76 



Ka Hana Kapa. 



\ 



a sharpeuiug (the original edge was sharp enough, but the new edge attained needed 

 a bevel, and probabl}^ it was soon found that one angle was better than another); then 

 came the rectangular form; and the last improvement that has 

 been noticed was the addition of a strip of wood or fibre to the 

 nearer edge to protect the hand of the operator. All this grind- 

 ing and sharpening was a slow process, prolonged rubbing on a 

 suitable stone surface, usually a block of phonolite. 



I have not been able to learn which, shell or bone, was pre- 

 ferred by the native workman, but as the scrapers in considerable 

 number preserved in this Museum are about eqiially divided, there 

 was probabl}- no marked preference. 



The anvil for these scrapers was, like the stone adz used in 

 cutting the twigs, a tool by no means peculiar to the kapa-niaking. 

 Primarilv it was used for scraping olona {Tonc/iaiiha lati/oliii),^^ 

 fibrous plant from which were spun the durable and much prized 

 cords used for the best fishing lines and nets, and exclusively for 

 the finer nets to whicli were attached the feathers of the Hawaiian 

 feather cloaks. From this use the long smooth strips of wood 

 shown in Fig. 31 were called hiaii kalii olona^ wood on which olona 

 is scraped; like so many of the primitive implements they had to 

 serve various uses, and the^- never became specialized for the kapa- 

 makers. Their length varied from 65 to S9 inches, their width 

 from 2.5 to 10 inches. Only the upper face, which was slightly 

 curved on its longitudinal axis, was finished to a smooth surface 

 wliich use tended to keep fairly polished. It was usually wider at 

 the base tluin at the distal end where the sides were sharply con- 

 tracted for the attachment of a hank of fibre wliich was caught on 

 the sharp point. The use of this board in the olona manufacture 

 has been figured in PI. XV of \'ol. II of these Memoirs: when 

 serving for the decortication of waoke, mamaki or other bark in 

 kapa-making, the position was varied to suit the length of bark. 



Although the Hawaiians were not used to decorate, as did 

 their kinsmen the Maori of New Zealand, their common tools, 

 there are in this Museum some ( as Nos. 735 and 739 ) showing 

 slight ornamentation in the wa}- of regular notches on the under 

 edge. Such decorated laau kalii olona were rare and belonged to 

 the higher chiefs. Other peculiarities noticed are great width at the base, and a more 

 than usual convex surface (No. 9413 is 7.5 inches wide at base, and 89 inches long, and 



Fig. 31. LAAU KAHI 

 OLONA. 



