D.—Kete Nikau.

The platters and baskets dealt with have been of a temporary character, quickly made and discarded after their immediate function had been discharged. With the evolution of the plaiting craft, we can imagine the early Polynesian craftswomen seeking to invent a plaited receptacle of a stronger and more permanent character. Two fundamental conditions had to be fulfilled. The weft elements had to be closer together and stronger. To get closer plaiting, more weft elements or leaflets had to be introduced into a given length of midrib commencing edge than in the tapora. In the tapora, owing to the crossing elements being provided by bending every alternate leaflet in the opposite way to its natural direction, there was a gap of one leaflet between two adjacent leaflets that ran in the same direction. This gap was filled in to some extent by opening the leaflets out and using them, so to speak, with a single thickness.

The first advance was made by keeping all the leaflets on one side of the leaf midrib in the same natural direction. To provide the crossing elements, the opposite side of the leaf was split off and the butt end reversed. The leaflets crossed naturally and were twice as close together.

To strengthen the basket, however, the leaflets were not opened out and were thus used with a double thickness, the leaflet midrib forming one margin of the weft. To page 182make for neater work, the two free edges of the leaflets on the other weft margin were split with the thumb nail and torn off the leaf midrib. They separated quite easily, as it is the leaflet midrib that forms the strong attachment to the leaf midrib. This procedure narrowed the leaflet weft and to some extent nullified the closer setting of the leaflets but the weft was doubled in thickness and strength. The women of Rarotonga and Mangaia were satisfied with this, but the Aitutakians went a stage further. To set the wefts still closer, they put two midrib strips together with the leaflets running in the same direction. Thus the two sets of crossing leaflets were provided by four strips of leaf midrib instead of two of the other islands mentioned. This made the Aitutaki kete nikau superior in closeness of plait and in strength. See Fig. 163.

Figure 163.
Kete nikau basket.

Upper edge commencement. An advance in technique is further evidenced by attention to details that make for neatness and improved appearance. In the tapora basket, the thick leaf midrib forms the upper edge and is plainly visible. In the kete nikau, the four midrib strips are whittled down very thin and narrow to just carry the leaflet attachments. They are concealed on the inner side of the actual edge, which is formed by twisting the leaflets over each other near their attachments before they enter into the plait.

Two midrib strips with the leaflets running in the same direction are placed one above the other and with the leaflet attachments of one opposite the leaflet intervals of the other, Fig. 164A.

Commencing on the left, the first leaflet is passed over the next leaflet on the same strip. Thus 1 passes over 2, Fig. 164B. The next leaflet is a on the lower strip. It is therefore passed over the next attached leaflet on the same strip, b, Fig. 164C. The next attached leaflet is 2 on the

Figure 164.
Upper edge commencement of nikau basket.

upper strip. It must therefore pass over the next leaflet on the same strip, namely 3. See Fig. 164D. In pulling this leaflet taut, it lifts the leaflet a from the lower strip above its own attachment. As the attachment of the leaflets on the upper strip are close to the upper edge of the strip, all the turns of the leaflets project above the upper midrib strip and conceal it from the outer side. This technique is continued to the end of the strip, the leaflets alternately passing forward from either strip over the attachment of the next leaflet on its own strip and thus forming a twisted edge, as in Fig. 164E. A stronger commencing edge is formed and the midrib strips effectively concealed. The other two strips are dealt with similarly, but commencing from the right.

Plaiting the sides. So far we have dealt only with the check stroke in platters and baskets. The twill is now introduced where the leaflet wefts pass over or under more than one crossing weft. Variety and decorative effect is introduced by changing the twill to twos, threes, and even fives.

The two double strips are placed together with the leaflets crossing. These are plaited together as a sheet until the right depth is nearly reached. The strips carrying page 184the sinistral wefts are on the outside of the basket, or above during plaiting.

In the completed example shown in Fig. 163, the technique consists of twilled twos running vertically until near the bottom, when the direction is changed into three rows of horizontal twilled twos.

Commencing on the left, the midrib strip ends are usually temporarily fastened together with one of the leaflets. The margin of the plaiting is formed by the first dextral, so we must work along it until a working depth is secured. In Fig. 165, A B represents the twisted edge of the leaflets. Remembering that the stroke is a twilled two, the first two sinistrals are crossed above the first dextral and the next two under it. Fig. 165A. The last of these sinistrals, S4, immediately crosses above two new dextrals, D2 and D3. In arranging for the next sinistral, S5, it is obvious that the first dextral, Dl, which has crossed above two sinistrals must now pass below S5 to comply with the twilled two stroke. At the same time, D3, which is two wefts away, must be raised. D3 is raised and the sinistral, 5, placed in position, Fig. 165b.

Figure 165.
Twilled two technique in nikau baskets.

For the next sinistral, S6, the first dextral must still stay down to be covered by two sinistrals. The third dextral, D3, must still remain up in order to cover two wefts. In order that the twilled twos may run vertically the dextral above, D3, must be raised, namely D2, and the result is Fig. 165C.

A continuation of this technique results in Fig. 165d, where a good working edge is formed by the last sinistral, 11. Except for the part near the twisted edge A B, it will be noted that the dextrals crossing above and below each sinistral are in alternate twos. In re-arranging the dextrals for the next sinistral, the recumbent wefts immediately above the upper of a raised two are raised, and of the two already held up, the upper one is kept raised and the lower dropped. In this way the plaited depth is carried to the right in an even strip until the right margin is reached. Then successive strips are commenced on the left and carried to the right until the approximate depth of the basket is reached.

