Note 207 — CONTENTS. (continued 4)

After the house is thatched, hasten to trim it, else it would be ridiculed as a hale ohule,207 when it is new. The trimming for a house thatched with lauhala is the leaves of the ama’uma’u,208 and this is the way to prepare it: a person goes mountainwards and brings down the dry ama’uma’u leaves, obtaining a good supply before he returns to the house; and then proceeds in this manner: break the ama’u leaf in two in the middle, then bring the top point to join with the lower point (thus laying the upper half of the leaf over the lower half). Keep on in this way until the ama’uma’u is all joined. There are two ways of preparing the trimming; one way is to fix it on the ground on two long sticks, then placed against the corners and the ridge. The second method is to do the trimming right on the parts to be trimmed until the work is finished.