76 Mat and Basket JVeavhtg. 



toiighness of siich a man's sole; but as little can one who has not walked over it appre- 

 ciate the sharp roughness of a stream of Hawaiian aa^ the roughest form of lava. The 

 toughest soled native needs some artificial prote(?lion for his feet. In climbing Manna 

 Loa, the largest of the Hawaiian volcanic mountains, in 1S64, the author wore out 

 three sets of rawhide sandals used as prote(5lion to stout walking shoes, and only occa- 

 sional beds of aa were encountered. No one could travel around the island of Hawaii, 

 near the coast, without meeting man}' miles of this rough road. Where a permanent 

 path was needed smooth beach pebbles were laid for footway, but on occasional journeys 

 one often found no such provision for his feet, and he was forced to weave or braid 

 some mat-like strudlure for sandals. Any tough fibre at hand was pressed into service; 

 pandanus {/au/iala), dracsena (/c?'/ Xv'), hau bark (/// //a/t), banana (///// maia), 

 poaaha or waoke, all answered sufficientlj' for the temporarj^ need. 



Plate in shows examples of all these. In strudlure there were two general wa3-s 

 of plaiting the hastily constructed basketr}- : one, the simplest, consisted of a stout cord 

 of any suitable material formed into a loop 

 for the toes and over and between the paral- 

 lel sides formed by the cords the leaves were 

 braided or entwined, the tougher stems be- 

 ing left for the under surface, as shown in 

 the first example on Plate III. The loose 



ends of the looped cord served to bind the " ' - • • 



sandals to the ankle. The third specimen shown in the same plate is a little more 

 complicated, there being four instead of two cords about which the weft is twined. 

 Fig. 76 shows this more clearl}', the loops work in opposite direcftions and when pulled 

 draw the substance of the sandal together. When waoke or maia was used a very 

 comfortable and serviceable foot support resulted : such are used even now by the white 

 man as well as by the Hawaiian when walking much on the rough coral reefs. 



Of the sandals in the Bishop Museum at this writing the following list will 

 fairly show the comparative frecjuency of the material used : 



4535. Sandals of lauhala, dr_v but without special preparation. 



4537. Sandals of lauhala. 



4538. Sandals of poaaha or partly beaten waoke, rectangular in shape. 



4539. Sandals of poaaha, thick and tough. 



4540. Sandals of banana leaf stem. These are always rectangular. 



4541. Sandals of banana leaf stem with ili hau cords. 



4542. Sandals of malina (American aloe). 



4543. Sandals of hau bark ^ ili hau {Paritium tiliaceuni). 



