22 



Mat and Basket Weaving. 



Tacapow [Takapau]. — Mats for flooringbouses, made of the young leaves of the cocoa-nut tree. 

 Tattow [Tatau]. — A sort of matting, plaited in a very ornamental way, made of young 

 cocoanut leaves : they are used to screen the sides of the houses from the weather. 



Cato [Kato]. — Baskets: these are of various constructions ; sometimes of a sort of matting 

 made with the leaves of the fa, paoongo, lo acow [akau=.sugar cane], etc.; at other times of the 



fibrous root of the cocoanut tree interwoven with plait made of the husk of 

 the nut, and have rather the appearance of wicker-work : the latter are 

 sometimes variously stained and ornamented with beads or shells worked in. 

 The larger and coarser baskets are generally made by men, to hold axes 

 and other tools in ; also the baskets to hold 

 victuals, made of the leaves of the cocoanut 

 tree are generally made by men. 



B.-\WLA. — Mats for thatching houses, are 

 either made by men or women, but more fre- 

 quently by the former. — Vol. II, p. 293. 



The Tongans also covered wooden 



boxes with basket work, as we shall see 



later that the Hawaiians did with great 



skill. The Tongans had oblong baskets 



in black plaiting with brown decorations ; 



a sqttare basket of ttniisnal weaving, as 



shown in the Mnsenru at Berne, where 



many of the specimens date from the time of Cook, whose artist, Waber, was a native 



of that city and beqtieathed all his collecftions to that mttnicipality. With these were 



FIG. 26. TONGAN E.\SKRT IN 

 BRITISH MUSEUM. 



FIG. 27. OPEN WORK MATS 

 FROM TONGA. 



FIG. 28. coco CORDS FROM MICRONESIA. 



specimens of the cnrioits open-work mats (of pandanus) shown in Fig. 27. In New 

 Caledonia the gotird calabashes were artistically corded with sennit. The use of sennit 

 on Fijian clubs, both for the grasp and for decoration, maj- also be noted. Even the 

 Fijian spears were often ornamented with bands of fine black and white sennit. Not 

 only the braided form was vised, but also the plain twisted cord. 



In the Carolines the braided slings of this fibre were sufEcieutl}- ornamental to 

 serve as headbands when not in use for throwing stones. In the Marquesas a broad, 



