32 



Mai and Haski-f ITraT'/no-. 



knotted at the end of the mat. This certainly makes a smooth, ckastic and very com- 

 fortable mat. Tliose who live in cold climates can hardly appreciate the great comfort 

 in sleeping on a hard snrface covered only with a leaf mat. Feather beds, matresses, 

 spring beds are qnite snperflnons to one accnstomcd to ndl np his bed when he awakes 

 in the morning. 



Another sleeping mat or saniiiQ- from Shorthand Id. of the Solomon group is 

 6 ft. 5 in. long, and 3 ft. 2 in. wide, made of the same wide pandanns leaves joined at 

 the edges by almost invisible coco cord stitches, and like the preceding in double series 



_______ so that the outer and 



inner leaves break 

 joints. The ends of 

 the leaves are not 

 turned but sewed 

 together by a run- 

 ning seam of coco 

 cord, one cord extend- 

 ing along one side 

 while another is put 

 through the leaf from 

 the other side and 

 over the first cord. 

 The leaves are of 

 great width (6-8 in. ) 

 mo. 41. EDGK OF EBON MAT. ^^^ ^^^ scwed to- 



gether and then turned, a single thread extending the length of the leaf and then 

 knotted and a few loose inches allowed to hang as a fringe. This forms a bed both 

 smooth and waterproof. 



The most elaborate of these unwoven pandanns mats known to me are those 

 from the Caroline Ids. which in former times were frequently brought to these islands 

 bj' the mission vessels from Micronesia. The leaves, as may be seen in Fig 42, or 

 more distinctly in the diagrammatic Fig. 43, are arranged like clapboards transversely 

 to the length of the mat, and are attached to each other as in the preceding example. 

 The leaves, instead of being very broad, are in very narrow strips not over half an inch 

 wide and are placed so closely that only about one-eighth of each leaf shows. As in 

 the first example from Ebon longitudinal leaves serve both to give body to the mat and 

 to bind the whole together. One can see that it woirld be difficult to roll up such a 

 mat with the ends of these imbricated leaves bound to a stiff rim, and the maker has 



