Te Rangi Hiroa. — Maori Decorative Art. 455 



Tumatakahuki. — Archdeacon Williams points out that in all well-made 

 panels a vertical stake, called a tumatakahuki, passed down the middle of 

 the panel and was fixed to the face of the rods by a special stitch. The 

 Whanganui people maintain that the purpose of the stake was to keep 

 the transverse rods in position, the ends of the stake being fixed behind 

 the upper and lower cross-pieces of the panel. The stake consisted of a 

 rounded piece of wood, which was sometimes replaced by lengths of aka 

 vine where the decorative effect of bulging out the stitching was all that 

 was desired. 



Method of Stitching. 



The process of threading the strips of flexible material between and 

 around the stakes and rods has been termed " stitching " by Archdeacon 

 Williams. The Maori use the word tui, or tuitui, for the process ; and, 

 whilst this may mean either threading or stitching, it is now generally 

 applied to the latter. The Whanganui call the decorative pattern a tui, 

 as, He aha te tui o te whare o mea ? (What is the stitching of the house of 

 So-and-so ?) The Arawa apply the term tuitui not only to the pattern 

 but also to the entire panel. 



The stakes and rods being in position, the tohunga, or skilled craftsman, 

 took up his position inside the house, whilst an assistant stood outside 

 with strips of material. The tohunga was responsible for the patterns, 

 whilst the assistant might be entirely ignorant of them. A woman could 

 act as an assistant outside, but she could on no account enter the house 

 until after its completion, and after the ceremony for removing the tapu 

 had been performed. The tohunga used a wooden implement, rakau hei tui 

 (stick for stitching). One end was sharpened, whilst the other was rounded 

 and had a loop of flax through it with which to hang it on the wrist. It was 

 called a huki. The tohunga, having decided on his pattern, thrust the huki 

 through one of the interspaces between the rods and stakes, and the assistant 

 followed the huki with a strip of material. The tohunga returned it through 

 the appropriate interspace, and so the process went on. In modern times 

 the panels have been completed separately and then fitted into the panel - 

 space. 



Stitches or Strokes. 



It will be evident from the arrangement of stakes and rods that the 

 rods fill up the interior surface of the panel ; enough of the stakes (kakako) 

 can, however, be seen in the slight intervals between the rods to indicate 

 the* spaces between them. The whole panel- Hfilfllfi) 



surface is therefore divided up into a number 

 of small regular squares — or, strictly speaking, Rods 

 rectangles, as the stakes and rods are rarely 

 exactly the same in width. The Maori crafts- 

 man had before him a series of squares upon 

 which to stitch the patterns that the limita- 

 tions of scope and experience allowed. It is 



interesting for the Maori to know that the pakeha, in the evolution 

 of the individual, commenced the art of stitching at exactly this stage. 

 Some few years ago the first lesson that pakeha girls received in sewing 

 was upon a piece of canvas or material woven in a coarse plain check — 

 that is, in small squares. Upon this material the white child sewed 

 her first sampler. In Barrie's play " Peter Pan " the drop-scene was 

 painted to represent the little heroine's first sampler. The white child, 



