III. 

 The Industries of the Maoris. 



DEFINITE and well authenticated details of the habits, customs, or 

 manufactures of rapidly disappearing peoples of the world are 

 exceptionally interesting, not only on account of their, intrinsic 

 value, but because of the aid they give in the elucidation of 

 phenomena connected with nations which have totally disappeared, 

 and are only known by the few scattered objects they have left 

 behind. From this point of view, the researches of Colenso^ and 

 Chapman^ on the ancient works of the Maoris of New Zealand are 

 valuable. Mr. Colenso has an experience extending over more than 

 half a century, and was personally known to many of the old Maori 

 chiefs. During his early years he had opportunities to become 

 acquainted with many of their works which have long been obsolete, 

 and are "scarcely known even by name to the present generation of 

 Maoris." Nature provided these people with a variety of plants 

 from which flax can be obtained, the principal one being the well- 

 known Phorminm. The finest flax was used in the weaving of 

 garments or dress mats, the weft and warp were of different sorts 

 of flax, and the extremely soft lustrous appearance was obtained by 

 repeated tanning and the most careful selection of threads of the 

 proper colour. The finest and most beautiful of these dresses are 

 twenty or thirty years old, and it is doubtful if they can be produced at 

 the present time. It is not that the art of weaving is lost, but the taste, 

 skill, and patience in the selection of fibres and their dyeing are no 

 longer to be found among the degenerate Maoris. They also wove 

 floor and bed-mats of flax leaves, cut into narrow lengths and bleached 

 in the sun. Baskets were made of similar materials, and little cots 

 for the first-born child are frequently gems of weaving art made by 

 the mother. 



Flax was also used for making cords and threads. " It was ever 

 to me an interesting sight to see an old chief diligently spinning such 

 lines and cords — always done by hand, and on his bare thigh. The 



1 " Vestiges, Reminiscences, Memorabilia of Works, Deeds and Sayings of the 

 Ancient Maoris." By W. Colenso, F.R.S. Trans, and Proc. New Zealand Inst., vol. 

 xxiv., p. 445, 1892. 



-"On the Working of Greenstone or Nephrite by the Maoris." By F. R. 

 Chapman. Loc. cit., p. 479. 



