78 



Mat and Basket Weaving-. 



floor coverings. The red figures are formed from the lower portion of the stem, which 

 is naturally colored ; but while this color is fairly durable, it turns a dirty brown on long 

 exposure to the light. The fresh color, both of the olala and the red figures, is well 

 shown on Plate X\T. These figures are an embroidery and do not show on the rever.se. 

 The patterns used are very simple geometric ones that do not present the variety 

 shown in the decorated Hawaiian kapa, but the nature of the texture kept these within 

 narrow bounds. Even on kapa, where the surface admits of any form, we seldom find 







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'■■-'W'? 



pi^p^ 



V*- 



a^gs^ 



Fig. 77. N'liHAr makai.oa mat. 



the attempt to represent natural obje6ls; almost always it was ornamentation com- 

 posed of triangles, rhombs, squares and lines. All these patterns had names, and I 

 have been at some pains to preserve these wliich will be found in the illustrations 

 (Figs. 77-Si, and Pis. XI-XIII, and XVI). Not only did the weaver use these exter- 

 nal decorations, but in the very weave she used her fanc}- in a way seldom found in the 

 hala mats, and some mats are a series of stripes, each of a different weave. These 

 fancy stripes sometimes alternate with those of a plain weave, and on these latter were 

 generally embroidered the red figures. One mat in this colle6lion. No. 10,072, recently 

 made, shows not only nearly all the usiial figures biit is woven in nearly all the known 

 styles, including fancy twills. The names of the patterns are as follows: 



