86 



The Ancient Haisjaiian House. 



large fastened the outrigger to tlie ania and these to the gunwale of the canoe. Then 

 came the size used to tie the principal framework of the house together. Smaller cord 

 attached the aho to the rafters and posts, and still smaller fastened the tufts of grass 

 to the aho in thatching. The size was also regulated bj' the strength of fibre: thus a 

 cord of olona was stronger than one of coconut fibre of equal size, and the latter 

 stronger than one of twice the size made of grass. 



FIG. 69. BALL OF BRAIDED GRASS. 



While men were cutting the timber in the forest on the mountain side, others 

 were twisting or braiding cord and winding it into balls often twelve or eighteen inches 

 in diameter, as shown in Fig. 69. On most of the groups this cord or sennit making 

 was pastime of the elderly men whose product was always in demand, and I have else- 

 where*''' noted the ingenious method of winding sennit which has been adopted by 

 modern spinners as the best form (Fig. 70). Ellis mentioned ieie fibre as used in the 

 Hilo district, where it was abundant. The house from Kauai re-eredled in the Bishop 

 Museum, which is fully figured in Plates XXVI-XXVIII, and Fig. 86, was fastened 

 together by cord {aliuawa) made from the braided leaves of iikiuki, a liliaceous plant. 

 This was made into large balls and used throughout as more convenient to procure than 



■"Bishop Museum, Occasional Papers I, Director's Report for 1899, p. 22. 



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