20 



Ma/ and Haskr/ U'raz'i'i/o-. 



would be a comfortable exchange. A white man's skin could hardlj- bear the rasp of 

 the netted fibre. In many cases jacket and trousers are in one piece, like the combina- 

 tion suits of modern clothing, and over all this came the cuirass with its high back to 

 protect the head. While there is no difficulty in tracing the weave, it is hard to see 

 how the stiff and refra6lory cord was so closely bound together by fingers, however 

 tough and strong. Over this cuirass was often worn a belt of even firmer texture, as 

 shown in the illustration, and the helmet which capped the whole was ample protection 

 from a shark tooth sword, or even from an t)rdinary club. None of this armor has been 



made for two genera- 

 tions, and the people 

 of today cannot tell 

 how their grandfathers 

 wove the curious bas- 

 ketry that now is found 

 only in museums. By 

 experiment it is found 

 that a man encased in 

 this armor is unable to 

 get out of it without 

 the help of his esquire, 

 another parallel with 

 the antipodal armor 

 of medieval Europe. 



Of the basketry 

 proper a good example 

 is shown in No. 7796 of PI. II — a sennit basket from Ponape. The redlangular bottom 

 is of cord twined over a foundation of sennit and is rather open; but the sides, as may 

 be seen in the illustration (Fig. 24), are closely braided and the top is finished with 

 pandanus leaf bound with sennit. The ends of this border are of split midrib and pro- 

 ject 1.2 in., and those of both sides being bound firmly together serve as a spring to 

 keep the mouth of the basket closed. The handles are small loops of sennit aboitt 

 large enough for a single finger. This is, or was, a common Ponapean form and seems 

 very durable. Two specimens in the Bishop Museum are of the same size and pattern, 

 18 in. long at the top and 10 in. high. 



Reference has been made in a previous publication (Director's Report, 1899, 

 p. 25 ) to the curious way in which sennit is sometimes wound for use or pi-eservation, 

 and the illustration given there may be here repeated for the convenience of the reader 

 (Fig. 25). This braided cord of various sizes was made generally by the old men, who 



Fig. 24. END OF SENNIT BASKET FROM PONAPE. 



