Mat Sails of the Pacific. 27 



hibits in the Bishop Museum . The strip of mat has four dark strands 

 of dyed Hibiscus fibre woven in on top of the usual strands of Pan- 

 danus ; this is a favorite method of ornamentation among the Mar- 

 shall Islanders. The weaving commenced on the left side, and 

 the strands were cut to about twenty inches in length, being long 

 enough to pass round the three strands of Pandanus used to form 

 the border at the right and reach the left edge again, where after 

 being woven in about half an inch they were trimmed off. It 

 might be noticed that at regular intervals along the left-hand 

 border some strands were allowed to protrude ; at this edge, as 

 stated, the fresh strands were applied, and when secured four ends 

 out of every seven were trimmed off ; the three remaining butts 

 being left to guide the weaver in inserting the black ornamental 

 strands. This strip is 4^ inches wide, while the breadth of the 

 strands varies from -^-^^ to yk inch. 



Having woven a great length of sail the strips were placed 

 together with edges overlapping and sewed with a thread made 

 from coconut fibre or twisted Pandanus, the ends of the strips, on 

 the edges of the sail being turned under and doubly sewed with 

 the coconut fibre, which material is also used to bend the sail to 

 the spars. A sail made in this fashion is very strong and will 

 stand a great strain. It is about twice as heavy as an ordinary 

 mat, and little heavier than canvas, and if wet becomes danger- 

 ous to use when suspended from the mast. The Micronesians in a 

 rain storm prefer to lower the sail and roll it up in an envelope of 

 Pandanus or banana leaves which they generally carry for that 

 purpose. 



The Hawaiian sail was made in strips, but that of Tahiti seems 

 to have been composed of several large square mats .sewn together, 

 and could not have been a very strong combination. The New 

 Zealand sails were made of strips of the "flax" matting or cloth 

 and sewn together, and a handsome pattern of ornamentation fre- 

 quently introduced, i.e., that of the "bent knee." In all cases the 

 work of weaving devolved on the women, while the men attended 

 to the sewing and shaping of the sail. 



The question may arise, "Why was it necessarj' to use mats of 

 any kind for sails? Was there no other material?" The only 

 other material within reach of the Pacific Islanders was the paper 

 cloth beaten out from the bark of various trees and called Kapa in 



