The Material Culture of the Cook Islands (Aitutaki)
[section]
Mats. According to the elders of Aitutaki, the four first patterns used in the decorative borders of mats were derived from tattooing. These are the punarua. Fig. 118, the viti, Fig. 122, the tapuae mokora, Fig. 123A, and the matautua, Fig. 123B. The viti is the simplest, and is vouched for as vertical lines of dots. It is curious that Kake Maunga did not mention it in 1906. The other three, as already pointed out, do not agree with the tattooing designs figured. It may be that the chevron design called papavaro by Kake Maunga and pa-maunga by Gudgeon4 may have suggested the rows of continuous triangles that form the technical basis of the three designs. Once they were set up in white or black, various combinations developed in a field that was restricted by the technique of plaiting. The various other motives and designs have been shown in Chapter IV on Mats. They show a distinct advance on anything done in the other Island Groups in Eastern Polynesia.
Tattooing. The tattooing motives are very simple. They mostly consist of straight lines. In the ruru pattern, Fig. 308, curves appear, and also in the parepare, Fig. 306. The most interesting is the tatatao, Fig. 307. Here the curves on the forehead and from the nose round the corner of the mouth correspond with similar motives in Maori tattooing.
Carving. Carving on wood was termed pana. Carving was used to decorate wooden bowls, spears, adze handles, page 368and the large atamira seats. No carved bowls or spears were seen.
Adze handles. The adze handle in the Auckland Museum, Fig. 215, was merely ornamented with notches cut on the sides of the pointed head of the handle and the ridges on the enlargement near the base of the shaft.
Figure 314.
Carving of handle of Aitutuki adze (from a rubbing by A. J. Driver).
A, anterior surface. B, side.
Atamira. The atamira seen in Aitutaki was ornamented along the edges of the carved seat by notches. A part of the carving of the atamira in Fig. 45 is shown up in more detail in Fig. 315.
In the lowest section, the U-shaped depressions of the lower row are directly below every alternate depression in the upper row. The effect is the same as in the uppermost section, except that what corresponds to the bodies of the anthropomorphic figures is twice the width of those in the upper section.
In the middle section the motive is raised zigzags, running vertically. A similar motive formed the only ornamentation of the edge of the atamira shown in Fig. 43.
Paintings, Bark cloth. The decorative motives on bark cloth have unfortunatelty been forgottten. The only specimens seen were the plain hapaha cloth that was dyed yellow.
Remarks. The number of examples of carving and painting or dyeing are too few to venture upon a discussion of decorative art motives in Aitutaki. Ruth H. Greiner6 gives a number of Cook Island motives from the richer material available to her. The above few examples are therefore figured merely for record, to assist other workers.