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TIKI 89 to the turtle hunt (Porter, 1823: 115). Around 1850, Charles Noury made a drawing of a wooden statue from Nuku Hiva that was suspended from a canoe prow during turtle hunting expeditions (Noury 1861: pl. 6). A 48-centimeter-high statue at the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum in Cologne is also recorded as being a canoe prow fi gure. It is similar in all respects to other Marquesan wooden fi gures of this format. Even in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands some 1,500 miles away, wooden statues similar to Marquesan tiki are known to have been attached to the prows of fi shing canoes. Another type of tiki is documented as having been attached to canoes. This is a representation of a seated fi gure with legs extending forward, and the upper body reclining slightly backward in a position reminiscent of that of the coxswain who steered the canoe and who was generally the captain and/or chief (fi g. 20). A long extension projects forward from the feet terminating in a fl attish grimacing face with its tongue protruding in a gesture of bellicose provocation. This head resembles those observed on the sculpted prows of large war canoes, which Marquesan oral tradition relates represented the severed heads of enemies. The account of missionary Charles Stewart (1832: 220) relates that this type of canoe tiki was suspended between the upcurving stern posts of the vessel, secured in place with cordage “closely hung with tufts of human hair: the trophies of victorious confl icts with their enemies.” FIGS. 15 and 16 (above and below): Gallery views of Tiki. Author’s photos. FIG. 17 (right): Tiki. Found in Hokatu as part of a sacred cache for fi shermen. Ua Huka, Marquesas Islands. Basalt. H: 18 cm. Musée de Vaipaee, Ua Huka.


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