Maori Mat Work. 



93 



Mt. Egmont in a triangle as easily recognized as the innumerable representations of 

 Fujiyama in Japanese decoration. In the lower example in the same illustration, No. 

 1590, the white and glistening fringe admirably sets off the black body of the kete, 

 through which are woven patterns of the Maori tribal tatauing, and these patterns are 

 not less interesting for their coincidence with many of those embroidered into their 

 makaloa mats by the Hawaiian women as shown in Fig. 83. It may simply mean that 

 a triangle is an easy figure for the technic of the mat, but the resemblance is there 



between the ancient 

 decorative forms of the 

 two Polynesian families 

 now at diagonally oppo- 

 site parts of the Pacific. 

 Many pages might 

 be devoted to a descrip- 

 tion of the various waj's 

 in which the long flat 

 leaf of the Phormium 

 is used in garments 

 waterproof and orna- 

 mental, of which this 

 Museum has a fine col- 

 le6lion, but these are 



Fig. 94. MAORI BAST SATCHEL. , . • n i • i 



not strictl}' either mat 

 or basket work, and we must pass to the use of the leaf in basketry where it takes the place 

 of the pandanus of warmer climates. Fig. 93 shows several of these and tliej- are still 

 made of every size and variously decorated. The larger ones in the illustration, Nos. 

 7585-86, are woven inside out from the bottom and then turned, leaving a rough seam 

 within. No. 7588 is, I think, made of Nikan palm. The two small satchels are woven 

 without the bottom seam. The handles of all except the bottom one are of harakake 

 fibre; of that the handle is of twisted leaf. The leaves of the so-called cabbage-palm 

 (a Cordylme) are also used in making these satchels and for other similar purposes, 

 but they are not so flexible as the harakake leaves. 



It is not only the leaves but the flower stems that are useful in Maori mat work, 

 for the panels between the sculptured slabs in the carved houses of the Maori are made 

 of these cylindrical sticks combined in great variety.'^ This is due either to alterna- 

 tions of color in the sticks, or depends on the arrangement of the strips that bind 

 these together. New Zealand is often described as a group possessing a wonderful 



■'Hamilton, loc. cit., p. 86, PL xiii. These panels were called tukiitnku. 



