Hawaiian Makaloa Mats. 77 



4544. Sandals of lai ki [Coi dyliiic Icnniualis). 



4545. Sandals of lai ki for a child. 



4546. Sandals of lai ki, stont and coarse. 



4547. Sandals of lai ki, well braided. 



4548. Sandals of lai ki, from the Queen Emma collection. 



4549. Sandals of malina or aloe. 



5107. Sandals of poaaha or partly beaten waoke (yBroiissoiictia papyrijcra) . 



8986. Sandals of lai ki. 



8987. Sandals of lai ki. 



8988. Sandals of lai ki. 



8989. Sandals of lai ki. 



8990. Sandals of hau bark = ili hau. 



No other covering for the feet than these sandals were known to the Hawaiians 

 before the advent of foreigners. Although they had the pig I do not know that they 

 ever used pigskin for making sandals, not even after they had seen the pigskin-soled 

 grass slippers of the Chinese, who were earlj' immigrants, Vancouver finding, only 

 fourteen 3'ears after the death of Cook, many of these orientals in the country. 



Niihau or Makaloa Mats. — In describing the Hawaiian baskets of ieie 

 mention was made of another notable manufadlure of these islands, one which is now 

 fast passing to the region of lost arts where the ieie baskets have gone. A few old 

 women still make the mats from the sedge which grows commonly enough along shores 

 and in brackish marshes. It was chiefly on the little island of Niihau that the maka- 

 loa mats were made, although the sedge {Cypcnis Icpvigattis) grows on Oahu and other 

 islands of the group, and it is claimed that those with colored figures {^Na moena 

 paivehe) were not made elsewhere. Exact information is hard to obtain on such mat- 

 ters, but certainly Niihau, populous enough in olden time, was the chief fac^torj' and 

 gave name to the fabric. This was doubtless the mat noticed with admiration b}- early 

 voj^agers, of which mention has been already made. 



The preparation of the sedge was simple, but only while the plant was 3'oung 

 could the finest mats be woven, so that the time of working on these was limited to a 

 few months each year, and the people had not learned the method of procuring a suc- 

 cession of crops. The weaving of the mat was begun, as shown clearly in Plate X, 

 and the leaves added as needed. In comparing this figure with that of the pandanus 

 mat. Fig. 54, the great difference in the length of the staple will be noted. As with 

 the hala, the leaves dried over a fire were whiter, and in the case of the makaloa these 

 were called olala; it was the favorite kind of leaf used, except perhaps for the large 



