Thatching Material. 



87 



the coconut fibre which is now never imported as formerl}-, from the southern islands, and 

 is not prepared to any commercial extent on this group. Neither olona nor waoke was 

 used commonl}^ in housebuilding, although cord of hau served in poorer houses. 



It is surprising to one not familiar with thatching to see how much grass is 

 needed for the purpose. I have thatched a house in the forests of Guatemala with 

 split palm leaves and the material seemed but little bulkier than ordinar}' shingles. 



FIG. 70. rOLYNKSI.\N SENNIT IN NATIVE ROLLS. 



but the pili grass for the Museum building made a pile almost as large as the finished 



house. This grass {Paspaluni orbiadare or Heteropogon contortits) was common enough 



all through the coast region and up the larger valleys, and its colleftion was left to 



the women and children. In the corvee at the building of a chief's house described by 



Ellis, chiefs often remitted a suitable portion of the district taxes in return for especially 



fine timber or grass brought by their feudal tenants. 



If, instead of grass, pandanus leaf was the thatching material, it was at hand 



over almost all the inhabited part of the group, although now nearly eradicated from 



regions where cane is cultivated: its use for mat-making was more important than for 



thatching. Of the other material occasionally used, as coconut leaves for screens or 



lanai roofing, ki plant or sugar-cane leaves, all were in or about the villages. As a rule, 



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