The Cocoanut.

The cocoanut was used for drink, food and oil. In all cases, the nut had to be husked. For preparing sauce, cream, or oil, it had to be grated for all three and pressed and strained for the last.

Cocoanut Husker, paheru. The paheru consisted of a stake pointed at each end and driven into the ground at a slant. The nut, whether green or mature, was driven on to the point so as to pierce through a portion of the husk. The nut was levered away from the stick and the section of husk torn off. The encasing fibres run longitudinally on the long axis of the nut and the pointed stick pierced across the fibres. Successive piercings and wrenchings soon denuded the nut of its husk.

In the legend of Hina, the beautiful sister of the Maui brethren, she is stated to have tried various fish as a means of ocean transport. Both the shark, mango, and the flounder, patiki, proved unsatisfactory. She stamped on the flounder and gave it its flattened form. Whilst riding on the turtle, honu, she husked a cocoanut on a projection at the back of its shell. As a reward for carrying her well and providing this natural paheru, the turtle's shape remained unaltered.

Cocoanut Grater, kana. This consisted of a four-legged stool with a projecting arm at one end, Fig. 60. In ancient days, a piece of coral rock of the form known as aravai was attached to the end of the arm. The cocoanut was split in half. The flesh was grated off against the coral and caught in a wooden bowl. In these days, a piece of serrate hoop iron is used instead of coral.

Figure 60.
Cocoanut grater, kana.

Cocoanut Wringer, taka hakari. Cocoanut oil is made from the mature nut. The grated nut is mixed with various sweet-smelling leaves and exposed to the sun in a wooden bowl. To extract the oil, the grated nut is put through a taka hakari, which serves the double purpose of press and strainer. See Fig. 61.

The wringer is made of wide strips of hau bast with a check plait. The strips are first soaked in sea water and for plaiting are about 23 mm. in width. They are of good length and the check plaiting was commenced at the page 59

Figure 61.
Cocoanut Wringer, taka hakari.

middle of the strips instead of the ends. Fresh strips are added and turned over to define the side edge as shown in Fig. 62. The plaiting continues until the band is about 2 feet wide, when the opposite side edge is defined by turning the strips inwards at right angles to their previous course. The plaiting then continues towards one end for about half an arm span, the strips as they reach the defined side edges being turned inwards. The band is then gradually narrowed by incorporating 2 strips as one. This is continued until the strips have become assembled into 4 sets, when they are plaited with the four-ply round plait known as hiri puna.

Figure 62.
Cocoanut Wringer. Commencement of Plait.

Figure 63.
Cocoanut Wringer. Method of Use.

The other end of the two-foot band is plaited in a similar way for half an arm span and the end narrowed to finish with a round plait. Thus the business part of the wringer for containing the scraped cocoanut, is two feet wide and an arm span in length. Fig. 61 shows a small sampler upon which the technique was demonstrated by the village of Reureu. The ends of the round plait are cut off in the picture.

To use the wringer, the grated cocoanut is placed on the broad band which is folded over longitudinally to wrap up the material. The top cord is then passed over a horizontal support, twisted round itself as in A, Fig. 63 and the end tucked into the band between its edges as at B. The lower cord is passed round a wooden pole handle, D, twisted round itself, and end passed under as in C. Two men twist the handle, D, which tightens up the taka. The increasing pressure expresses the oil, which runs down into the wooden kumete, E.

The taka is also used to express the liquid known as vavai hiri from the scraped bark of the candle-nut tree. Vavai hiri is used in dyeing bark cloth and medicinally. In the latter usage it has a wonderful traditional record. When Tautoru sought his father Varo-kura in the land of Hiti-kau, his head was unfortunately removed before he made himself known. Fortunately, the detachment of his head from his larynx did not impair his power of speech. His father, on hearing the head recite his ancestry, was horrified to find that his own son had been decapitated by his commands. He ordered a large paroe to be filled with vavai hiri. The body of Tautoru was placed in the solution, the head placed in position, and the vavai hiri did all that was expected of it. Tautoru recovered and accomplished further marvellous feats.

The Breadfruit, kuru.

The breadfruit. Artocarpus incisa under the name of Kuru, was born of the marriage between Te Hatu and Pupu-hina. The kinds of varieties named were kuru pae, kuru patea, kuru rotuma and the ordinary kuru. There were three seasons in the year in which it bore fruit. The principal crop was in January, February, March, and the other two in May and in September-October.

Rou kuru. The fruit that were out of reach were twisted off at the stalk with a long pole having a fork at page 61the end, rou kuru. Rou is used as a noun and also as a verb as in Maori. The use of a net attached to the pole to catch the fruit, as in the Marquesas, was denied. The fruit was allowed to fall to the ground.

Titia kuru. Titia is the general term for a wooden peg. A peg as thick as the little finger and from 2 to 3 inches long, was driven into the base of the mature fruit at the point where the stalk was plucked off. The correct wood to use was the purautea, Broussonetia papyrifera. The object was to ripen the fruit quickly so that it became soft, pe.

As there are several points connected with the various methods of preparing the breadfruit, they are here enumerated.