A very favorite style of chip pattern is that formed by small triangles and squares entirely covering a surface in the Cook Islands, the monotony being sometimes varied by a band of different arrangement in the middle of the article or at the top or bottom. So far as the cultivation of patience and accuracy is concerned, has no equal. The Fiji Islanders, employ chip designs rivaling those of Europe in variety. Upon occasion the aboriginal Marquesas carver appreciates the way in which plain surfaces contrast and emphasize decorated parts, and judiciously restricts his skill to bands of decoration or to special points. The Ijos of the lower Niger design their paddles in a masterly way, and show a fine sense of proportion between the plain and the decorated surface. Their designs, though slightly in relief, are of the chip nature. The method of decorating a subject with groups of incised lines, straight or curved, though often very effective and in every way suitable, is not a very advanced form of art and has decided limits. The natives of the Congo, now two nations, covered by the landmass of the Republic of the Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo does good work of this kind.