50 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 38 



nature. In its simplest terms the pa-ii was a mere fringe of vegetable 

 fibers. A^Tien placed as the shield of modesty about the loins of a 

 woman of rank, or when used as the full-dress costume of a dancing 

 girl on a ceremonious occasion, it took on more elaborate forms, and 

 was frequently of tafa^ a fabric the finest specimens of which would 

 not liaAT shamed the wardrobe of an empress. 



In the costuming of the hula girl the same variety obtained as in 

 the dress of a woman of rank. Sometimes her pa-u would be only a 

 close-set fringe of ribbons stripped from the bark of the hibiscus 

 (Aaw), the tl leaf or banana fiber, or a fine rush, strung upon a thong 

 to encircle the waist. In its most elaborate and formal style the pa-u 

 consisted of a strip of fine tapa several yards long and of width to 

 reach nearly to the knees. It was often delicately tinted or printed, 

 as to its outer part, with stamped figures. The part of the tapa skirt 

 thus printed, like the outer, decorative one in a set of tapa bed-sheets, 

 was termed the Mlohana. 



The pa-u worn by the danseuse, when of tapa, was often of such 

 volume as to balloon like the skirt of a coryj^hee. To put it on was 

 quite an art, and on that account, if not on the score of modesty, a 

 portion of the halau was screened off and devoted to the use of the 

 females as a dressing room, being known as the unu-lau-koa, and to 

 this f)lace they repaired as soon as the kumu gave the signal for 

 dressing. 



The hula pa-u of the women was worn in addition to that of daily 

 life; the hula pa-u of the men, a less pretentious affair, was worn 

 outside the malo, and in addition to it. 



The method of girding on the pa-u was peculiar. Beginning at 

 the right hip — some say the left — a free end was allowed to hang 

 quite to the knee; then, passing across the back, rounding the left 

 hip, and returning by way of the abdomen to the starting point, 

 another circuit of the waist was accomplished; and, a reverse being 

 made, the garment was secured by passing the bight of the tapa be- 

 neath the hanging folds of the pa-u from below upward until it 

 slightly protruded above the border of the garment at the waist. 

 This second end was thus brought to hang down the hip alongside of 

 the first free end ; an arrangement that produced a most decorative 

 effect. 



The Hawaiians, in their fondness for giving personal names to 

 inanimate objects, named the two free ends (apua) of the pa-u re- 

 spectively Ku-kdjJu-ula-ha-ldni and Lele-a-mahiCi. 



According to another method, which was simpler and more com- 

 monly employed, the piece was folded sidewise and, being gathered 

 into pleats, a cord was inserted the length of the fold. The cord 

 was passed about the waist, knotted at the hip, and thus held the 

 garment secure. 



