TET ETHER 
710 Transactions. 
the thumb-nail. This waste material was termed kaikaha. The two half- 
blades, freed by the removal of the midrib, were held together with the | 
left hand whilst the right thumb-nail split them into even widths, of žin. | 
to lin. for baskets, and somewhat wider for mats. As the thumb-nail 
worked across the blade from right to left the right forefinger and middle - 
finger followed through the openings made and separated the alternate | 
divisions. Holding the butt end of the blade with the left hand, the right - 
gers were simply drawn along the blade to the tip and completely 
separated all the divisions. Holding the mid-part of the blade with the - 
freed right hand, the fingers of the left hand were slipped between the divi- - 
sions and ran them down to the butt-junction. As each blade was dealt 
by the older women, some girls joined in preparing the strips. Later on. 
whilst plaiting the baskets, the women expressed great disgust at the | 
uneven strips preventing neat work, and took it as a sign that the art of 
simple process consists in keeping the blade held tightly and pressing ‹ 
firmly on the strip-junction. If held loosely the strip will run out to 
end of the butt. My first efforts were the cause of much amusement 
my instructresses. | 
(с.) Seraping the butt ends of the strips (kaku): Each strip 
neatly is to leave as little scraping as possible to be done in th 
Where too much butt has been removed, extra time and work are Ш 
ш scraping it off. The shell is held with its outer surface towards th 
and, in scraping, the movement of the hand with the shell is awa 
the body. The scraping of the ends in this manner to remove the € 
and interfibrous matter gives the exact meaning of kaku. TM 
tuft of fibre will be referred to as the “ butt-tuft." 
