Note 37 — Introductory material (continued 2)

Wiliwili, Erythrina monosperma, a light white wood forming the ornament or tongue of the necklace. As this has been known generally of ivory, from sperm whale’s teeth, with variations in shell and in bone, the name palaoa is confusedly applied to all alike as an ivory-tongued necklace. This account would imply that palaoa was the name of the peculiar curve-tongued ornament itself, not ivory, the material of which it was formed, though its general use and reference as niho palaoa—ivory tooth—is responsible therefor. ↑