Molokai, like other islands of the group, contains no stone except of volcanic or coral formation. There is no chert or similar material from which chipped implements can be made; nor, as would naturally be expected, is there any obsidian suitable for such manufacture. It may occasionally be seen on the sites of villages, but always in small angular fragments seldom more than half an inch in any dimension, always coarse-grained, even porous, and never of a quality which can be flaked into definite forms. No doubt its only use was as an abrasive, after being pounded fine. Rarely, quartz or chalcedony is found; it resembles the deposit around hot springs or in fissures, and, like the obsidian, is in fragments too small to be utilized except as a grinding or polishing material for smoothing wrought objects.
Manufactured stone specimens are confined principally to three general classes: Adzes, for working in wood; pestles, for pounding the taro root; and discoids, for games. The last are exactly similar to the chunkey stones so abundant in the States, except that none of them have concave or hollowed faces, and they are used in the same way. There were three forms of the game: To hurl or roll a disk farther than an opponent; to strike a pole or other mark set up; and to test the inherent magical powers of the stones by rolling them in such a way that they would collide, the object in this case being to see which one might prove victorious by breaking the other or forcing it out of its course. A suitable arena for the contest was prepared by carefully leveling and smoothing a straight, narrow strip of ground to any length desired, a slight wall being thrown up along each margin.
Pottery was unknown, there being no clay suitable for making it. Calabashes or gourds and wooden trays served as receptacles, though stone dishes or bowls are sometimes found. Along the coast occur sinkers, either plummet-shaped or half-ovoid like an egg divided lengthwise. This form has a groove around the longer diameter, crossing the flat face, and was tied to a white shell as a sinker in catching squids or cuttlefish, a hook being attached to the line. Coral was much used as files or rasps. There are a few objects whose purpose is problematical; and some highly polished black disks which, laid flat and covered with a film of water, make excellent mirrors; but aside from what is here mentioned, not much worked stone is found. Wood, bone, and shell served as the raw material for nearly all other needs.