350 Memoirs Bcniicc P. Bishop Miisciijii 



IMPLEMENTS FOR COLLECTIXG AXD PREPARING P.READFRUIT 



Breadfruit is still the JMarquesan staple, and utensils for collecting and pre- 

 paring it form part of the equipment of every family. These utensils mav he 

 divided into two classes, those used in collecting and transporting the fruit, 

 and those used in preparing" it for food. 



NETS AND CARRYI.XG STICKS 



Breadfruit nets are of two sorts, small jiicking nets and large carrying 

 nets. The picking net consists of shaft and head. 



The shaft is a long straight pole of some light wood, usually fau. The head con- 

 sists of a net woven on a forked stick, one foot to i8 inches long. The fork is tied to the 

 shaft and is bent backward so that it stands almost at right angles to the shaft. The wood 

 of a tough vine is usually used for the fork, the angle being given by bending the wood while 

 green and tying the prongs back to the shaft until tlie wood dries. Within the fork, which is 

 six to eight inches long, a small net is woven having a deptii of eight inches to due foot. Com- 

 mercial string is used for these nets, rei)lacing the sennit of former times. The mesh of the 

 net is large and the knot is like an European square knot. In use. the picker is lifted until the 

 fruit is enclosed in the net : the stem is then caught in the angle of the fork and broken by 

 a slight twist. The fruit are usually picked one at a time and transferred from the picking net 

 to the carrying net. which is hung in the trees near the picker. The average carrying net is 

 about i8 inches in diameter and three feet deep. This net ( PI. i,\'n, A ) is also usually made of 

 commercial cord, although sennit is still used. The top of the net is held open by a hooj) made 

 from a sapling about three-fourths of an inch in diameter, which has been steamed in an 

 earth oven until it is pliable, bent until the ends overla]i, and the juncture covered with many 

 laps of cord. The net is suspended from the carrying stick by three ropes of twisted bark, 

 woven together in the center to form a loop, the ends of ropes being tied to the hoop at 

 equal intervals. The bottom of the net is finished with a ring about two inches in diameter 

 made from two strands of semiit. .About this ring the bottom strands of the net are passed 

 in closely spaced double half hitches. 



Carrying sticks (for transporting the fruit to the house) are simplv poles 

 one and a half to two inches in diameter cut from the nearest clump of fau. In 

 ancient times, more carefully made carrying sticks are said to have l)een used: 

 smoothly finished, and with notches at either end protected hy a raised flange. 

 No specimens were seen, and it is prohahle that even then ordinarv carrying 

 sticks were nothing more than saplings. 



IMPLEMENTS FOR PREPARING BREADFRUIT 

 The implements used in preparing breadfruit vary according to whether 

 the fruit is to be made into mo and stored, or is to be eaten at once. In ma 

 making large numbers of the fruit are gathered and piled up to ripen. The 

 ripening is hastened by ])iercing each fruit at the stem end with a i)ointed stick 

 (PI. LVii, D) or with a piece of crushed bamboo. \\'hen the bamboo is used, it 

 is broken off at the surface each time, leaving a fragment of the bamboo in the 

 fruit. 



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