140 Ka Hana Kapa. 



burn in the stone lamps, and as a vehicle for the paints, for which, however, it was not 

 so good as the oil of the kamani; again this oil was nsed with that of the coconut to 

 waterproof the riding pa'u. There were on these islands several groves of kukui 

 greatly regarded if not alwaj^s in a religious light; such were that near the East end 

 of Molokai where Ivanikaula had his hermitage, and where it was a custom to seal 

 vows by driving a lock of the votary into the soft trunk with a sharp stone, and the 

 grand clump of gnarled and ancient stems near Kilauea, Kauai, where chiefs and 

 people formerly held council together on important occasions. For domestic use in 

 the olden time perhaps the kukui ma}- be placed next in importance to the coconut. 



In the southern islands, especially the Samoan, another tree of the same family 

 held an important place as a dye, as has already been mentioned in the account of the 

 kapa-making of that group. It occurs in tropical Asia, the Malaj'an peninsula and 

 most of the islands of the south Pacific, and as it is a genus of a single .species I 

 include it here with the Hawaiian Flora, as I have the Antiaris, for its importance as 

 a dye of many Polynesian kapas. 



Bischofia Blume. Bijdr., 1168. — Flores dioici, apetali. Discus o. Fl. $\ 

 Sepala 5, imbricata, concava, supra antheras fere cucullata. Stamina 5, filamentis 

 brevibus; antherse magnse, loculis parallelis distinctis medium versus afhxis longitu- 

 dinaliter dehiscentibus. Ovarii rudimentum breve, latum. Fl. ? : Sepala leviter 

 concava, caducissima. Staminodia parva fere glanduliformia interdum adsunt ad 

 basin .segmentorum. Ovarium 3-rarius 4-loculare; styli lineares cressi, integri, a basi 

 papillosi; ovula in loculis gemina. Fructus subbaccatus, globosus, indehiscens, 

 saepius 3-locularis, exocarpio carno.so, endocarpio pergameneo. Seminum testa Crus- 

 tacea (ill vivo extus pulposa?); albumen carnosum; embr}-© rectus, cotj^ledonibus 

 planis latis. — Arbor procera. Folia alterna, 3-foliolata, foliolis petiolulatis majuscu- 

 lis, saepius crenatis. Racemi laterales, prsesertim in $ paniculato-ramosi. Flores $ 

 secus rhachin sparsi v. subfasciculati, brevissime pedicellati, ? longius pedicellati. 



B. javanica Blume. Bijd., 1168. — A round-headed more or less deciduous- 

 leaved quite glabrous tree, 30-40 ft.; bark smooth. Leaves very variable; petiole 

 1-6 in.; leaflets 3-5 in., from ovate to oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, repand-toothed, 

 petiolules \-\ in. Panicles very slender, flowers green, males minute on short slender 

 pedicels, fem. \ in. diam. on stout pedicels. Fruit fleshy on long, thickened pedicels, 

 smooth, size of a pea, blue-black. Seeds smooth, shining, testa, splitting longitudi- 

 nall}', dark brown. (J. D. Hooker.) Five species have been reduced to two in Index 

 Kewensis. Fig. 85. The color of this dye as used in Samoa is shown on Plates 23-27. 



