Nineteen years in Polynesia: missionary life, travels, and researches in the islands of the Pacific . they must be articlesof European manufacture. In Samoa, net-making isthe work of the women, and confined principally tothe inland villages. One would have thought thatit would be the reverse, and that the coast districtswould have made it their principal business. Thetrade being confined to the interior, is probablyoccasioned by its proximity to the raw materialwhich abounds in the bush, viz., the bark of thehibiscus, already referred to in describing finemats. After the rough outer surface of
Nineteen years in Polynesia: missionary life, travels, and researches in the islands of the Pacific . they must be articlesof European manufacture. In Samoa, net-making isthe work of the women, and confined principally tothe inland villages. One would have thought thatit would be the reverse, and that the coast districtswould have made it their principal business. Thetrade being confined to the interior, is probablyoccasioned by its proximity to the raw materialwhich abounds in the bush, viz., the bark of thehibiscus, already referred to in describing finemats. After the rough outer surface of the bark hasbeen scraped off with a shell on a board, the remain-ing fibres are twisted with the mere palm of thehand across the bare thigh into a strong whip-cord,or finer twine, according to the size of the meshesof the net. As the good ladys cord lengthens, shefills her netting-needle, and when that is full, works 272 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA. it into her net. Their wooden netting-needles areexactly the same in form as those in common use inEurope. One evening, in taking a walk, Mrs. Tur-. ner and I stood for a few minutes and looked at awoman working a net. Mrs. Turner begged to beallowed to do a bit, took the needle, and did a fewloops, to the no small amazement of the woman,who wondered how a European lady could knowhow to handle a Samoan netting-needle, and doSamoan work. They make nets of all sizes, from the small one
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade186, booksubjectmissions, bookyear1861
