figures are not different kinds of creatures; they are just art forms of the figure altered or modified to help to make the design the artist had in his mind. So we do not need to look to distant lands abroad or to times long past to discover where these strange creatures came from; instead we can see them for what they are, design forms created by the Maori artist here in New Zealand out of a natural form, in the same way that mediaeval artists made curious heraldic beasts to adora their armour. Similarly with the chevrons; they also are a natural form made into a decorative design. The Kaitaia carving is not the only carving with chevrons; they were used in pendants of ivory and bone. When one of these was discovered twenty-five years ago showing them unmistakably as limbs, the limb-nature of the other pendant-chevrons and of the Kaitaia carving was revealed. So the Kaitaia carving can be looked on as a kind of heraldic shield with a central figure and two manaia supporters, and in between them the finely drawn-out chevron design. This is how we can understand the pattern or composition; what we do not yet know is who the man and the manaia were intended to be; or who the chevrons stand for. There is a story here, as on a shield or banner; some day we may discover what it is.