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The Material Culture of the Cook Islands (Aitutaki)

Native Red Dye, Rarotonga

Native Red Dye, Rarotonga.

The papa strips are prepared as described. The roots of the nono were scraped and the juice expressed or squeezed out (kumu) through a piece of cocoanut palm (kaka) into a wooden bowl. This was mixed with coral lime. The papa was then soaked in the mixture until it had assumed the right depth of colour. The red is somewhat dark (muramura kerekere) and rot nearly so bright as the European dyes. The papa strips were then dried.

An earth oven was prepared of not too great a heat. The stones were covered with leaves, the papa strips placed on them and the oven covered with more leaves. The heat fixed the dye.

page 123

Some people maintain that the dyeing with red was introduced from Manihiki. The Manihiki people are also credited with the introduction of the use of lime in these solutions. It is also said that the dyed papa strips were originally traded from Manihiki in exchange for the black strips of the plantain, which does not grow in the Northern Islands. Be that as it may, the technique is certainly native and thus worthy of reference.