MAORI DOMESTIC ARTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13975, 9 August 1909, Page 3

MAORI DOMESTIC ARTS.

Gradually Mr Hamilton, director d the Dominion Museum, \i ellingtosi, is getting oppoVtunities to display more of the Maori treasures that nave accumulated at the institution-. A newdouble case, UUl't. in length, furnishing 120 ft. of show space is being filled witn various specimens of native domestic art, starting with the modest kit and ending with tiie rare kiwi mat. Flax in different stages of dressing begins the series, and then come the kits, all sorts and sizes, coarse and fine, according to the special uses for which they were designed by their deft-lin-gered makers. Floor mats figure abundantly, and so do belts, once worn by men land women.. One of these girdles is of woven grass, and another has been ingeniously made like a piano string. It has one or two central strands of flax, and then fine flax string is twisted closely around the core. Pupu, or waist mats, are well represented. Some of them merge into shoulder mats, with a large proportion of hacking. Finally, there is a splendid array of valuable mats of dog-skin and kiwi feathers. The Maoris "cured" the dog-skins in ashes. The material was cut up into strips about half an inch wide, and sewn on to the lining of well-woven flax. The idea in slicing up the skin was to ensure uniformity of colour and thickness, as well as suppleness in the finished product. The various component strips were carefully selected to secure the desired all-round evenness.