CARVED WOODEN, FEMALE FIGURE WITH HANDS AT WAIST AND HIP. THE FIGURE STANDS ON A PORTION OF A BASE WHICH WAS MAY HAVE BEEN PART OF A FOOD HANGER (PROVISION SAFE). A CORD WAS ONCE AROUND THE CHEST AND NECK, (ACCORDING TO THE OLD CATALOGUE CARD) "IN THE POSITION IN WHICH WOMEN WERE ONCE STRANGLED AT THEIR HUSBAND'S FUNERAL." MARKS: OLD PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS ORIGINAL PEALE TAG ON FOREHEAD. PUBLICATION: VIOLA, MARGOLIS, "MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS," S.I. PRESS, 1985, ILLUS. P. 127. NOTE ON OLD CATALOGUE CARD STATES THAT THE COCONUT FIBER CORD WAS REMOVED BY CURATOR SAUL RIESENBERG AND PLACED IN STORAGE. THIS OBJECT WAS ON PERMANENT EXHIBIT IN THE PACIFIC HALL, BUT IT WAS REMOVED AND EXHIBITED IN MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, 1985-86. EXHIBITED SITES "MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS," 1987-89.
FROM CARD: "THIS SPECIMEN WAS ONCE INCORRECTLY NUMBERED 2996, AND REMAINS THAT WAY ON EXHIBIT (1963). STANDING FIGURE OF A WOMAN WITH HANDS PLACED ON EACH SIDE OF ABDOMEN, BREASTS, NAVEL AND MONS ARE INDICATED. A CORD WAS ONCE AROUND THE CHEST AND NECK IN THE POSITION IN WHICH WOMEN WERE ONCE STRANGLED AT THEIR HUSBAND'S FUNERAL. (THIS CORD HAS BEEN REMOVED AND PUT IN STORAGE - S. RIESENBERG. 1963.) THE SMALL BASE IS CUT INTO GROOVES ON THE TOP SIDE. 1985 - RENUMBERED WITH CORRECT #." [Second catalogue card has three small black and white photos of artifact glued onto it. Photos show cord still attached to artifact.]
E2999 and E2996 are a pair of wooden figures. These items form the only pair of matakau figures known from Fiji. E2996 is male and E2999 is female, with symmetrical features. Probably from Vanua Levu. They must have represented ancestral or mythical beings, kept in a sacred place such as a temple (burekalou).
