io6 



Hawaiian Nets and Nrfting. 



olona, but for the koko it was applicable and used extensivelj' as well as for the cordiugs 

 attached to certain gourd vessels. Coir would be prepared, twisted and worked into a 

 koko in the same daj-. This was no doubt necessary, as the fibres, when dr}^ are very 

 stiff and would be difficult to twist 

 into the close meshes of some of 

 the nettings in which coir is found. 



Alinawa, common on the 

 banks of the taro ponds, was pre- 

 pared by drawing the freshly 

 plucked stem between two rounded 

 sticks tightly compressed for the 

 purpose of removing the juices, 

 and heckling, and then spinning 

 the fresh fibre into cord for the 

 koko. This fibre was also used 

 for tj'ing on the thatch to the 

 grass house. 



The hau, waoke and olona 

 were prepared similarly, being 

 partly macerated in running water 

 and scraped with a piece of pearl 

 shell or turtle rib.^" This would 

 be a process of a few days. 



The waoke, used so largel}' 

 in the manufafture of kapa^ was 

 restri6led in cord to the making of 

 koko and ornamental rope. The 

 filaments are soft, clinging, and of 

 only moderate length, and while thus well suited for bark cloth they would not last in 

 such fabric as fish net. 



The hau, a hard fibre, had employment as heavy rope mainly-, but rarely in fish 

 netting or koko, while the olona was the best used material for fishing lines and nets, 

 also occasionally finding its way into the better class koko. 



The grasses were braided with little or no preparation, the work being done 

 while the material was green. The spinning of cord, hilo^ was always done on the bare 

 thigh by women, the native terms for the process being hoaha for coir and hoalio for 

 other cords. Men generally attended to the braiding. 



^"Memoirs B. P. Bishop Museum, Vol. I, p. 50, fig. 43. 



Flli. 101. MESH GAUGE.S. 



