158 



The Anciettt Haivaiian House. 



houses while other Polynesians attached a semi-sacred charaAer to groves of the tree, 

 of which we find a trace in the sacred grove near the Puhonua or place of refuge at 

 Halawa at the east end of Molokai." The wood is of a brighter color than the kou. 



The heart wood of the coconut was sometimes used for umeke, but those in 

 colledlions of genuine old umeke would not amount to more than five per cent, of the 

 whole number. When polished, coconut wood was very striking, but the old Hawaii- 

 ans never carried their polishing far enough to bring out the full effect, and when 

 unpolished the effect is dull in the extreme. 



FIG. 139. UMEKE OPAKA OF KOU WOOD: NOS. 6003, 6004. 



The Neneleau {Rhus sctmalata) is usually a small tree but at times attains a 

 considerable diameter. In the Bishop Museum is a bowl of this wood (No. 105 1) 

 14.5 inches in diameter. This wood is plain and close grained. 



A more common material for wooden bowls of the less important sort was the 

 okia {Mclrosidcros polymorpha) of which the wood was hard and durable and much 

 used for house building, the black variety for idols, and at the present day for railroad 

 ties and fuel. See Plate XXXVIII for a choice umeke of this wood. In modern times 

 the showy but coarse-grained and soft wood of the Monkey pod {Pithccolohiuvi siamaiig) 

 has been much used for bowls and other vessels. 



" Hillebrand was mistaken in slatini; that this i^vovc Jor)iu'iiy existL-il. In i8go it was in a flourishinj^ con- 

 dition, except that it needed thinning out, and I transplanted several seedlings to my garden in Nuuanu valley in 

 Honolulu, where they flourish and one has attained in seventeen years to a height of about thirty feet and a girth 

 of forty-seven inches a foot above the ground. 



[342] 



