lO 



Mat and Basket JJ^ra<'hi<^. 



not only on one of the long sides but for a short distance on both ends, apparently to 

 keep the cover closed when not forcibly held open. The handles are of stout coco cord. 

 In the Gilbert Ids. specimen, No. 75 iS, the form is more symmetrical, and the leaf used 

 is lighter in color; otherwise the construction is identical. 



The midrib strncfture appears again in the fans from Shortland Id., shown in 

 Fig. 8. Two strips of a split midrib, each with six leaflets attached, are used in the 

 weave; an additional portion of midrib stripped of leaflets serves as handle, the other 

 midrib being cut off at the base of the blade. The workmanship is rude, by no means 

 so neat as the Hawaiian leaf fans, but is effecflive. The blades are about 12 in. wide. 

 Turning to the Hawaiian 

 form of coco leaf fans {Pra/ii 

 iii/i) we find a much finer 

 elaboration of the same device. 

 In Fig. 9 the fans, with the 

 exception of the small one on 

 tlie right, which is of pan- 

 danus leaf, are formed from a 

 seAion of midrib not split, and 

 the leaflets are deftlv twisted 

 over the midrib in a firm braid, 

 the lower ones forming the 

 handle without additional pre- 

 paration, and the others with 

 these gradually opening in 

 the weave until the extent of the leaflets is nearly reached, when the ends are turned 

 in, forming either a straight edge, or curved, smooth, or with serrations. Sometimes 

 only one tooth appears in the middle. This form of fan is ver}- pracRiical and durable, 

 and is much to be preferred to the more fanciful but modern designs shown in Plate XV. 

 With the young leaves of the date palm the leaflets are often reflexed on one side in- 

 stead of crossed (No. 51 17). In modern times the leaves of some of the many introduced 

 palms are used by the Hawaiians in the same way. 



That fans were used by the old Hawaiians we learn from ancient iiic/r or songs, 

 and in the Song of Kawelo'' occurs the following fragment : — 



♦FIG. 10. HAWAIIAN FANS IN TIIR BRITISH MUSKUM. 



Papa o Ikc ia iiei lac. 

 E u'alo. c ualo 

 Ua alo inai iic-i ia'u 

 Ka launiu e o peahi e; 

 E hoi au e, e hoi aku. 



Go. (laughter of Papa, away from 



this iR-aiUaiiil ; 

 Cease thy laiiit-ntations ; 

 Cease to beckon to me with thy 



fan of coconut leaves; 

 I will come again. Depart thou ! 



* Contributions of a Venerable Savage to the Ancient liistory of the Hawaiian Islands. Translated from the French 

 of Jules Remy by William T. Brigham. Boston, 1868. (p. 41. ) Also reprinted by Nordhoff in his California, etc. 



