Ez'ohiiioii of Coco)uit Leaf Basket. 



It seems perfectly just to point to this type as the earliest form of basket, although 



made at the present da}-, no ancient specimen existing, at least from the region we are 



considering. The perishable na- 

 ture of the material ; the rough- 

 ness of the workmanship; nay, 

 the very abundance of specimens 

 would account for their rarity 

 or absence from early colleAions, 

 for these were mostly made not 

 for scientific purposes, nor to 

 ilhistrate the life histor_y of the 

 natives, but simply as "curios", 

 matters of oddit}' or rare work- 

 KR-,. 5. I'Ai.M liASKicT FROM poNAi-i.. uiauship. Thc scrics cannot be 



worked out from exclusivel}^ Hawaiian material because the coco palm, here near its 



tropical limit, does not grow freely 



nor develop luxuriant leaves : the 



pandanus was here the more import- 

 ant tree for the purposes of basketry 



as well as for mats, and the fashion 



of the basket and mat both partook 



of the peculiarities of material. We 



must txirn then to the central Pacific 



for our illustrations. 



Looking again at Plate I, next 



to the rude coconut frail, No. 5631, 



is a far finer basket, which at first 



glance seems to have little connedlion fic 6. coco leaf basket from the Carolines. 



with its humble neighbor, but the curious form No. S302, from Shortlaud Id., of the 



"^l 



:^ 



a counedling link. Here we 



have the split midrib 15 in. 



long, with eleven leaflets on 



,\, • , ^\ ^^vH^y^ V '/ each half, and these are 



neatly and closely plaited, 



FIG. 7. closure of basket bottom. the leaves overrunning at 



the edges and brought back to the midribs where they are split and a portion braided 



into short loops for handles, the rest finely shredded for an ornamental fringe. Does 



