44 



NATURE 



[November lo, 1892 



FTere, in conclusion, I may briefly mention an instance of 

 their correct discrimination on the contrary side, clearly showing 

 how well and closely the ancient New-Zealander agreed in his 

 opinion of a plant with the highly civilized scientific visitor al- 

 ready named above, the botanist Forster. Forster named the 

 Coprosma genus from the fetid odour of the first species he dis- 

 covered in the S mth Island, which signification he also con- 

 tinued in its specific name, C. fcetidissima ; this shrub also bears 

 a similar Maori name, hupiro, highly expressive of its very dis- 

 agreeable smell. 



Of their Textile Manufactures. — These were formerly pro- 

 ttiinent among the great industrial achievements of the Maoris, 

 and always elicited the admiration of their wondering visitors. 



I divide them into two great classes — (i) of garments, which 

 were woven ; and (2) of threads, cords, lines, and ropes, which 

 were spun. 



Nature had given to the Maoris one of her choicest gifts in 

 the well-known flax plant {Pkormium), of which there are two 

 ascertained and valid species (P. tenax and P. colcnsoi), and 

 several varieties. These plants are pretty general throughout 

 New Zealand, and are well known to the Maoris by the com- 

 mon names of harakeke, wharamd, wharariki, and tihore — 

 excluding those of the many varieties as known to them.^ 

 So that what they may have lost on the one hand through not 

 having the valuable wild edible fruits of other South Sea 

 islands (as the cocoanut, bread-fruit, plantain, &c.) they more 

 than merely gained in their flax plant, which is also common, 

 and almost endemic, being only found outside New Zealand in 

 Norfolk Island. 



And here I may briefly mention an anecdote of the flax 

 plant. On my arrival in this country the Maoris (who knew 

 nothing, or very little, of any other land) would olten inquire 

 after the vegetable productions of England ; and nothing 

 astonished them more than to be told there was no harakeke 

 growing there. On more than one occasion I have heard chiefs 

 say, "How is it possible to live there without it ?" also, "I 

 would not dwell in such a land as that." This serves to show 

 how highly they valued it. Moreover, at first and for many 

 years the principal export from New Zealand prepared by the 

 Maoris was the fibre of this plant— all, too, scraped with a 

 broken shell, leaf by leaf. 



r. Of their Woven Articles {or Garvicnts). — I do not intend 

 to say much of them in this paper. Many of them are well 

 known, and still to be found in use among the Maoris, but their 

 manufacture has for many years sadly deteriorated : indeed, I 

 have not seen a newly-made first-quality clothing-mat for the 

 last twenty to thirty years, and 1 very much doubt if such can 

 now be made at all. Not that the art of weaving them has been 

 entirely lost, but the requisite taste, skill, and patience in seek- 

 ing and carefully preparing and using the several parts (including 

 their dyes) are no longer to be found among the Maoris. I 

 sometimes indulge in a contemplating reminiscence — an idea — a 

 pleasing reverie of the long past — of great gatherings of Maoris, 

 tribes and chiefs ; and at such times the figures of some head 

 men I have known, clothed in their handsome, clean, and 

 lustrous dress-mats (kaiiaka and aronui), would stand forth in 

 pleasing high relief. The close and regular weaving of such 

 flax dresses, having their silky threads carefully selected as to 

 fineness and uniformity of colour, and their smooth, almost 

 satiny appearance, as if ironed or calendered when worn new, 

 was to me a matter of great satisfaction — a thing to be remem- 

 bered — "a joy for ever." 



Those best dress-mats were always highly prized, both by 

 Maoris and Europeans, and brought a high price. I well 

 recollect a young lady, daughter of very respectable early 

 English settlers in the Bay of Islands, who, when she came 

 across the inner harbour in a boat with her parents to attend the 

 English Church service on Sunday mornings in the Mission 

 chapel at Paihia, often wore one of them folded as a shawl, and 

 to me it seemed a neat and graceful article of dress. 



Three things more in connection with these fine mats I will 

 ust relate : one, the cross-threads in weaving were always of a 



be found here in New Zealand, is al-o used on the Continent of Europe for 

 similar purposes. In some parts of Germany it is dedicated to the Virgin 

 Mary (hence, too, its generic name of Hicrochloe = sacred gravs), and is 

 strewed before the doors of the churches on festival days.as the sweet sedge 

 {Acorns calci7niis) 19. ?.treved on the flvor of the cathedral at Norwich for 

 the same purpose at such seasons. 



I Sir James Hector, in his book on the Phormium plants, enumerates 

 fifty-five named varieties ; but it is doub.ful whether more than half of that 

 number are permanent ones. 



