i8 



HAWAIIAN STONE IMPLEMENTS. 



came next in ronglmess. In fine work the usual succession was fine coral, or pitna, 

 pohaku clckii a rather soft, brittle stone, rough pumice or ana oalii (baked pumice), 

 olai., oio and lau iilii or dried leaves of the breadfruit tree. A large variety of polishing 

 stones may be found on Plates XXXII. -XXX\'. The oio was a stone used especially 

 to polish canoes. It was early discovered that the shape of the polishing stone con- 

 tributed to its efficienc}- and the smoother back and the raised knob, ridge or handle 



soon followed. On the 

 hard woods of Hawaii 

 a long continued rub- 

 bing was necessary. 

 The glassy polish af- 

 fedled h\ the modern 

 fanciers of Hawaiian 

 bowls was, of course, 

 never found on the old 

 dishes or bowls. The 

 polish given by the 

 skilfiil old Hawaiian 

 with the breadfruit 

 leaves was more last- 

 ing as well as more 

 tasteful than the mod- 

 ern French polish. The 

 plates will show fully 

 the various forms and 

 texture of the more common polishing stones and a minute description is unnecessar}-. 

 The patient application of whatever medium was the secret of the beautiful finish 

 of the best of the old inuckc or bowls. 



Door Stone. — Not what is usually meant by that term, but here a literal 

 translation of the Hawaiian name Pohaku piika. As the Hawaiian house made of a 

 light frame covered with grass could not be safely bolted when the small entrance door 

 was closed at night, an ingenious contrivance was sometimes used which, if it would 

 not prevent housebreaking would probably- wreak vengeance on the intruder. It may 

 be stated that the door was very low, .seldom exceeding three feet in height, and one 

 entered as a quadruped. Across the way was stretched a cord over a short peg near 

 the bottom of one door post and by this cord was suspended directly over the entrance 

 a heavy stone. One in the Bishop Museum is shown in Fig. 13. It weighs 36.7 pounds 

 and W'Ould be likely to disable if not kill outright any person on whose back it might 



fall. This is the only mantrap among the Hawaiians which has come to my notice. 



[350] 



4477 



4478 



4479 



FIG. 12. HAWAIIAX FILES FOR FISH HOOKS. 



