THROUGH HAWAII. 
m 
but more frequently white or yellow, intermixed with 
red and black. It is generally worn by the men, thrown 
loosely over one shoulder, passed under the opposite 
arm, and tied in front, or on the other shoulder. 
But the best kind of cloth made with the cultivated 
plant is the wairiirii, which is made into paiis for the 
females, and maros for the men. The paiis are gene¬ 
rally four yards long, and about one yard wide, very 
thick, beautifully painted with brilliant red, yellow, 
and black colours, and covered over with a fine gum 
and resinous varnish, which not only preserves the 
colours, but renders the cloth impervious and durable. 
The maros are about a foot wide, and three or four 
yards long. 
The colours they employ are procured from the 
leaves, bark, berries, or roots of indigenous plants, and 
require much skill in their preparation. One or two 
kinds of earth are also used in mixing the darker co¬ 
lours. Since foreigners have visited them, they have 
found, upon trial, that our colours are better than 
theirs, and the paint they purchase from ships has 
superseded in a great degree the native colours, in the 
painting of all the most valuable kinds of cloth. 
Their manner of painting is ingenious. They cut 
the pattern they intend to stamp on their cloth, on the 
inner side of a narrow piece of bamboo, spread their 
cloth before them on a board, and having their colours 
properly mixed, in a calabash by their side, dip the 
point of the bamboo, which they hold in their right 
hand, into the paint, strike it against the edge of the 
calabash, place it on the right or left side of the cloth, 
and press it down with the fingers of the left hand. 
The pattern is dipped in the paint after every impres- 
o 
