Marshall Islands Fans. 



15 



While all the Marshall Islands fans do not have a border, this is certainlj- a verj- 

 common appendage and is shown on all three fans in the illustration. The two speci- 

 mens on the sides are woven in the trellis method as may be distincRily seen in the 

 lower specimen of Fig. 14. The trellis is of the midrib of the coco palm leaf and leaf 

 strips are woven into this framework, making a strong, stiff fan. The border is sewn 

 on over a fibrous strip with fine coco cord, and the bundle of midribs, continuous with 



Fig. 16. MARSHAI.I, ISLANDS FANS. 



the blade of the fan, is covered with mat work as in the first specimen, the black here 

 being some kind of bast, probably hibiscus dyed black with mangrove fruit. 



Not only the warm temperature but also the flies, which are a great pest on some 

 islands of the Pacific, make fans a necessary implement for comfort, although the 

 Samoans and other islanders used a fly-flap made of coco fibre mounted on a handle, 

 and the Hawaiians used the feather kahili of small size for that purpose ; and certainly 

 the development of the fan industry merits a more generous treatment than can be 

 given where only the basket work class can be used for comparison with similar work 

 of the old Hawaiians, but a large colledlion of the fans of the Pacific has yet to be made, 

 and even the old museums which have the most of the relics of old Polynesian handi- 



