64 



Mat and Basket Weaving. 



"On fait avec la feuille du ti, quelques ouvrages dans le gout de ceux de nos 

 vanniers, mais peut-etre mieux finis; les uus sont d'une seule teinte; les autres, tels 

 que les casques, les eventails, les panniers, le clissage des calebasses oii Ton serre les 

 effets precieux, &c., sont nuances de couleurs diverses. Ces ouvrages, confies aussi 

 a la main delicate des femmes, offrent des formes et dimensions tres-variees.'' 



What the French Com- 38»o ssss 



mander took for the leaves of the 

 ti (ki, Cordylinc tcrmiualis) was 

 afterward named for him Frcyci- 

 netia, and the figures given in 

 Freycinet's report leave no doulat 

 that the l:)askets we are now con_ 

 sidering were the ones referred to 

 in the quotation. As he saj'S, 

 these hinai poepoe were used as 

 receptacles for their greatest treas- 

 ures, and we know that when the 

 breakage of the interior unieke or 

 calabash deprives these baskets of 

 their waterproof character and they 

 fall to baser uses they will still 

 serve for many years as fish bas- 

 kets, or for other purposes. Demi- 

 jons and carboys, hard receptacles 

 covered with basket work by more 

 civilized people, are only fit for 

 destrudlion when the inner part is damaged ! Figs. 62, 65 and Plate IX give fair rep- 

 resentations of the best of these hinai poepoe, and the following list of those in the 

 Museum will explain the illustrations : 



No. 3890 (Plate IX) measures, as figured, 21.5 in. high with cover; greatest 

 diameter 9.2 in. The inside wooden (kou) umeke measures 13.2 in. in depth (internal), 

 and 5.7 in. at the mouth. The cover is of the same material and has 6 in. and 6.7 in. 

 internal measurement. The outer basketry comes to within three-quarters of an inch 

 of the top of the umeke, and is finished ofi^ by a braid which does not project beyond 

 the general surface; a net of olona is attached below the fourth round. The cover has 

 a rim like the baskets of the first class, but smaller, and in both the weaving is close 

 and varied only by reversing. 



"Preycinet, Voyage autour du moude, 1817-20, II, p. 613. 



Pig. 62. HINAI I'lii.i'Di. 



