Beatrice H. Krauss

Softcover, 345 pp.

The first people who settled the group of islands now known as Hawaiʻi had neither metal nor ceramic clays for pottery. Thus, their dependence on plants, both wild and cultivated, was paramount. This book is concerned with the culture of the Hawaiians before the first-known contact with foreigners, and with the interrelation of the people and their plants.

This introduction to the ethnobotany of the Hawaiian culture before contact with foreigners describes the plants themselves, preparation and uses of plant materials, and how the plants and artifacts made from them were used as food, canoes, houses, wearing apparel, musical instruments, medicine, and in fishing, games and sports, war, religion, and burial.