Decorated Cord. 



23 



flat braid was used for holding taut the heads on the large wooden drums. On Hawaii 

 a smaller braid was used for the same purpose; and also, as will be seen later on, for 

 securing the covers to the iine baskets of icic. 



The Fijian temple house was sometimes entirely covered with sennit, and small 

 models of these are in many museums, construded of the same durable material. The 

 attachment of the stone axe or adze to its handle was by coconut cord neatly interwound. 

 By the same means the parts of a canoe were united, and the cable for the stone anchor 

 was generally of the same material, as it did not rot when wet. 





Fig. 29. PALM lkaf hats From Guam, marianas. 



Decorated Cord. — A coco fibre cord used in coils for belts, and for other pur- 

 poses of ornamentation, is covered with a neat braid of pandanus leaf, and dyed hibiscus 

 bast mingled in many tasty patterns. These cords were, in former years, brought to 

 Honolulu from the Marshall and Gilbert Islands, and were much used for hanging 

 pictures, as the strong fibre was not eaten by insedls. This beautiful cord is formed 

 in three concentric parts, as shown in Fig. 28. First a cord, usuallv of two-ply coco 

 fibre; then comes a coat of plain pandanus; third, the woven coat of brown and black, 

 which gives the cord its beauty and variety. The weavers must have very deft fingers, 

 but I do not know whether the two pandanus coats are put on separately or simulta- 

 neously, that is, in close succession. There are many sizes and patterns of the cord in 

 this Museum. 



