MATERIALS FOR MATS AND BASKETS. 355 



hardly ever fails to record it. The Voivoi or Kiekie 

 (Pandanus caricosus, Rumph.) is a stemless species, with 

 leaves ten to twelve feet long, which delights in swampy 

 localities of the forests, and is occasionally cultivated to 

 meet the demand. Fans, baskets, and the finest mats 

 even those on which newly-born babes, naked as they 

 are for more than a twelvemonth, are carried are made 

 of its bleached leaves. Occasionally neat patterns are 

 worked in, by introducing portions of the material dyed 

 black, whilst the borders of highly-finished mats are 

 tastefully ornamented with the bright-red feathers of 

 the Kula, a parroquet (Coriphilus solitarius, Latham) 

 not found in the groups eastward of Fiji, and therefore 

 highly esteemed by the inhabitants of those islands. The 

 bleached leaves are also employed for decorating the 

 body, being tied by the men over their head-dress (sala), 

 around their breast, upper part of the arms, wrists, and 

 above the calves. The custom is not restricted to any 

 particular class, but freely practised by all, serfs, com- 

 moners, and chiefs, when they go to war, or wish to 

 look smart. The bright-coloured leaves of the Ti kula 

 (Dracaena ferrea, Linn., var.), and a number of flowers, 

 ferns, and leaves, are used by both sexes as wreaths, 

 garlands, necklaces, and similar ways, evidently showing 

 their great love for flowers and graceful foliage. A cer- 

 tain kind of mats, worn as articles of clothing, are called 

 " Kuta," from a species of sedge (Elceocliaris articulata, 

 Nees ab Esenb.), supplying materials for them, growing 

 in swamps to the height of six feet or more, and going 

 either by that name or by that of Ya. Baskets are also 

 made of the leaves of the cocoa-nut palm, and the stem 



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