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The Material Culture of the Cook Islands (Aitutaki)

Stages of Making Pandanus Sheet

Stages of Making Pandanus Sheet.

(a.)Ka oro te rau, (The leaf is rubbed).
Picking up a leaf with the right hand, the operator passes the butt end (tumu) horizontally in front of the upright stake with the front (aro) surface towards him. Seizing the butt end with the left hand the anterior surface of the leaf is rubbed against the stake
Figure 14.The leaf is rubbed.

Figure 14.
The leaf is rubbed.

page 14 by drawing it from side to side for about two feet of its length from the butt end. This opens out the leaf, which has closed in on drying. The leaf is turned and the back or tua surface rubbed in a similar manner. See Fig. 14.
(b.)Ka tatua te rau (The leaf is girdled).
The rubbed leaf is slipped to the ground with the tua surface uppermost. As it is slipped down, the butt end is brought round the stake and passed under the other part as in Fig. 15. The right big toe is placed upon the crossing place, X, to keep the girdle (tatua) from coming apart.
Figure 15. The leaf is girdled.

Figure 15.
The leaf is girdled.

The next leaf is rubbed (oro) and slipped down to join its fellows in a girdle round the stake. The big toe makes way for each additional leaf and then resumes its position above it.

(c.)Ka tapeka te rau (The leaves are tied).

When a sufficient number of leaves have accumulated at the foot of the stake, a piece of hibiscus bark, kiri hau, is passed right round the leaves where they cross and the bundle thus formed is tied (tapeka). The bundle thus formed is lifted up over the top of the stake and laid aside.

The above three processes are continued until a sufficient number of bundles have been prepared. What really happens is that other workers are carrying on with the other stages. A bundle of material so tied is a tupe. The rubbing stake is now abandoned.

(d.)Ka tatara te rau (The leaves are unfastened).

This is merely the unfastening of the kiri hau strip that kept the tupe together.

(e.)Ka hakatika te rau (The leaves are straightened).

On untying the bundle, the leaves remain bent from the girdling process. They are picked up in lots of half a dozen, held together at the butt ends, flicked out page 15and then drawn from side to side across the bent knee with the back surface towards the knee. This takes the kink out of the leaves and constitutes the act of straightening (hakatika).

With the straightened leaves neatly arranged with the back surfaces uppermost and the butt ends towards him, the kai hara strips, nikau midribs and the au tui needle beside him, the thatcher begins to assemble his material into a sheet.

(f.)Ka tui te rau (The leaves are sewn).
A leaf is picked up with the butt end to the worker and the back surface upwards. About 11 inches from the butt end a kaihara strip is laid transversely across the leaf, Fig. 16a. The butt end of the leaf is bent (hahati—Maori whawhati) over the strip and doubled
Figure 16. Bending pandanus leaves over wooden strip.

Figure 16.
Bending pandanus leaves over wooden strip.

back on itself, Fig. 16b. Holding the doubled over leaf and the wooden strip together with the right hand, a second leaf is placed against the strip, so as to overlap the first leaf as in Fig. 16c. The second butt end is doubled over the wooden strip and maintains the overlap of about half an inch. Holding the two leaves together in position over the wooden strip with the left hand, the au tui needle, with its long diameter along the length of the leaves, is pushed up through both layers of the first leaf on the right side of its midrib. It is carried across and pushed down through the half inch overlap of the two leaves, thus passing through four layers. It is then brought up again through the two layers of the second leaf on the right or near side of its midrib, Fig. 17a. The long diameter of the needle splits readily through the longitudinal grain of page 16
Figure 17.

Figure 17.

a.—Au tui implement used to sew pandanus leaves together.

b.—Cross section through au tui.

the leaves. In a cross section, the au tui lies as in Fig. 17b.
The needle is now given a half turn which puts the long diameter of the shaft of the implement at right angles to the long axis of the slits it made in the leaves. This opens up the slits as shown in the cross section, Fig. 18b., and allows room for the leaflet midrib
Figure 18.

Figure 18.

a.—Leaflet midrib passed alongside of au tui.

b.—Cross section.

to be passed alongside of the needle. The needle stays in position and enables the right hand to pick up the midrib and pass it through the openings made for it, Fig. 18a. The needle is withdrawn and the leaflet midrib keeps the leaves in position in relation to the wooden strip over which they are doubled, and also, by passing through the overlap of the leaves, it maintains the overlap and prevents any subsequent leakage of rain between the leaves. page 17
Figure 19. The leaf is sewn.

Figure 19.
The leaf is sewn.

The next leaf is added in exactly the same manner as the second. The right edge overlaps. See Fig. 19. The needle is passed down through the overlap and brought up again through the new leaf on the near side of the midrib, Fig. 20. The needle is twisted and the leaflet midrib pushed on through the fresh holes.

Figure 20. Pandanus leaf sheet, adding third leaf.

Figure 20.
Pandanus leaf sheet, adding third leaf.

Two or three leaves may be placed in position before the needle is used, but for each leaf the procedure is the same—down through the overlap and up on the the near side of the leaf midrib. When the end of the kaihara strip is reached, the last leaf added may overlap the previous leaf by more than half an inch in page 18order that the left edge of the leaf may exactly coincide with the end of the wooden strip. After passing through the overlapping edges of the last two leaves, the needle must pass through the two layers of the last leaf beyond its midrib. Thus the first and last strokes of the needle are to fix the edges of the marginal leaves and prevent them flapping open.

The line of the midrib stitching is about 3 inches from the doubled over margins of the leaves. It is kept straight and true by keeping the needle the same distance from the tip of the left thumb which holds the leaf butts down as the needle is passed through the overlap. On the other side, the left fingers are holding the leaf overlap against the thumb. If the nikau midrib runs short, another is used. They are stiff and strong and there is no need to join them. Any extra length is pinched off at the edge of the last leaf.

It takes a considerable number of sheets to make a good roof. The builder calculates beforehand how many sheets are required to each row along the roof length. He decides on the distance between each layer or row and from the length of the kaho of the roof framework, he gets the number of rows. He can thus get the total number for both sides of the roof. The ends of the house have also to be considered. When he gets his grand total, that number of sheets has to be made before the thatching commences.