Giant Clam of the Pacific

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 136, 11 June 1938, Page 3 (Supplement)

Giant Clam of the Pacific

ByA.W. B.Powell

rO the Polynesian and Mela > nesian people shells and shellfish occupy a far more important place than they do with us. Apart from their use as food, shellfish in the ages before the use of metals was discovered provided a useful material for the manu- , facture of tools, weapons and ornaments, and to this day they | serve this general utility purpose i j with many of the Melanesiarr and ' Polynesian people. In the islands of Melanesia there i~ i ;i wPiilth of Fhollfifh with hard, thick | ;iii(l larjje shells, all eminently suiteo , I fur the manufacture of artifacts. For: j jjeneral utility purposes, the piant clam.! I Tiidacna, must take first place, for. I lie-ides its value ae food, the shell i» i -o hard and tough that adzes gTOund j from it are often prefe rod by the I natives to those irwde from the harde6t store. The giant clam, particularly the thick \ part near tlie was in former j ; times highly and widely esteemed foi I adze blades* Clam adzes are tolerably .1

easy to make, for the rheYl ic first broken t nui*vpri»ely. when a second l>l. i« on I' , !' fractured surface breaks out from I lie interior of the ellcll a Milid piece or core fiTiin which the linichcd ad/.e in -liiipctl iind ground. Often, luiwexiT, .nl/e- an , made from cum|»irat i\ ely -milll .-hell.- an<l (lie outer eorj !><;»! ion of the hhell U clearly \isible on the tin-i-hcl article. All tiiese dliell «<lze> are 111 f't «•«! to n wooilcli handle ami 11111 technique ill" the binding must lie very illicient. for, mi account of their comparatixe lihmt uei.«, shell n<l/.es an; \\ it li lei rilic force. ( liiirlcs Hc.llev (Tesiillipd how <ho can.ie huililers .'if New (itiinea raised tbe»i' iiiipb-mentK well over tiieir left, -I Ider- iiml then put every ounce of -ticii-lli into well directed li'lims which miiiii made Ihe clii|i< lly. The only apparent ilisadv untajje aboiil III" shell .:(!/(■ enmpareil with Ihe steel tomahawk u.i- that the use of Urn shell article uj.-, far more M i eniioii.-. and frequently the blade* were chipped and broken. 1 The eiant clam is th" larire.-t lixiriß jbixahe chelltUli. They are found only nil corn] reels from t lie Solomon* to I tin- Moluccas ami a full L'fown one may ibe ;>ti or more ill length and weijih miiiii' huiiilred* of pounds. The pair on record came from Sumat'M and were presented by the X'ein-tian* to I'm mi* I. of I'll! me. v here they are -till to lie seen in the I atliedral of St. j Sulpiee. Paric, where they are used a* iioly water basins. Tlii« pair is eaid to .ViOlb.