Three-ply twisted cords

Two kinds of three-ply cords are made from the fau songa and from matiata: a, the ta'a cord made of fau songa is used for the fine lines with the trolling hooks known as pa ala, the thicker lines with the bonito hooks (pa'atu) and for rod fishing inside the reef (seuseu). (See Plate XVIII, C, 3, 4, 5) The three plies are rolled together by the milo process on the bare thigh. New strands are added by direct overlapping on the shortening ply and rolling on the thigh. The fau songa cords, after use in water have a typical pale neutral gray color. b, The name given to the three-ply cord made of matiata bast by a Tau man who demonstrated the plaiting was fatu a fau. The bast was split off from the epidermis, scraped, and dried in the sun.

Milo process. The bast was divided into appropriate thicknesses and rolled separately on the thigh into strands. Three strands were held between the left forefinger and thumb in such a way that they are slightly spaced apart. Still holding them firmly, they were laid transversely over the right thigh. The right palm towards the base of the fingers was laid over the three page 235strands and rolled them firmly downwards or away from the body. The first part of the movement rolled each strand firmly on itself into three separate twisted strands during the outward movement, the right palm having worked over the strands to near the wrist. The left hand slacked slightly and the last part of the movement twisted the three strands over each other into a threeply cord. At the end of the outward sweep, the palm was turned over on its ulnar or outer edge and returned towards the body with a firmer pressure that twists the plies more closely together in the twist already commenced. A few loose twists at the end of the backward roll were' untwisted and the left hand shifted down to hold the end of the section that was firmly twisted. The three plies were separated and held thus whilst an outward and backward sweep completed another short section of the three-ply twist. By these short sections, the length required was obtained.

The join in this thickness of three-ply was made by the doubling over method with the new strand added from below (fig. 125), but owing to the milo technique being used a slight difference exists as shown in figure 127.

The matiata three-ply twist (Plate XVIII, C, 7) is 3 mm. in diameter. The extra thickness gave the cord the strength needed for making shark nets which were anchored off the reef.