Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/76

 52 FIJI AND THE riJIA]SrS. Of these there are many varieties, and the number used is consider- able. An intelligent native, on seeing a mat, can generally tell Avhence it was brought, each island showing a peculiarity, either in the material used, or the manner in which it is plaited. Beside the rough mat made of the cocoa-nut leaf, the women make floor, sail, sleeping, and nursing mats. Large floor mats are twenty-six by sixteen feet, the square of the plait varying from one to two inches. Ornamental borders are from one braid to six inches wide, and display considerable taste. Shreds of coloured English print or worsted, and white feathers, are often worked in the edges. Sail-mats vary in width from eighteen inches to four feet, and in length from nine to three hundred feet ; the usual length is fifl;een or twenty feet. The worst plait comes from Eewa, the best from Moala. Bed-mats may be divided into mats for lying on, and soft ones for lying in : these are often eight feet long, by five wide. The mats thus far named are sometimes chequered with black. A valuable kind is made at Ono, with a plait from one-eighth to a quarter of an inch in width. The native name of this kind intimates that its use is prohibited to FAXS AND SUN-SCREENS. common people. Sometimes a neat angular ornament is wrought into the matting, and one rare kind has a ridge running down the middle of each braid. The materials used in the construction of these useful articles, are the leaf of the dwarf pandaiius, of the pandanus odoratissima, and a rush gathered from swamps. Closely connected with the above is the art of basket-making. The baskets made of the same materials as the matting, are flat and oblong,