4.56 Transactions. 



with steel needle, fine cotton thread, and a series of small squares composed 

 of the warp and weft of some soft material, was faced with the same 

 problems as the tattooed tohunga, with wooden huki and coarse strip of 

 flax, standing before a panel of squares composed of rigid stakes and rods. 

 In each case the needle could be passed only through the intervals between 

 the two elements at the corners of the squares, and in each case the stitch 

 had to pass diagonally across the square. Experience taught Maori and 

 pakeha alike that the working of the crossed stitch into patterns was the 

 simplest way of combining utility with decorative art. In the pursuance 

 of art the two diverged. The white child, with the larger scope of more 

 squares and the suggestions of teachers, went on to cross-stitching trees 

 and animals. The brown adult, restricted by space and knowing no outside 

 influence, never ventured beyond simple geometrical designs. 



The actual stitches used in panel-work may be divided into three : 

 (1) cross-stitch, (2) single stitch, and (3) overlapping wrapped stitch. 



(1.) Cross-stitch. — This stitch is the one most commonly used. The 

 strip, after passing diagonally across the front of the rod corresponding 

 to a square space, was taken round the back of the stake horizontally and, 

 emerging to the front, crossed over the first stroke, forming a cross-stitch 

 as shown in the patterns. According to Williams, this stitch was called 

 pukanohi aua (herring's eyes) on the East Coast. The Arawa called it 

 pnrapura whetu (star-seeds). Both names seem to be derived from the 

 fancied effect of the stitch and not from the technique. The Whanganui 

 call it kowhiti (to cross). They also apply the term to a special" pattern. 

 The Whanganui say that the cross-stitches in a pattern shonld be of an 

 even number, except, of course, where an angular pattern demands a single 

 cross-stitch at the points of the angles. The East Coast people and the 

 Arawa do not seem to be so wedded to even numbers. In Williams's 

 diagram of the poutama pattern from the East Coast the cross-stitches 

 form odd numbers. The same is true of some of the Arawa patterns in the 

 carved house in the Auckland Museum. 



(2.) Single Stitch. — In this stitch the strip crossed the squares once. 

 With it, continuous rows of chevrons and lozenges were formed. Williams 

 records that on the East Coast the zigzag lines formed by continuous rows 

 of chevrons are termed tapuae kautuku (bittern's footprints) and waewae 

 pakura (swamp-hen's feet) according as the lines were vertical or horizontal. 

 The lozenges were termed whakarua kopito. The Arawa call the lozenges 

 waharua. With this stitch the single lines are separate and distinct, no 

 other stitch crossing them. So far as I know, not more than three squares 

 were crossed by one stitch. This was probably the result of experience, 

 as too long a stitch would prove an insecure binding, and where unsupported 

 by other crossing stitches would be apt to loosen and be dragged or snapped 

 by catching in other objects. 



(3.) Overlapping Wrapped Stitch. — This stitch s\as primarily used to lash 

 the vertical stake, tumatakahuki. to the middle of the panel. The stitch 

 was made as follows, with the stake in position : Following the course of a 

 single strip as shown in fig. 2, it will be seen that the strip, emerging from 

 the interspace above rod 1, round which it has been wrapped, crosses the 

 stake downwards and to the right. It is pushed through the interspace 

 between rods 3 and 4, on the right of the stake, after having crossed three 

 rods. It is wrapped round rod 3, and emerges to the front through the 

 interspace between rods 2 and 3. It now passes obliquely down to the 

 left, crossing itself and three rods, and passes back in the interspace between 



