Fern Stem Fish Traps. 



75 



No. 6954 is a very large fish trap made of the same material, measuring 48 iu. in 

 length, and 24 in. in diameter. It has three loops on each side near the smaller end. 

 When wet it may be folded flat, although very stiff and firm when dr}-. The exquisite 

 braid work of the Solomon Islanders has generally been described as of fern, and has 

 even been attributed to a species of Gleichcnia^ but we have in the Museum specimens 

 of a grass from which this attractive work is made, so we must defer farther notice of 

 this to succeeding pages, where the grass manufadlures take their turu. 



Fig. 75. HAWAIIAN FERN-STEM FISH TRAI'S. 



So far as is known the old Hawaiians made nothing of fern stems of such great 

 size as the Maori hinaki ; indeed they had no fern stems to compare with the Lygodiuvi 

 of New Zealand, but the}- made similar traps of the much shorter Hawaiian ferns. 

 Two of these are shown in the figure, and I am informed that such traps were much 

 used in ancient times; and while sometimes made of other material, as at the present 

 day, the fern was much preferred, and considered more durable. It is quite possible 

 that the dark color of the fern gives some advantage to the fisherman. 



Hawaiian Sandals =Na Kamaa Maole. — Necessity must, in very primi- 

 tive times, have given birth to the invention of sandals in a coimtry where volcanoes 

 often spread lava streams of most extreme roughness across the paths until for miles a 

 surface is formed that not even the hoofs of a horse can stand. Few who have not dis- 

 sedled the foot of a man accustomed to go barefoot can have any idea of the exceeding 