NO. 1202, VOL. 47] 



different sort of flax — the weft and the woof of these mats were 

 not both taken from the same kind of flax ; the second, that 

 extremely soft lustrous appearance was given to the flax-fibres 

 by repeated tawing done at different times — it was a pretty 

 sight to see the various skeins of flax fibres in their several 

 stages of preparation neatly hung up in the weaving-shed ; the 

 third, that in the weaving of one of these garments, if a 

 thread showed itself of a different shade of colour, that part of 

 the garment was carefully unravelled to take it out, and to sub- 

 stitute another better suited in its stead. It was also from this 

 superior knowledge and close attention to their work that the 

 principal chiefs frequently took women who were clever at 

 making those things to be their wives, in order to secure to 

 themselves their valued manufactures. 



They also wove very good and useful floor and bed-mats of 

 unscraped flax-leaves, split into narrow lengths and carefully 

 bleached in the sun — these were very strong and lasting ; also 

 baskets and kits of all sizes. Some of them were woven in 

 regular patterns with black (dyed) and uncoloured flax ; others 

 were skilfully and pleasingly semi-damasked (if I may so term 

 it) by changing sides to the flax-leaves used to form the pattern, 

 the upper side of the leaf being smooth and shining, the under 

 side not shining and of a glaucous colour. The little kit, or 

 basket, for a first-born child was often a little gem of weaving 

 art, and made by the mother. 



Besides the flax plant they had other fibrous plants whose 

 leaves and fibres were also used in making articles of dress : (i) 

 the toil (C or dy line indivisa),o{ which they made black everlasting 

 wraps or cloaks. The making of these was confined to the 

 natives of the mountainous interior, where alone those plants 

 grow. (2) The long orange-coloured leaves of the pingao {Desmo- 

 jc^a^w^WJ-Zzrai/jV), a prostrate spreading sea-side plant, also afforded 

 them good materials for weaving useful folded belts, which were 

 strong and looked and wore well, and were highly valued. (3) The 

 climbing kiekie {Freycinetia banksii) was also used ; likewise the 

 long, slender, and soft leaves of the kahakaha {Asielia banksii), 

 but not frequently. (4) Of the leaves of the common swamp 

 plant ;a2//^ = bulrush {Typha angustifolia), they formed large 

 sails for their canoes. These leaves the Maoris curiously laced 

 together. (5) I should not omit to mention their flying kites 

 {pakaukau and inamtaute), formerly in great esteem among them, 

 and made of the manufactured bark of the d;?^/^ shrub = paper mul- 

 berry {Broussonetia papyrifera), which was formerly cultivated 

 by the ancient Maoris lor its bark. Inferior ones, however, 

 were made of the prepared leaves of some of the larger sedges. 

 They were prettily made, requiring both time and skill in their 

 construction, and much more resembled a bird flying than our 

 English ones. They always served to remind me of those of 

 the Chinese, as we see them in their own drawings and on their 

 chinaware. The old chiefs would sometimes quietly spend 

 hours amusing themselves in flying them and singing [sottovoce) 

 the kite's song, using a very long string. ^ Kites being flown at 

 any village or fort v\ as a sure sign of peace. These, too, gave 

 rise to proverbs, some being quaint and highly expressive. A 

 pleasing one I give as a sample: "He manuaute e taea te 

 whakahoro" = A. flying kite made of paper-mulberry bark can be 

 made to fly fast (away, by lengthening the cord). Used by a 

 lover, expressive of impatience at not being able to get away to 

 see the beloved one. 



2. Of their Spun Fibrous Articles. — These were very nume- 

 rous in kind, size, and quality, according to the particular use 

 for which they were required ; and, while the larger number of. 

 them werecomposed of scraped and prepared flax-fibres there were 

 also other fibrous-leaved plants used by the Maoris, particularly 

 the leaves of the erect cabbage-tree = /« {Cordyline australis) 

 and of the kiekie, already mentioned. Here, too, in this depart- 

 ment, the different kinds of varieties of the flax would be used 

 for making the different sorts of threads, cords, and ropes, some 

 of the varieties of flax enduring much greater strain when scraped 

 and spun into lines than others ; and of such their deep-sea 

 fishing-lines were made. 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 dexterity 

 and rapidity with which he produced his long hanks and coils of 

 twine and cord, keeping them regular, too, as to thickness, was 

 truly wonderful. Some of their smallest twisted cords or 

 threads were very fine. Such were used for binding on the 

 barbs to their fishing-hooks, and for binding the long queues of 



' See an interesting historical tradition respecting such (Trans. N.Z. 

 Inst., vol. xiii., p. 48). 



