i6 



BRIG HAM OX //AU'A/IA.X FEATHER If 'OR A'. 



makers formed the stem of alternating native woods. Many of these last, both large 

 and small, are in this ]\Iuseum bnt were unknown to the ancient Hawaiian. The old 

 native had, however, a very elaborate form of handle made bv stringing disks of tor- 

 toise-shell on a tough but slender core of kauila wood {Alplii Ionia cxceha^ Reis.sek), 

 or in the small ones,- of whalebone. The tortoise-shell was either used alone or alter- 

 nating with bone or ivory. Making these handles was amusement as wellas work for 

 chiefs, and two that the high chief Paki, father of Mrs. Bishop, left unfinished at his 

 death in June, 1S55, are in the Bishop Museum and show well the method of construc- 

 tion: Fig. II. On the whalebone core 



'-4 



jm 



f 





FIG. 9. STEM OF KI. 



were strung twent^• or more disks of 

 the outer shell of the sea turtle, 

 square or approximatelv rounded, 

 then a ring of bone was pressed tight- 

 Iv down on the parcel of disks and the 

 whole filed into shape and polished. 

 This is precisely the process used in 

 the manufacture of shell monev once 

 the common currencv of the people 

 of the western Pacific, though not 

 generally among Polynesians. In 

 the large kahilis the bone is often 

 omitted and the whole series pressed 

 closelv together apparenth' without 

 cement. Such handles are of great 

 weight but always of elegant form 

 and perfect finish. How early this 

 manufacture began we ha^•e no means 

 of knowing: the same work is shown 

 in a fan handle once belonging to 

 Kalaniopuu the King of Hawaii at 

 the time of Cook's visit [B.M. No. 

 5011], and from the finish it can 



hardly have been a new process. Probablv, as the turtle were abundant and the shell 

 easily worked, the manufac5lure is of considerable antiquit}-. 



The bone alternating with tortoise-shell is often human, as described b_v the 

 early voyagers, and a good example is shown in Fig. 3, p. 7 | B. M. No. 24]. The kntiiii 

 or principal bone is the right shin bone of Kaneoneo, a noted chief of Kauai who came 

 to Oahu to fight for the religion of his fathers as well as for the independence of the 

 island threatened bv Kamehameha, and who fell in the battle of Nuuanu [1795 |. The 

 other bones, each from a different man, are of the bra\e chiefs who perished in the same 



