Те Raner Hiroa.—Maori Plaited Basketry and Plaitwork. 713 
the same lady was instructing me how to finish off the top border 
mat. had found, as others have found, that plaiting cannot 
be properly described unless one actually learns how to do it. In the 
ishing process, on turning back the wrong weft, my instructress called 
out, * No, not that one; turn back the left whenu.” “ The left what ? " 
I asked. “ The left whenu,” she replied without hesitation. “ What is a 
whenu ?” I asked with suppressed excitement. “ A whenu,” she explained 
placidly, “ is a strip of harakeke used in plaiting.” “ I thought," I remarked, 
“ that the whenu is the warp used in weaving." “So it is,” she said; "the 
warp of dressed fibre used in weaving cloaks and the strip of harakeke used 
in plaiting mats and baskets are both called whenu.” “ Are you вше?” 
I asked. She turned her tattooed face towards me with an indulgent smile 
and gently replied, “ Have I not said it? Do you doubt my word?” 
“ No," I hastened to say, “ but two hours ago you told me there was no 
such word." “Аһ,” she said, with the faintest tinge of embarrassment in 
her smile, “ we think so much about European matters in these days that the 
old Maori words sometimes elude us for the moment. The strip of prepared 
harakeke is called whenu.” I turned to my European friend and said, * We 
will cross out our previous note, and write instead thereof, * The Whanganui 
Tribe has a special word for weft, and it is whenu.’ " 
The methods of beginning and finishing will be described under the 
various articles. 
he strokes used come under the headings of checker-work and twilled 
ork. 
Checker-work, as defined, consists in each weft passing alternately over 
and under each consecutive crossing weft. is plait is termed takitahi 
(singly). When the butt ends of the wefts have been fixed in a straight 
line the wefts lie parallel to one another. Adjacent wefts are now crossed 
diagonally over each other so that alternate wefts lie in the same direction. 
Those leaning towards the right are called “ dextral" wefts, and those 
towards the left “ sinistral.” The plaiting of the wefts is not done singly, 
but in a series. Alternate dextral wefts are lifted up with the left hand, 
and the right hand picks up and slips the appropriate sinistral weft along 
the space between the dextral wefts that are held up and those that are 
i . The dextral wefts that were lifted up are now dropped and 
those that were lying flat are picked up in their turn. The next sinistral 
weft is now passed between. In this way a series of alternate dextral wefts 
This results in checker-work as defined above. The process may be compared 
eaving. e dextral wefts correspond to the warps, which are separated 
in series of alternate threads, whilst the sinistral we rrespon e 
ing weft which passes through on the bobbin. In weaving, however, 
and this initial crossing is not counted in the following description. The 
first sinistral after passing under the first dextral is bent back into the 
