8 HAWAIIAN STONE IMPLEMENTS. 



Hammers. — Taking first then the hammers as the most simple, least artificial, 

 and perhaps for that reason what we have fewest specimens of in our museums, we 

 might perhaps with the conceit of modern civilization ask what people without nails 

 needed hammers for. Perhaps, the earliest use was to drive a stake for which a smooth 

 stone of rounded shape was more convenient than a rough fragment of stone, as an}' 

 man who has ever camped out knows very well. Other stones must be split and chipped 



BEk 



FIG. 3. HAW.\IIAN C.^NOK BRKAKERS. 



to form axes, and verj- early in the histor}- of the human race it was found that a sea- 

 worn pebble was a suitable tool to knap flint or chip clinkstone. Coconuts* in these 

 tropical regions must be opened in the skilful way that every old native well knows 

 lest the precious liquid be spilled; kukui nuts must be cracked without bruising the 

 kernel which is to be used for a candle ; the bark of the shrubs used in making first 

 strings, afterwards kapa or bark cloth must be beaten ;t then when the wooden bowls 

 and dishes so common among the Hawaiians cracked or were broken, little pegs (which 

 were indeed nails) must be carefully hammered into the breach; in the basket work 



♦Coconuts (.AV«), the fruit of a palm whose home was on the isthmus of Darien. were probablj- introduced by the first comers. If planted 

 immediately in this climate at least eight years would be required to reach the bearing age. Ocean waves would not bring these valuable 

 nuts to the Hawaiian Islands which are washed by a northeastern current, and are on the extreme northern limit within which this palm 

 flourishes. 



t Although in later days specialized beaters were used for this purpose, as will be shown in the chapter on Kapa Making, at first simple 

 stone hammers served the purpose as among the Maori and other Polynesian people. 



[340] 



