Те Ranet Hrroa.—Maori Plaited Basketry and Plaitwork. 355 
made of braided sinnet, a number of strands being tied to a handle and the 
fended human beings in m s. In Niue it is rare to see Natives walking 
about in the daytime without leafy branches constantly in motion to 
prevent these pests from alighting on them man with any feeling 
by the dead. In olden times one of the weaknesses of the Maori was 
that of keeping their dead above ground for as long as possible: a too- 
hurried burial was looked upon as a disrespect to the dead. Grief must be 
view the cor good deal of trouble is sometimes experienced by the 
Department of Health in obtaining speedy burial in cases of death from 
infectious diseases - ave had to be enacted under the Maori 
the summer, and twenty-four hours in the case of infectious disease 
meet this the fly-flap, that had been discarded for the living, was re i 
or reinvented for t Sinnet and horsehair not being available, 
dr flax-fibre causing more trouble than seemed ne , the 
to ensure swatting a fly that had alighted on a corpse. As the appliance 
from this centre outwards, was wrapped in su 
four limbs of the cross. Reference to fig. 14 will show that the flaxen strip 
is a wrapped stroke identical with that used in the decorative panels of 
houses (6). As each turn of the strip follows the shortest distance between 
of the cross, when the end was tied. As each turn between the limbs was 
made, the strip of flax overlapped the outer edge of the previous turn, and 
12* 
