LY: 
The Industries of the Maoris. 
EFINITE 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 Phormium. 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. Tyrans. and Proc. New Zealand Inst., vol. 
xxiv., P. 445, 1892. 
2«On the Working of Greenstone or Nephrite by the Maoris.” By F. R. 
Chapman. Loc. cit., p. 479. 
