Trees waving in sudden winds, making sounds like a million tambourines, shaking, shaking, shaking …. Slowly, leaves falter to the ground. The air becomes silent— Until another wind bothers to come. Colin Brown

Heat Sun scorches, air dust-filled, and trees buckle. Piha Tango

The low howl of a dog wakes me in my sleep. It looks at the moon as if it's whimpering for its mate who is far, far away. Gull Baker

Tuis, Melodious music drifting across the sky, out into the wilderness …. Brownie Te Awa

BOOKS

THE ART OF TANIKO WEAVING by Sidney M. Mead, M.A. (hons) A.H. & A.W. Reed, $2.50 reviewed by Ngapare Hopa The first thing to be said about this book is to welcome it on two counts. First, as Dr Mead himself points out, it is a revised and considerably enlarged version of his Taniko Weaving: How to Make Maori Belts and Other Useful Articles. Those who are interested in learning taniko weaving will thus find this book a real asset. Instructions

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are provided in an appendix together with beautifully drawn diagrams of each stage in the weaving process. The interest and value of the book, however, lie beyond these, its immediate practicalities. In fact this aspect is secondary to its main concern, which is to show taniko as an art form in relation to its social and historical background. This is the second reason for welcoming the book. Taniko has been the subject of several studies, but it has never before been examined in relation to its social and cultural context. The introductory chapter describes Maori costume in general. This is followed by a description of the traditional taniko technique, the materials used, and their detailed preparation. An analysis of the technique itself is shown as a local development from the ‘single pair twine’ common to other areas of Polynesia. The next chapter is devoted to the historical development of the art and discusses the changing character of taniko through three time periods—the Classical, Transitional and Modern. Here Dr Mead demonstrates a clearly identifiable sequence of change, which incidentally is concomitant with changes in the social organisation of the people. New motifs and particularly, new materials are combined with the traditional, becoming only minor additions at first, but eventually displacing the traditional materials and techniques altogether. Traditional patterns or arrangements of the same appear to be the only elements to resist change. This is evident in the fact that today, modern patterns which may incorporate new motifs, are still based upon the classical inventory of motifs. The following chapter is a provocative discussion of style and is further highlighted by the presentation for the first time of the little known pre-classical style of taniko. Contrary to assumptions which have been made concerning its simplicity, it is here