So 



Mat and Basket Weaving. 



curves, and the individual letters were of strange forms, and, like the ancient Greek in- 

 scriptions, there was not that separation between the words that a modern reader demands. 



The largest mat in this Museum is No. 2574 — 30.5 ft. long and 14.5 ft. wide, 

 but it is not of the finest weave ( 11 to inch); combinations of four squares and of eight 

 triangles alternate 

 over the surface. 

 The smallest ma- 

 kaloa mat is No. 

 2601, a malo or 

 waist band worn 

 b}' a chief; it is 

 about 9 in. wide 

 and 6 ft. long, and 

 of a fineness of 20 

 to inch. Another 

 very ancient ma- 

 kaloa malo. No. 

 2600, from Queen 

 Emma's collection, 

 is said to be the 

 identical malo 

 worn b}' the Moi 

 Liloa when he met 

 Akahikameainoa, 

 and which after- ^"'^ "9' olowahia and kahanu patterns. 



ward became the token of the paternity of his son, the famous Umi." It is a complete 

 ruin, only being kept together in part by cementing to cloth, but the weave is very 

 fine (31-34 grasses to the inch). The finest mat in this Museum is of great .size 

 (20X10.5 ft.), and has 17 grasses to the inch; it is as flexible as cloth, although more 

 than a centurv old, and it was worn as a cloak or toga by Kamehameha the Conqueror, 

 from whom it came to his descendant, Mrs. Bishop. Unfortunately it has been badly 

 damaged by worms, a reminder that these mats quickly perish in this way if not 

 carefully guarded, and perhaps the finest known colleftion of these mats was lately 

 destroyed here by the negligence of the owner. 



By comparing this with the fine pandaniis mat from Samoa it will be seen that 

 the choice produ6lion of the southern island is finer, bxit it is woven from narrow 



-'J. Remy: Contributions of a Venerable Savage to the Ancient History of the Hawaiian Islands, Boston 

 1868, p, 18. 



