"Plaiter of Matting"
Collection of The Four Seasons Resort Hualalai
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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