FUNAFUTI ATOLL. 



Baskets similar to, but not identical with that recently figured 

 and described* by the writer from New Guinea, are constructed 

 from palm fronds, as are trays for carrying fish, eyeshades, and 

 rough mats for the floors and walls of houses. Rough dresses, 

 "titi," for working in are made from palm leaves. Temporary huts 

 are thatched with coconut, but pandanus replaces it in permanent 

 residences.! A leaning palm is used to collect rain water (Fig. 3), 



Fig. 3. Method of draining rain water from a leaning palm. 



which trickling down the stem is turned by a wisp of leaves and 

 caught in a wooden trough. The fashion is not in vogue in 

 Funafuti which Danaj describes from the neighbouring Tokelaus 

 as follows: "Water is sometimes obtained by making a large 



* Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. (2) x., 1895, p. 615, PI. Iviii., f. 2. 



f " The thatch of Atupa's house [in Nanomanga] is merely the leaf of 

 the coconut, which is very pervious to rain ; whilst the idol-temples are 

 well covered with the leaf of Pandanus odoroMssimus, the finest thatch in 

 the world. We suggested to a chief that the king's dwelling might 

 have a better thatch. He replied, " The king's house is thatched with 

 coconut leaves, not with pandanus, because he is but mortal." The 

 same feeling formerly existed on Mangaia with reference to this cele- 

 brated thatch tree." Gill Jottings from the Pacific, 1885, p. 23. 



J Loc. cit. p. 284. 



