ON THE USES OP PANDANU.S OR SCREW PALM. 



dered so valuable by them that they will sometimes refuse a hundred 

 dollars for one, and would certainly not give it you in exchange for a 

 Cashmere shawl ; some of these mats are a hundred years old or 

 more, and full of holes, which does not deteriorate from their value. At a 

 Samoan marriage an old mat, which is laid under the bride, is often the most 

 precious article in her whole " trousseau," and has been probably a portion 

 of the dowry of her mother and grandmother. The mat which a fighting 

 chief will sometimes wear about his body is accepted as the ransom of his 

 life if he fall into the hands of his foes. The fortunate victor probably 

 knows the history of it before it comes into his possession, and can tell its 

 age, and where and by whose hands it was woven ; the value which they 

 place upon them is wholly fictitious. It is a love of ancient usage which has 

 consecrated them, as the Samoan mats are of mean appearance, and neither 

 so becoming nor so comfortable to wear as two fathoms of cotton print 

 which they might buy for a dollar. The work of making mats and other 

 manufactures from the Pandanus leaf is all performed by women. The 

 leaf itself is like that of a flag, two or three inches wide ; when gathered, it 

 is laid in the sun to dry ; it is then stretched to prevent its curling and 

 to strip it of its thorny edges. For this purpose the women always keep one 

 of their thumb-nails long, as likewise to split the leaf for finer work ; such 

 portions as are intended to produce the ornamental part of the pattern are 

 then dyed ; the plaiting is performed upon a smooth board with a convex 

 upper surface ; as they use their teeth very much in dividing the leaf, they 

 protect their lower lip by wearing upon it the scale of a fish. The time 

 occupied in this work varies accordiDg to its texture of the coarser kinds. A 

 woman will plait in a day a yard deep by two yards wide. The sails of canoes 

 on all these islands are made of such mat. The beautifully variegated aprons 

 of the women of Micronesia, and wrappers which the men wear about their 

 loins, consume much time in making ; the texture of the fabric being about 

 equal to that of No. 1 canvas, but much softer after being bleached and 

 worn some time. On the low coral isles the finest mats are made, and 

 with wooden dishes, carved pillows, fish-hooks of pearl or turtle shell, 

 lines of cocoanut fibre and ' Ranan ' bark are the principal articles of 

 exchange. The 'Ranan' lines are beautiful ; they are immensely strong, 

 white as linen, and, though laid up by hand, are equal in regularity of 

 twist and thickness to the best machine-made whipcord or Calcutta white 

 line. These lines are from the dimensions of a packthread to that of a 

 logline whch will hold the largest fish ; they last a great number of years ; 

 the savages are very careful of them, washing them with fresh water 

 before putting them away whenever they return from fishing ; their finer 

 nets are made of the same bark, which is that of a small tree indigenous 

 to most low coral isles. The making of lines and nets is the work of 

 men. On the Samoan isles, when the necessaries of life were easily 



