Original entry: "Braided human-hair rope" Additions: "N.B. This hank is NOT braided; it is twined. This may be a 'heia', a rememberance of honored dead." Fide Barbara (Kenani) Burns: "Called 'whale tooth necklace'" Part of a 'lei niho palaoa' Ivory tooth necklace.
Donor:
Alaska Commercial Company, Benjamin Bristol, and Older University Collections
Collection place:
Hawaiian Islands
Verbatim coll. place:
Gilbert Islands; Kingsmill Group
Culture or time period:
Hawaiian and Micronesian
Collector:
François L. A. Pioche
Collection date:
unknown
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Basketry (object genre), Necklaces, and Twined weaving
Function:
2.2 Personal Adornments and Accoutrements
Accession date:
1904
Context of use:
Used for making 'lei niho palaoa'
Department:
Oceania
Comment:
LEI - 'necklace', NIHO - 'tooth', PALAOA - 'ivory'. Symbol of high rank; insignia of great importance. See Hiroa, Te Ragni (Peter Buck) "Arts and Crafts of Hawaii," 1957, pp. 535-538, Fig. 332, pg. 536. Also p. 569, re: preserved hair.