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The Material Culture of the Cook Islands (Aitutaki)

[section]

The technique of the decorative border is overlaid plaiting. The plaiting is rendered finer by splitting the weft strips of the body of the mat into half the width. Thus when the raurahanga has been completed to within four or five inches from the proposed edge of the mat, all the wefts are evenly split from the margin of the completed plaiting and run out to their free ends. The plain wefts of about 8 mm. in width are split into pae wefts of 4 mm. The coloured material is also split into 4 mm. widths to correspond with the pae wefts, which act as foundation wefts. The patterns of the design are worked by arranging the dextral wefts in the two series of recumbent and raised elements demanded by the design, and then placing the pae sinistral in position between them. Upon this sinistral, a coloured strip is laid which thus covers the upper surface of the sinistral. The dextrals are re-arranged into two series for the next sinistral, and upon it another coloured strip is laid. This method is continued throughout. Thus the coloured elements are confined to the passive sinistrals, and do not share in the up and down movements of the page 125
Figure 104.Koviri mat, folded and rolled.

Figure 104.
Koviri mat, folded and rolled.

Figure 105. Koviri mat, lower left corner with bottom end decorative border and left side piu edge.

Figure 105.
Koviri mat, lower left corner with bottom end decorative border and left side piu edge.

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Figure 106. Paretumu mat, showing top left hand corner

Figure 106.
Paretumu mat, showing top left hand corner

Figure 107. Paretumu mat with double decorative borders, top left hand corner.

Figure 107.
Paretumu mat with double decorative borders, top left hand corner.

page 127changing dextrals. By this technique the overlaid coloured elements are not liable to become disarranged and tangled as they would be if associated with the constantly moving dextrals. In the design of the band, the dextrals that cross above the sinistrals show white, while the sinistrals that cross above the dextrals show the colour of the overlaid material.

As the overlaid material shows only on the upper surface of the sinistrals, it is necessary that the plaiting of the pae should take place on what is to be the upper surface of the mat, for the coloured designs show only on the surface.

The body of the mat is usually plaited with the true under surface, or the tua surface of the wefts, upward. Where a number of women are engaged on a large mat, it is usual for some of them to commence a pae border whilst others are still engaged on the uncompleted body of the mat. The edge on which the pae is to be plaited must thus be turned over to expose the true upper surface. For this, a special wooden slab termed a papa is used. It is usually made from the bottom of an old canoe. The one seen in use was 11 feet 10 inches in length and 1 foot 7 inches in width. It is placed with the convexity upwards, across the mat and parallel with the pae edge. The pae edge is turned up over it, and rests on it as on a table. See Fig. 108.

Figure 108.Decorative border being plaited on papa slab.

Figure 108.
Decorative border being plaited on papa slab.

A. Section of papa slab. B. Pae edge.

C. Working edge of uncompleted mat.

Commencement of the Band. The plaiting of the band commences on the left. If the mat is of the koviri type, the left edge of the mat must be continued on in the same line to form the left side edge of the band. This is also done by successively turning in the sinistral wefts as they come page 128to the edge and making them change their course to function as dextrals. There is this difference to the piu twist of the body wefts shown in Fig. 96. There, in order to keep the same surface of the weft uppermost, two turns were made so that the weft was twisted completely round. On the pae edge, only one right-angled turn is made, as shown in Fig. 109A, so that the under surface is exposed after the turn. Thus the sinistral that reached the edge with, its shiny surface uppermost, re-enters the band as a dextral, with its dull surface uppermost. In Fig. 109B, the two lower wefts on the left edge are body wefts, and show the piu twist, but owing to the mat having been turned, they show the opposite twist to that in Fig. 96. The next weft, 3, that reaches the edge has come into the line of the pae commencement. It is split into two, and the lower part, 3a, turned in with a single turn to act as a pae dextral. A pae sinistral, S, passes over it and then the upper part. 3b, takes a half turn over it to re-enter as a pae dextral. As each of the succeeding pae sinistrals reaches the edge
Figure 109. Technique of left edge of pae band in a koviri mat.

Figure 109.
Technique of left edge of pae band in a koviri mat.

it is treated in a similar manner. Fig. 109c. In the narrow width of the band the change of colour only affects the dextrals crossing the triangle formed with the upper left corner of the band, and is not noticed in the more vivid colouring provided by the sinistrals. On the right edge, the dextrals are turned into sinistrals in the same way.
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