ISLAND OF UPOLTJ. 85 



body thus ornamented is from the waist to the knee. It is 

 very tastefully done, and one would imagine it to have been 

 adopted in imitation of breeches. It does, in fact, somewhat 

 abate the appearance of nakedness, and thus give an air of 

 decency. It is the ceremony of initiation into manhood. Fish 

 is an almost daily article of food with those who live on the 

 coast. They have various ways of catching these ; they use 

 the hook, net, and spear, and for lobsters, &c, a kind of a 

 trap-basket. They construct also a sort of pond, or inclosure 

 of mats and cocoa-nut branches, leaving one end open. A 

 party then spread about, and drive the fish in, and thus often 

 inclose a large number at once. 



Their manufactures consist of mats, cloth, and baskets. 

 This is the work of women ; they make various sorts of 

 mats — some of the strong leaf of the pandanus, in nearly its 

 full breadth, for spreading on the floor— some of the same leaf 

 split into small shreds for sleeping upon. A much finer mat, 

 the weaving of which will occupy a woman twelve or eighteen 

 months, is woven with the same leaf into very narrow pieces, 

 which are made tough and durable by being baked in an oven, 

 and then soaked in sea-water. The mat is so fine as to be 

 almost as pliable as linen. These are the dresses on special 

 occasions— the common one being like that we saw worn by the 

 people of Tutuilla. They look very rich and elegant, espe- 

 cially when trimmed with red or yellow feathers. 



The Tapa is made as elsewhere from the Chinese paper- 

 mulberry. This is also in extensive use for clothing and bed- 

 covering. They print some of it in neat patterns, and dye 

 some pieces all black, or brown. It wears better than the 

 cloth made at Tahiti. 



Nets are made from the bark of the hibiscus, a tree which 

 is very common. Their construction is very much the same 



