452 Transactions. 



Art. XLIX. — Maori Decorative Art : No. 1, House-panels (Arapaki, 



Tuitiii, or Tukutuku). 



By Te Rangi Hiroa (P. H. Buck), D.S.O., M.I). 



[Read before the Auckland Institute, 20th December, 1920 ; received by Editor, 31st December, 

 1920 ; issued separately, 12th August, 1921.] 



Plates LXVI-LXIX. 



Maori decorative art, as exemplified by definite patterns and designs, 

 found expression in the following forms : — 



(1.) Tattooing on the human figure (moko). 



(2.) Carving on wood, bone, and stone (whahairo). 



(3.) Painting on rafters of houses (tulii). 



(4.) Weaving of coloured threads in the borders of dress cloaks (taniko). 



(5.) Plaiting of coloured elements into floor-mats and baskets (raranga). 



(6.) Lattice-work in house-panels (arapaki, tuitui, or tukutuku). 



The last division, house-panels, whilst frequently mentioned, has never 

 received the detailed attention it deserves. Archdeacon H. W. Williams 

 has given the best description of the patterns, but, as he dealt with them 

 only as part of his article on " The Maori Whare,"* I venture to add a 

 few details, in the hope that other observers may be induced to criticize 

 and to add still further to the material contained in this paper. 



Decorated panels formed an important finish to the large meeting-houses 

 and the carved houses of chiefs of any standing. A carved house without 

 lattice-work stitched in patterns, no matter how simple, had an air of 

 incompleteness, or even poverty, that the old-time Maori felt was not in 

 keeping with the prestige that a well-carved house should convey. In 

 olden days, when the houses were lined with reeds, the art of panel- 

 decoration was universal. With the change of building-material due to 

 civilization the art began rapidly to disappear. In some districts, such 

 as the East Coast and Hot Lakes, it survived even when wooden walls 

 and corrugated-iron roofs replaced the thatch of the old days ; the Maori 

 form of the house remained. The carved woodwork and painted rafters 

 demanded the retention of the appropriate lattice-work panels. Owing 

 to European influence in providing motives, and colouring-matter in 

 Judson's dyes, the panels, in many instances, became more complicated 

 in design, and, owing to the introduction of greens, violets, and other 

 colours unknown to the tattooed craftsman, more inartistic in effect. In 

 other parts of the country, again, fluted boards and painting superseded 

 the simple but more artistic panels of old. In the North Auckland 

 Peninsula, where the European form of wooden hall with side windows 

 entirely replaced the Maori type of building, the art disappeared completely. 



The Panel-space. 



Before going on to the panel-decorations it is necessary to describe how 

 the panel-spaces are formed in the typical Maori house. To do this I 

 cannot do better than quote from Archdeacon Williams's article already 

 mentioned : " The framework of the sides, pakitara, consisted of upright 

 slabs of wood set in the ground. These slabs, poupou, were from 1 ft. to 



* Rev. H. W. Williams, Jour. Pol. Soc, vol. 5, pp. 145-54, 1896. 



