96 



Mat and Basket Weaving. 



1643, although previously seen by Mendaua, the inhabitants appear to be of Polynesian 

 origin (and the figure of the weaver referred to in the note is strongly Polynesian), and 

 the men are the 

 websters, while in 

 Poljmesia proper 

 the mat weaving 

 is the women's 

 work. Here then 

 is a Polynesian 

 family who have 

 adopted the loom 

 of their neighbors 

 without alteration 

 or improvement, 

 and the question 

 not u n n a t urall}' 

 arises how it is 

 that none of the 

 other tribes did 

 the same thing, if 

 they all entered the 

 Pacific through 

 the western gate ? 

 In all these sim- 

 ple looms the warp- 

 beams are two 

 sticks of equal and 

 suitable length 

 called o. In the 

 simplest form in 

 this Museum these ^'^- ^'- ^°°" ''^''^' c^^o^^^n isi^ands. 



are lengths of the light and smooth stem of some large palm leaf, but in the better one 

 figured they are of heavy wood cut with some care and knobbed at the ends (Fig. 96, A). 

 The widest of these seldom exceed three feet, and those of Santa Cruz are hardly a 

 third of that length. Around these pass the longitudinal fibres or warp; these are 

 continuous and slide on the beam. The length of the warp determines the length of 

 the mat, and the number of warp threads its width. The beams armed with the warp 

 are stretched in a horizontal position, one being held by cords passed around a post or 



