FEATHER CLOAKS AND CAPES. 



51 



net or uac was formed with a netting needle ( Hia alio lea itpciia ) of the form common 

 to most peoples and found among the relics of the ancient Egyptians as well as in the 

 grass huts of Hawaii. The fineness of the net varies as does the size of the thread, 

 nor can I find that any particular fineness was peculiar to any time or place; in the 

 same cloak may be found pieces of ver}' varying degrees. The same netted fabric that 

 was used in the making of feather cloaks also served for the )iialo or waistband of 

 chiefs; and one of these very durable 

 dresses, fringed with human teeth (much 

 decayed) is to be seen in the Bishop 

 Museum. [B. M. No. 692 1 . | 



It was common custom to net bands 

 of a width from 8 to 12 inches, and this 

 was cut and joined as tlie rolls of modern 

 cloth would be used by the shaper. In 

 the cloak of Kiwalao (PI. XI) there are 

 more than thirty irregular pieces thus 

 joined, and in the covering of the Ku- 

 kailimoku even more cutting and fitting 

 was required. 



To fasten the feathers to this net 

 much finer thread, often single fibres, was 

 used, and the feather was bound by two 

 or three turns of the thread in the way 

 shown in Fig. 45. The shaft of the 

 feather was bound by one turn, then bent at a and the end b bound, by another turn 

 of the thread, to the same or the next lower mesh. This was a very secure method, 

 and the feather could be broken but not pulled out whole. One 

 skilful in attaching the feathers could easily arrange the />(?'// of 

 the bunch so as to completely conceal the uniting thread which 

 often was of considerable length and passed unbroken down the 

 rows. On the reverse the feathers did not show at all and the 

 thread being of the same material is hardly visible; only when the 

 cloak is much worn, and the net originally of open texture, do the 

 feathers show through, as is the case in PI. IX, lower figure. 

 When the cloak has been mended in modern times cotton thread 

 is generally used and is very conspicuous. It was generally, if not always, the custom 

 to arrange the feathers in direct rows, and where unevenness is found it is either the 

 result of careless workmanship or of the displacement of the net by age or rough 

 usage. It was important to prevent vertical breaks between rows, while horizontal 

 divisions were desirable for due flexibility, and so the horizontal rows were arranged 



FIG. 44. SPINNING OLONA. 



FIG. 45. 



