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The Material Culture of the Cook Islands (Aitutaki)

Three-strand Ropes

Three-strand Ropes.

(1).Three-strand Twisted Ropes, taura rahiri.

In these, the strands were composed of wider strips of bast, generally of hau. Sinnet fibre owing to its shortness was unsuitable to this technique. Each strip of material was twisted on itself by the right hand to form a rounded cord. The ends were held by someone or tied to something. When a couple of inches had been twisted, the strand was held with the left hand, whilst the right hand twisted another strand in a similar manner. The second twisted strand was then twisted round the first, passing over it from right to left. As the two hands could only conveniently manage two strands at a time in this method, it was usual to twist two strands together for some distance, and then deal with the third constituent separately. The right hand seized a strip about an inch or so below the crossing of the cords and twisted it closely into a round cord by twisting the hand outwards by supinating the wrist. The twisted part was brought over to the left, where it was held by the left hand. The right hand seized the other strip from the back of the other, twisted it in a similar manner and crossed it to the left where it was held by the left, whilst the right page 66again seized the other strip from the back. Thus by successive supinating twists of the right hand, changing hands and picking up the strip from the back, a two-ply twisted cord was made. This technique was termed taviri or takaviri and though the results are the same, it is in marked distinction to the hiro technique which produced a two-ply twisted cord by rolling on the bare thigh. The latter is of course impossible with thick strands.

The third strand is twisted in a similar manner, and spirally twisted along one of the grooves formed between the previous two strands. See Fig. 67C, in which part of the third strand is left untwisted. Above its junction the rope is three-ply, and below, two-ply. The three-strand twisted rope is called a taura rahiri. It is very strong, which is expressed in the pehe

"Ei rahiri to kaha
Huti koe, vera ake to rima."

Let a rahiri be your rope,
You may haul till you burn your hands.

This implies of course that you may haul on the rope until you burn your hands with the friction, but it will not break. Also we note that kaha is used sometimes as a general term for rope as well as in its special meaning for sinnet braid.

(2).Three-strand Braid Rope, tauna hiri.

In braided sinnet ropes, owing to the thicker strands, the elements cannot be readily manipulated between the finger and the thumb. One end is therefore fixed to a support and the plaiting works towards the body of the worker. In this position, it is easier to alternately bring the side strands over the middle strand into the middle place. What really happens is that the strands have to be well pulled out to the sides to tighten up the work, so that there are two strands on one side, and one on the other. The posterior one of the pair is simply crossed over the one in front of it on its way to the other side, and this is done alternately on either side. This is shown in Fig. 66. In A, the strand 1 has just crossed 3, which was in front of it, and passed over to the left. Of the pair on the left, the posterior strand 2 is crossed over the one in front of it, namely 1, on its way across as in B. This now puts the pair page 67on the right. The posterior strand 3 is carried over its front strand 2 on its way to the left, as in C. Of the pair on the left, 1 will cross 3, and so on.

Figure 66. Plaiting a three-ply braid rope.

Figure 66.
Plaiting a three-ply braid rope.

Another difference is that both hands are free and take part in actively moving the strands, the right hand with the pairs on the right and the left with those on the left. Thus in Fig. 66A, the right hand brought strand 1 over from the right and then holds the point where it crossed, as indicated by the arrow. This is to prevent unravelling or loosening. The left hand now seizes 2, brings it across to right, where it is temporarily held by the right. The left hand lets go 2 and then holds the crossing shown by the arrow in B. This frees the right hand which seizes the posterior strand 3 on the right, and brings it across as in C. The strand 3 is temporarily held by the left hand. The right lets go 3, and holds the crossing shown by the arrow in C. This frees the left hand to deal with the posterior element 1 of the left hand pair, and so the process goes on.

The above obvious and well-known detail is described to emphasise the error of confusing an exactly similar appearance with exactly similar methods of technique. The relative relationship between the strands of a sinnet braid cord and a sinnet braid rope may be identical, but pulling the middle strand under the laterals whilst working away from the body, is surely a different technical method to pulling the laterals over the middle strand whilst working towards the body. Here the difference in method was due to the difference in quantity of material.

Besides sinnet fibre, the various barks used in making cords were also used for braided ropes. See Fig. 67A.

page 68

Braided ropes are termed taura hiri and hiri applies to braiding as distinct from taviri, twisting. In Maori, whiri applies to the plaiting of ropes as distinct from the plaiting of baskets and mats. It includes twisted ropes as well as braided ones.

Figure 67.Ropes of hau bark.

Figure 67.
Ropes of hau bark.

A.—Three-ply braid, taura hiri. B.—Four-ply taura puna.

C.—Three-ply twist, taura rahiri. D.—Pig rope, taura puaka.