4 B RICH AM ON HAWAIIAN FEATHER WORK. 



could be obtained it was preferred, although other kinds were known and snares and 

 throwing nets were frequently used. The common sorts were often killed and eaten, 

 and the oo could hardh' have survived the loss of nearly its entire plumage. 



It will be well to look at the description the earh- voyagers give of this feather 

 work at a time when it was in perfe6lion, bearing in mind that in fifty years from the 

 earliest account the making of feather cloaks had pradlically ceased, although the con- 

 stru6lion of kahilis and the plaiting of leis continues to the present day. These latter 

 works, however, require no especial skill and draw iipon very miscellaneous material. 



KIG. I. COOKS CAPE: NOW IN AUSTR.\LIAN MUSEUM. 



When Cook anchored off Waimea, Kauai, in 177S, on his first discover}- of the 

 Hawaiian Group, he and his officers at once noticed the feather robes and helmets, and 

 the artist Waber | not Webber] in the capital drawing made of the scene on shore 

 delineates a chief wearing the mahiole and ahuula. The account is as follows: 



"Amoug-st the articles which they brought to barter this da>- [Jan. 21, 177S] we could not help 

 taking- notice of a particular .sort of cloak and cap, which, even in countries where dress is more 

 particularly attended to, might be reckoned elegant. The first are nearl)- of the size and shape of the 

 short cloaks worn b>' the women in England, and by the men of Spain, reaching to the middle of the 

 back and tied loo.sely before. The ground of them is a net-work, upon which the mo.st beautiful red 

 and yellow feathers are so closely fixed, that the siirface might be compared to the thickest and richest 

 velvet, which they resemble, both as to feel and glossy appearance. 



"The manner of varying the mixture is very different, some having triangular spaces of red 

 and yellow alternately; others a kind of crescent, and some that were entirely red, had a yellow border 

 which made them appear, at some distance, exactly like a .scarlet cloak edged with gold lace. The 

 brilliant colours of the feathers, in those that happened to be new, added not a little to their fine 



