Hawaiian Pa or Dishes. 



169 



is hanging before me, as I write, a mahogany platter or dish that my Carib workman 

 carved for me, entirel}' without my suggestion, quite like the Hawaiian ones in the 

 figure, except for material. A convenient distindlion to be noted in the pa made for 

 covers is the raised edge to hold the cover flrmlj' on the umeke ; the smooth plate is 

 constantly liable to slip off. 



We have not exhausted the old shapes, for there are containers between the 

 umeke poi and the flat pa, that must be noticed. The lute-shaped bowls shown in 

 Fig. 156 are rare and exceedingly well made. I do not know to what especial use 



FIG. 155. HAWAII.\N PA OR DISHES. 



they were devoted. There is one umeke of considerable age in this Museum of the 

 flat-bottom type, but of remarkably fine lines, Plate XL. Another class of umeke has 

 the horizontal surface cut in flat bands: this is curious rather than ornamental, and 

 the effect is shown in Fig. 161. Of the low umeke of great diameter I know of none 

 so beautiful as the one shown in Plate XL. The lines are fine and the workmanship 

 of high order; it was among the treasures of the Kamehameha family; and I wish the 

 name of the unknown artist who designed it could be engraved upon it. 



Where the umeke pass into pa or dishes we have a strange form unlike other 

 Hawaiian dishes both in their general shape, which is elliptical, and in having legs. 

 These are shown in Fig. 157 and their shape is so suggestive of some of the Samoan 

 bowls that I have placed a small Samoan tanoa or awa bowl. No. 2150, upon the bot- 

 tom of the upturned Hawaiian dish. All the latter, however, lack the projecting 



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