Te Rangi Hiroa. — Maori Decorative Art. 



457 



Fig. 2. 



rods 5 and 6. It is wrapped round rod 5, reappears in the interspace 

 between 4 and 5, and again, obliquely crossing three rods, disappears 

 between 7 and 8. It is wrapped round rod 7, and continues in like manner 

 to the bottom of the panel. If we term this strip " sinistral a," reference 

 to the figure will show that it has secured, by wrapping, 

 one side of the rods 1 and 5 on the left, and 3 and 7 on i 

 the right. A second strip, " dextral a," commencing at 

 rod 1 on the right, will secure the opposite sides of the 

 rod already wrapped — namely, 1 and 5 on the right, and 

 3 and 7 on the left. This will render rods 1, 3, 5, 

 and 7 fully secured. A third strip, "sinistral 6," com- 

 mencing at rod 2 on the left, will wrap rods 2 and 6 

 on the left, and 4 and 8 on the right. A fourth 

 strip, " dextral 6," will wrap the opposite sides — namely, 

 2 and 6 on the right, and 4 and 8 on the left. Thus 

 all eight will be fully secured. On completion, these 

 overlapping wrapped stitches produce the effect shown in 

 Plate LXIX. This detail would not have been entered 

 into except for the Whanganui contention that originally 

 the stitch was not decorative, but was a lashing of oka 

 vine from the aerial roots of the JcieMe — not to hold 

 an ornamental stake in position, but to secure the 

 horizontal rods in their place in the panel. Certainly the firm nature 

 of the lashing would seem to prove that the contention is founded on 

 fact. 



Patterns and Designs. 



Patterns of the various stitches, in white, black, and yellow, were formed 

 into pleasing designs, especially when the background of rods was spaced 

 in red and black. Where every square was stitched a close design was 

 formed. Variety was obtained by leaving some of the squares unstitched, 

 thus forming an open design. There can be no doubt that the number of 

 original Maori designs was comparatively few. This can readily be under- 

 stood when to the limitation of scope is added the conservatism character- 

 istic of Maori art. Some of the old men of Whanganui go so far as to say 

 that in the days of their youth they saw only four designs in the old houses, 

 and the majority of designs with which we are acquainted at the present 

 day are due to European influence. The patterns and designs may there- 

 fore be divided into two classes — (1) Maori, and (2) post-European. These, 

 again, may be described according to the stitches used. 



Maori Designs. 



(a.) Cross-stitch. 



(1.) The simplest design, requiring no calculation, would be to fill up 

 the < ntire panel-space with cross-stitches. This has been done, and the 

 Whanganui maintain that it is one of the few original designs ; but owing 

 to its monotony it was abandoned, and its name is lost, and I was unable to 

 procure it. The Arawa have a similar design, shown in Plate LXVI, fig. 1, 

 but white and red stitches alternate. The red is modern, but the design 

 and name are old. The name is Te Manqoroa (the Milky Way), from the 

 massing of star-seeds (purapura whetu). 



(2.) The Arawa pattern of alternate colours in a close design is resembled, 

 in effect, by an open design where alternate stitches are left out. This is 



