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A master craftswoman plaits
(ulana) a fine-weave lauhala mat (lau means leaf,
hala is the pandanus tree). She is seated on a coarse mat, but as the
fine mat is enlarged she will move forward over it. Her head
lei
is made of seed keys of the ripe hala fruit. Fine mats were sometimes
plaited with intricate designs using strips of dyed lauhala, and were
often of great size. Very fine mats were also made from makaloa, a
native sedge. Baskets, as pictured at right, were plaited from lauhala
as well as from the aerial rootlets of the 'ie'ie plant.
Three women work behind her in the shade of a
kou tree. At
left, hala leaves are whitened by being passed through smoke over a
smudge fire of chunks of hala wood. At upper left, children gather
fallen leaves from a hala grove. At upper right a woman with a sharpened
shell knife scrapes the leaves to smooth and clean them (knives of split bamboo
were also used). Thorny edges are stripped off the leaves. At extreme right, a
girl winds leaves into coils for storage until they are needed for plaiting,
moistening the dried leaves and alternately rolling them first in one
direction, then the other, to make them pliable. The leaves are split into
strips of the desired width before plaiting.
In the distance a canoe puts to sea, powered by a sail of lauhala
matting. Tightly plaited and fitted mats were lashed over canoe hulls in rough
weather to keep out the sea. In places where fresh water springs and streams
were scarce, mats conducted rain water to collect in gourds. Matting was also
used to roof temporary shelters while traveling, and for clothing in cold or
wet weather. Commoners frequently wore protective capes of strong matting into
battle.
Page 57, Ancient Hawaii
Order Hawaiian orchid
lei.
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Link to mini-tour of Old Hawaii