At this stage the vertical twilled twos are changed into horizontal twilled twos. This is effected as in Fig. 166, by picking up the new dextral in each re-arrangement for a sinistral, from below the lower of the last pair instead of from above the upper, and dropping the upper of the last

Figure 166.
Change to horizontal twilled two.

pair instead of the lower. Thus S1 is crossed by the pair, D1 and D2. In arranging the dextrals for the next sinistral, S2, the upper of the dextral pair, Dl, is dropped and the dextral below D2, namely D3, is picked up. As we work to the right, this technique is followed. To get the first line of dextral twills, A, perfectly horizontal, the even line of vertical twills is broken at their junction. The sinistrals here form alternate threes and ones, B. This spacing is demanded by the technique.

Joining the ends of the midrib strip. A row of horizontal twilled twos having been plaited along the top edge of the work, the two ends of the midrib strips are brought together, as in Fig. 167A. The end on the left of the Fig. page 186is the last part twisted and will be found to have the last two leaflets, 1 and 2, hanging down without having been twisted over any leaflet attachment. Similarly the end on the right of the figure, which was the commencing end, has the first two leaflet attachments, a and b, over which no leaflets have been twisted.

The ends are simply joined by passing the leaflet 1, over the appropriate leaf attachment on the same strip, namely a and then passing 2 over b as shown in Fig. 167B.

Figure 167.
Joining the ends of the midrib strips.

When the leaflets are drawn taut, the twist has a continuous appearance as shown in Fig. 167C.

The free dextrals from one end and the free sinistrals from the other are now interlaced as in Fig, 162, but with of course a twill plait until it reaches the level of the rest of the plaiting.

A few more horizontal rows of twilled twos are plaited round the now continuous upper edge until the basket is judged of sufficient depth for closing.

Closing the bottom. The bottom of the basket is closed in three stages.

The first stage consists in continuing the plait across the bottom with one set of elements from either side. Commencing at one end, the first weft, a, in Fig. 168A, is brought over to the left. The first weft 1, on the left, crosses over it to the right. The second weft on the right, b, now crosses to the left. Here, however, if meets a weft on the left that is coming up in the same line. This weft, bl, is promptly doubled back and thus prevented from crossing the middle line. They thus lie together as b and b1. The last weft across from the right, b, is now crossed page 187by the next weft from the left, 2. The weft 2, after crossing, meets another weft coming up from the right. This is turned back, 2a, and the two lie together, 2 and 2a.

Figure 168.
Technique of first and second stages of closing the bottom of a nikau basket.

The technique is continued as shown in Fig. 168A; a single weft crossing the middle line alternately from either side and turning back the weft that it meets coming up on the other side. The plait is thus continued across the middle line by a single series of wefts from either side, whilst the second series, that form the crossing elements in plaiting the sides of the basket, are automatically doubled back to lie beneath the wefts that cross the middle line. Thus on either side of the middle line there is a row of double wefts, all pointing in the same direction, Fig. 169.

The second stage is commenced after the plaiting has reached the other end. The ends of the basket are reversed, so that the finishing end is uppermost and the double wefts are all slanting upwards instead of downwards. The first double weft, a, is brought across the middle line, Fig. 168B. This is crossed by the first double weft on the left, 1. The next weft on the right, b, now crosses 1, and then the next weft on the left, 2, crosses b. In this manner the check plait is continued down the middle line. Comparison with Fig. 168A will show that in A only single wefts cross the middle line. In B, these wefts are doubled back over the wefts that cross them in the first stage, and they now lie underneath. The underneath wefts in A that were turned back and never crossed the middle line, now continue their original direction by crossing the middle line and forming the upper element in the double weft. When the plait reaches the other end the second stage is completed Fig. 170.

Figure 169.
Nikau basket at end of first stage in closing the bottom.

Figure 170.
Nikau basket showing the second stage of closing the bottom.

For the third stage, the ends of the basket are again reversed, so that the end on the left of Fig. 170 is upper-most and the double wefts slanting upwards. The plaiting is a repetition of the second stage, except that each double weft, after its crossing weft has passed over it, instead of being discarded is twisted across the middle line, with the next weft below it, and only discarded after a second weft has crossed it.

Thus in Fig. 171A the weft a has crossed the middle line to the right. The crossing weft 1 passes over it to the left, and is in turn crossed by the weft b. Instead of discarding a, which has been crossed by 1, a is twisted back over the middle line with the next weft 2.

In Fig. 171B the weft a commences by making a half turn and re-crossing the middle line.

Figure 171.
Technique of the third stage of closing the bottom.

In Fig. 171C the weft 2 from the right crosses the weft b and lies above a.

In Fig. 171D, the weft 1, which has been crossed once by b, is twisted across, and the weft c covers it as it crosses the weft 2. It will be seen that the weft a has now been crossed twice. This effectively fixes it, and it is discarded, to be cut off later.

The next step will consist in doubling the weft b across and covering it with 3. This makes the double crossing of the weft 1, which is discarded.

In like manner, each weft after being crossed for the first time, is doubled back with the next weft, and only discarded after it has been crossed the second time. They are afterwards cut off under the outer edge of the last crossing weft, so as to conceal the cut off end. The plait forms a raised keel on the outer side of the bottom of the basket. This closure is absolutely secure, in spite of its loose appearance. At the end, the last wefts are plaited in a free three-ply braid and knotted with an overhand knot. page 190The knot is pushed through some of the wefts and remains on the outer side of the basket as seen on the left of Fig. 163.