THE EVOLUTION OF A MAORI MAT. This picture depicts the process by which the eaves of the New Zealand flax plant (phornnum tenax) (Fig. 1) were converted into the beautiful cloaks and mats of the Maori. In Fig. 2 a woman is seen scraping thie »ong sword-like lerves in order to remove the green outer skin. Irs the next picture (3) the wahine is pounding the roughly-plaited fibre in order to render it fit for the next process (Fig 4), where the weaver is seen at work, with a Korowai mat stretched on the turuturu or weaving pegs, she is putting the finishing touches to the garment in the form of the black threads, which ere one of the special characteristics of this variety of mat. Fig 5 is a Maori warrior of the olden times, his head decked with huia feathers, a carved taiaha in Ins hard, and arrayed in two ot the mcst prized flax garments — the long Korowai cloak and the innei , a Kaitaka, with its beautiful taniko border. The border shows st-veral of the many d«signa of the taniko.
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Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 2649, 21 December 1904, Page 4 (Supplement)
Word Count
183THE EVOLUTION OF A MAORI MAT. This picture depicts the process by which the eaves of the New Zealand flax plant (phornnum tenax) (Fig. 1) were converted into the beautiful cloaks and mats of the Maori. In Fig. 2 a woman is seen scraping thie »ong sword-like lerves in order to remove the green outer skin. Irs the next picture (3) the wahine is pounding the roughly-plaited fibre in order to render it fit for the next process (Fig 4), where the weaver is seen at work, with a Korowai mat stretched on the turuturu or weaving pegs, she is putting the finishing touches to the garment in the form of the black threads, which ere one of the special characteristics of this variety of mat. Fig 5 is a Maori warrior of the olden times, his head decked with huia feathers, a carved taiaha in Ins hard, and arrayed in two ot the mcst prized flax garments—the long Korowai cloak and the innei, a Kaitaka, with its beautiful taniko border. The border shows st-veral of the many d«signa of the taniko. Otago Witness, Issue 2649, 21 December 1904, Page 4 (Supplement)
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