Nac oj Feather Garments. 



153 



netting is as close as loose burlap.'''' As stated by Dr. Brigliani, in Feather Work, the 

 bases of the cloaks are composed of several pieces of nae, each being cut to iit. The 

 pieces are not al\va3-s of the same mesh, that of those in the cloak of Kiwalao, for 

 instance, varying from .1 to .25 inch. However, the mesh of the majorit}- varies but 

 slightl}' in each individual. 



The closeness of the mesh in some cloaks and capes has suggested research for 

 a suitable shuttle to do the work, but be3'ond the niao, alread}' described, and needle 

 of kauila wood, no implement has been found. In a piece of nae, specimen No. 2S40' ", 

 prepared for the addition of feathers, the mesh increases from .05 at the top to .08 inch 



at the bottom and is too fine 

 to allow even an ordinarj^ 

 pinhead to j^ass through 

 readily. The specimen is 

 37.5 inches wide and 11.5 

 inches long, the edges of 

 which have been trimmed 

 at the knot without leaving 

 the usual netting selvage. 

 There are from four to ten 

 row^s of netting continu- 

 ousl}' in both diredlions, 

 while of course in netting; the rows usually alternate. This nae was made without a 

 shuttle with lengths of twine drawn through the loops, and for such purposes the 

 natives dipped the ends of the twine into the highly saccharine juice of the ki root, 

 which, dr3'ing rapidly, made the fibre stiff enough to be threaded through the holes. 

 It is not the intention of the writer to give the impression that all nae have a number 

 of rows of netting continuously running in the same direcftion, for in most of the speci- 

 mens the rows alternate regularl}'. The nae with a mesh of .25 inch could be and prob- 

 ably was made with a shuttle such as that shown in the middle of Fig. loi, or a niao. 

 In the colle6lion is a piece of unfinished netting of rather fine mesh, the histor}- 

 of which is unknown. The upper part is 41 inches wide with a mesh of .25 inch in- 

 creasing to .44 inch in the lower, and it has, as far as completed, the shape of a feather 

 cloak. The first half has been made with four shuttles, one following the other, and 

 possibly by four people, and the unfinished half with three shuttles as the three loose 

 strings on the bottom indicate. The specimen is Hawaiian and is probabl}- the result 

 of an incompleted later day attempt to prepare nae for a feather cloak. Sometimes in 



■"Ibid, pi. ix, upper figure, left side. 

 5° Ibid. 



FIG. 163 



CUMMENCEMENT OF A NET. 



