318 COCOA-NUT TREE. 



digging', fishing, Sec, in order to save their 

 bark cloth, would join several portions of this 

 net-work together, and having a hole in the 

 centre, in a manner similar to their mat-gar- 

 ment, called Tiabuta, wear it as an article of 

 apparel, merely for the time in which they may 

 be engaged in those occupations. It is certainly 

 a garment, neither to be admired for its flexibi- 

 lity or firmness, but better calculated for fisher- 

 men, or those occupied in the water, as it will 

 not be destroyed by wet, whereas their bark 

 cloth would be utterly destroyed in the water, 

 its substance resembling paper, both in strength 

 and appearance.* 



This fibrous net-work must also act as a secu- 

 rity to the huge fronds, against the violence of 

 the winds ; and a valuable precaution, by which 

 the sudden fall of the branch is prevented, which 

 otherwise might endanger the lives of those 

 passing under the trees ; it is not uncommon to 

 see the dead branches hanging from the trees 

 perfectly dry, attached to the trunk onty by this 

 tenacious substance, and even then it requires no 

 little muscular exertion to bring them down. 



When a large bunch of the fruit is seen pend- 

 ing from, apparently, so fragile a stalk, it seems 

 as if it were an impossibility that it could sup- 

 * This substance is also used for small bags. 



