134 



Haivaiiati Nets and Netting. 



apt pupils. It ma^' be that the natives owe the knowledge of the pun to Juan Gaetano's 

 Spaniards of about 1550, as with the shapes of their remarkable feather helmets. 



However, no matter what the origin, even if the knot were of foreign introduction, 

 the natives had seen its 

 adaptabilit}' to their work, 

 and bj' their adoption of it 

 into the manufaAure of 

 their articles, they have 

 surel}^ given it a domicile 

 sufficientlj' Hawaiian. 



There are many at- 

 tractive patterns in the 

 koko puupuu, to which no 

 native in these days is able 

 to attach any significance 

 or name. One old native, 

 after being questioned in 

 vain, remarked disgustedly: 

 "The haole ( foreigners ) 

 want all the time to put a 

 number or a name on everj^- 

 thing, but these to the 

 natives were just koko." 

 It was thoiight by the writer 

 that the different grades of 

 alii (which were multitudi- 

 nous) might be entitled to 

 distinct styles of koko, and 

 without doubt, the greater 

 the chief, the better was 

 the koko. Certain chiefs 

 were entitled to a particular form of tabu (or kapu) and in their presence, or when 

 their food was carried by, the common people were required to fall on their faces, sit 

 or kneel, according to the order of the tabu. It seemed quite feasible that certain of 

 the koko might designate the rank of the owner by the pattern and so make it known 

 to the people, but Dr. Alexander, a recognized authority of matters Hawaiian, stated 

 that for the purpose of proclaiming the degree of chiefship, a crier was sent before the 



O-y-tJt^. 



FIG. I- 



