the
jade disk is introduced. The lower extremity has an ovoid termination,
or else it is set in a cocoanut shell, usually covered with the
integument of a pteropod. Attached are pendants of beautiful marine
shells, and sometimes the cocoanut shell is filled with small pebbles
so that it can be used as a rattle. These nbouet were
originally used as cleavers to cut up the dead bodies for the
cannibalistic orgies, and this use seems to have been thought to impart
a kind of talismanic virtue to the objects, for they eventually became
insignia of the chiefs of the native tribes.80
The
ornament most highly prized by the natives of New Caledonia is a
necklace of perforated jade beads. One of these necklaces, in the rich
collection of Signor Giglioli, contains 122 jade beads, somewhat larger
than peas ; another necklace comprises eight beads alternating with
small shells of the oliva, a species of mussel. As a pendant hangs an oudip, or slung-shot, of steatite.31 Necklaces of this kind are called peigha by
the natives, and the high esteem in which they are held probably arises
from their supposed talismanic powers. The jade ornaments or artefacts
found in the neighboring Loyalty Islands have all been brought from
New Caledonia, and we are told that so great was the value placed upon
them that the natives of the Loyalty Islands often traded their young
girls i» exchange for objects made from the greatly coveted jade.
From a Fijian mission teacher at Groodenough Island
"
Giglioli, " Materiali per lo studio della Età della Pietra," Archivio
per l'Antropologia e l'Etnologia, vol. xxxi, pp. 79, 80; Firenze, 1901.
"Ibid., pp. 82, 83.
