The Practice oj Lomilomi. 



129 



I^aau I/Omilomi Kua. Back Rubbers. — Obesity being a much coveted 

 condition among certain chiefs of either sex, although perhaps more among the females, 

 eating in excess of the requirements of a natural appetite was resorted to and in con- 

 sequence some passive exercise was needful to digestion, and the delightful process of 

 lomilomi or massage was applied to the fat masses of poi, fish and dog. But not merely 

 by gluttons, but by the muscle-weary was this process indulged in. Constipation, 

 headache and many other ills yielded to the skilful manipulation of the old women 

 who were reputed the best operators. 



FIG. 105. LAAU LOMILOMI AND BATH RUBBERS. 



I am not copying what is usually said of a Hawaiian lomilomi ; I know of it 

 intimately by repeated personal trials. Once I had been in the saddle all day on a 

 slow horse traveling the then execrable trail from Hilo to the volcano of Kilauea in a 

 rainy season. Arrived late at night at the grass house that then served to shelter 

 visitors at the brink of the crater, I dismounted so stiff and weary that I could not 

 sleep, I could hardly sit down. Fortunately there were then many natives living in 

 that desolate neighborhood employed in the long since abandoned work of piilit gather- 

 ing (pulu being the silky down at the base of the frond of the tree fern of the neigh- 

 boring forest, the product being then in demand for stuffing pillows and beds), and 

 among them were found two old women noted for their skill. I removed all unneces- 

 sary clothing, dropped on the mat, and the lomilomi began. At first they gently 

 kneaded the muscle from the extremit}- to the trunk, then tapping in succession with 

 finger tips, knuckles and closed fists, and ending with a minuet danced on my abdo- 



Memoirs B. p. B. Museum, Vol. II, No. 3.-9. L3 ^ 3 J 



