TRADES OF THE ISLANDS 363 



place where it is assorted. The stems are all put 

 together, all the leaf parts in one place; in fact we 

 have a regular system of classification, and in the shop 

 it is carefully carried out. Thus, one of the popular 

 objects is a comical imitation of a human figure. One 

 girl adjusts the body, next it goes to one who puts 

 on the legs, the next fits the arms, and so the little 

 figure passes down the line, beginning wath nothing 

 and ending in a perfect or complete figure in weed. 



"We have," continued the little old man, "over two 

 hundred objects which we make entirely from seaweed, 

 which sell at from two bits to five dollars. What is 

 known as ball kelp is a really attractive ball of perfect 

 shape the size of a child's head, mounted on a graceful 

 club. The ball is really a float and is attached to a 

 vine of enormous length, and can only be found after 

 a bad storm which tears it up in deep water. This 

 we make up into all kinds of things, from Indian war 

 clubs to cups and baskets. 



"A lot of this seaweed is good to eat, if people only 

 knew it. The Japanese and Chinese eat it, but Ameri- 

 cans have no use for it. The only seaweed they will 

 touch is carrageen, which is made into the most deli- 

 cate foods, as blancmange; but there are a lot of sea- 

 weeds just as good. 



"There are a lot of incidentals in this business," 

 said the weed-collector after a pause. "In the last 

 two years I have found two whales. Finding 's keep- 

 ing with stranded whales. One was sixty feet long; 

 it was run into and killed by a steamer. I saw in the 

 papers that passengers felt the shock, and I knew a 

 dead whale would turn up. Sure enough, I saw it in 

 the kelp several days later, and I got a hawser around 



