Legendary Origin of Haiuaiian Mats. 53 



cient witnesses to the fact in tlie cases of the Bishop Mnsenm, where most beautifull}- 

 regular and finel}^ woven mats are in considerable number. 



As to the legendary origin of Hawaiian mats I can give no information. Not 

 only have the modern natives preserved no remembrance of the songs or legends of 

 any such theme, but unfortunately the present writer negledled to take down from the 

 lips of the old women who, in the middle of the last century, were singing such songs 

 as they plaited the mats in the Puna caves, songs which undoubtedly related to their 

 earl}' predecessors in the mat making work ; he also neglec^ted to ask what were the 

 tutelar gods of the craft, and today the remaining natives are unable or unwilling to 

 give the ungathered information. We only know that the Hawaiians had among "the 

 forty thousand and four hundred thousand gods" one or more especiallj' worshipped by 

 the pious artisans in basketry of former days. We also know that they had songs and 

 legends of earl}' mat or basket makers who were famous at their craft, and were per- 

 haps apotheosized by their successors for their skill. The teaching of a new religion 

 seems to have driven from their thoughts many things worth remembering while by 

 no means strangling the superstitions of the neophytes. Their love for the recital of 

 w^/r, which was quite oriental and kept alive in their memories the doings of their 

 forefathers, their genealogies, and the rules of life, has largely disappeared from this 

 group, and aimless political discussion or modern tales of a very different nature 

 have usurped its place. 



Leaving then the folklore and poetr}' of the basket and mat makers untold, we 

 must present their work, which is so like that of all the other Polynesian groups that 

 it hardly deserves an extended paragraph. The hala leaves were gathered, they were 

 dried either in the sun or in the cover of the house, were scraped, trimmed and beaten, 

 then rolled and stored until enough and more had accumulated for the intended mat. 

 The shell trimmer was that used everywhere, but the mallet was not like those figured 

 from the Marshall Islands (Fig.54 ), but either a plain round club (ho/ioa)^ or more 

 commonl}- an old kapa beater {ie /&?^/'«), of which the engraved sides had become smooth 

 from long use. These four-sided clubs with rounded handles were common all over the 

 group, as they were necessary iitensils in every family, and they are to be found in 

 most ethnological museums. 



I have asked a skilful maker of lauhala mats, still resident in the once famous 

 mat making district of Puna, to make for me the first few inches of a common mat, 

 and the result is shown in Fig. 55. To show her good will as well as skill she has 

 embroidered her own name and address on the obverse of the figure, and my name 

 on the reverse ; but in spite of that fanc}- the specimen shows perfectly well the be- 

 ginning of the weaving. No vestige of a loom, not even pegs to hold the row of leaves 

 in place is needed, but a sufficient number of hala leaves is taken to cover the width of 



