Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/77

 INDUSTRIAL PRODUCE, ETC. 53 presenting an unending variety of pattern. Sometimes double baskets are seen, some covered, and some neatly edged with siimet. " The wicker-work baskets of Fiji," writes the Rev. W. Lawry, " are strong handsome, and useful, beyond any I have seen at home or abroad." Baskets of this kind are made small, and also exceedingly large. An- other branch of the art of braid-work is fan-making. These things, in Fiji, are marked by variety, neatness, and utility. The making of nets next demands notice. The women make theirs of the vine, of a creeper known as the yaka which, after sundry steep- ings and scrapings, is twisted into a strong twine, and then netted. Nets are from three feet to more than three fathoms long, and from eighteen inches to six feet deep. The turtle-fishers make their nets of simiet ; or, when this is not to be had, of the bark of the hibiscus. All have the same plan of netting in every respect as that used in England : the needle is the same, and the mesh flat. Shrimping-nets, seines, and turtle-nets, are used all over the group, and are weighted, when neces- sary, with shells closely strung along the bottom.

Sinnet is a very valuable production, and many tons of it are made annually. It is composed of the fibre of the cocoa-nut husk, dried by baking, combed out and braided, and has hitherto furnished the Fijian with a universally applied means of fastening, lashing, and wrapping : large quantities of it are used about canoes, the houses of Chiefs, and the temples. The kind used for turtle-nets is peculiarly strong. In winding this article, the native love for variety shows itself. There is the plain hank, the variegated roll, the double cone, the oval and round balls, and the honey-comb ball. The usual size of sinnet-balls has been stated ; but this is, at times, exceeded. I measured a roll which was nine feet high and thirteen feet in circumference. One double cone of fine sinnet was twelve feet from point to point, and twenty feet in cir- cumference. Sinnet is used in making the best ropes : inferior ones are made of the vau. In size, the cordage ranges from one strand to a cable, and its strength surprises persons familiar with such articles. The Fijian is also distinguished from all the South Sea islanders east- ward in his potteries, where are produced various utensils of red and brown ware. The drinking vessels are often prettily designed, some being globular, some urn-shaped, others like three or four oranges joined together, the handle springing from each and meeting at the top; others, again, are made in the forms of canoes. Earthen arrow-root pans, dye-bowls, and fish-pots, are in great demand. A very neat bowl is made in imitation of the section of a ribbed flower. The greatest call, however, is for cooking-pots. Several of these are found in every