The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-01-12

-
10 buy native hat.
Whether there is aught of beauty in
those hats is for the Individual to de-
eide for himself but they have much
attraction for the newcomer and the
aboriginal kamaaina
Few. however. of those who sport the
Island hats ever see them made. Yet
within five minutes ride of the court
house is a little village whose people all
day long sit and weave them and where
picturesque poverty and queer habits
may be studied at leisure.
To reach the odd settlement, one may
go to the Healani boat house and then
follow the seawall for a quarter of
mile toward Diamond Head The place
js generally known as the South Sea ISL
and village and its thirty dwellers are
from some far away knoll in a tropical
ocean. They have squatted on the beach
and tolerated by the owners of the land
have made crazy houses of the fiotsam
and jetsam of the harbor.
Their huts are rooted with old pieces of
tin and the sides are freely open to the
breezes But in peace and pleasure they
srend their waking hours-the men fish
ing and the women always weaving.
NATURAL WEAvERs
Born weavers of hats and mats are
nearly all the inhabitants of the islands
If the Pacific With wealth of mate
rial these people of unique ideas and deft
fingers deave strands of fiber, ferens,
grasses and stripped stalks into the odd
est possible conceits.
Nowhere in the world but in the ISL
snds of the South Seas, in the archipela-
COS of the China Sea and in the Straits
Settlements, and especially in Hawaii
nei, can almost every green thing that
crews in the earth be utilized to such
practical ends. From the grasses that
snring up near the sea shore to the
scraggy bushes that grow near the sum-
mits of the highest mountain ridges. the
Hawaiian makes use of all that grows
above and below ground. If 1t cannot be
eaten it can be woven into something
that will clothe them. or else make
pretty decoration. And what cannot be
used fer human beings the Hawaiians
throw to their beasts of burden or
fowls.
But the art of making hats is one to
which the natives seem particularly
adapted. From a few ugly strands OF
tough grasses. from the delicate hoers
taken from the inside of a pumpkin vine,
or even from the stem of the dainty
raiden-hair fern, hats of the jauntiest
type imaginable when poised daintily up
on my lady's head, are made. The Ha-
waiians work swiftly and easily In their
weaving The strands are braided with
unerring accuracy and the inches grow
rapidly into fathoms almost before the
watcher comprehends the methods en-
ployed.
MANY VARIETIES.
There are hats for men, hats for worl-
en- and hats for children. The styles
may be a trife out-of-date according to
the New York OF Paris modes. yet
these who wear them contrive to make
them becomingiy attractive. But II Is IN
the varieties of hats that the makers
show their skill. From fifteen to twenty
kirds are made and sold without diff
Guilty During the reign Of King Kala-
kaua hats made of the quilts of the pea
cock were much worn. Hundreds OF quilts
were required in the making of single
hat and infinite care and patience exer-
cised in bending the quilts In such man
ner that the contour of the crown was
perfect They were handsome types OF
headgear and the wearers had to pay
goodly price AS high as $40 and in
some instances much more, used to be
paid for them. That was when peacocks
were more plentiful in the Islands than
at present Such hats could hardly be
made now for less than s25.
Then there is the maidenhair fern hat
made from the stems of the pretty fern
which householders delight in fostering.
These are small and exceedingly brittle
when dried and are really the most dlfh-
cult to manufacture into headwear. The
stems have to be wound about with
bread at short intervals in order to Sc
cure the crown contour. When complet-
ed they are quite heavy and cannot be
subjected to rough usage. Hats of this
kind have recently sold for $14 each.
Then the prices dwindle down to as low
as st.50 1t is chiefly the latter hats that
find the largest market both in Honolulu
and on the Mainland. Within the past
year it was the fad to wear the Hawaii
an hat on the Mainland for golf, driving
and outing wear. California was alive
with the native hat and the coming year
promises to- be equally favorable to them.
wound about with a pugarree of parti-
colored silk and pinned upon the hair
with pins made of the old Hawaiian
coins, the Hawaiian hats are always
certain to attract much attention
SOME COME HIGH.
Thirteen varieties to choose from are
almost enough for those hardest to
please. Today there are that many kinds
OF hats made by Hawaiian weavers. 1t
only depends upon ones purse whether
one shall have Iauhala hat which can
be bought for 81 at the most So. to
bi4S ptdCOIk quiz nat at go. ne prices
range as widely as the varieties
There are only two ways of making the
Hawaiian hats One of them is to take
a number Of strands and weave a braid
Of about ten or fifteen fathoms, which
is usually sufficient to make an entire
hat, crown, brim and ALL A day and
half are generally employed to make
single braid, although a rapid weaver
can make it in less time. 1t seems a
pleasant pastimee and is very fascinat-
ing' to an onlooker. When the Hawaiian
women weave they throw all their skill
into their work and few mistakes are
made
weaver sits on the floor of her house
'sSss-ss - i. & sss : z