314 COCOA-NUT TREE. 



galese split the fronds in halves, and plait the 

 leaflets neatly, so as to make excellent baskets ; 

 and, under the denomination of cadjans, form 

 the usual covering of their huts, as well as the 

 European bungalows. Many of the natives' huts 

 are constructed there, as well as in Polynesia, 

 almost entirely of materials derived from the 

 cocoa-nut tree. 



The Tahitans also plait the branches (jiiau) 

 for screens, or a covering for the floors ; for 

 similar purposes, and also as a thatch for the 

 huts, it is also used by the natives of the islands 

 of Rotuma, Tongatabu,* and other of the Poly- 

 nesian islands. The Tahitans call these screens 

 paua, and they also manufacture neat baskets, 

 one kind of which is called arairi, and another 

 kind of basket called oini ; a shade for their 

 eyes, called tapo niau, is made of the plaited 

 leaves, and placed by the natives over the eyes 



produce abortion, by using a midrib of the cocoa-nut leaflets 

 as an instrument for the purpose ; but this crime is now, I am 

 happy to say, very rare indeed, if practised at all, in the pre- 

 sent state of that splendid island. 



* Baula, branches of cocoa-nut tree plaited, with which 

 the houses are thatched ; they will last two or three years. 

 The matting for the floors, of similar plaited fronds, is called 

 Takapau, or rather a coarse kind of matting made from 

 the young leaves, only used for covering the floors of the 

 houses ; and the screens Tatau, at Tonga Islands. 



