FLAX DRESSING BY THE MAORIS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 307, 29 December 1870, Page 2

FLAX DRESSING BY THE MAORIS.

The following letter has bean handed to the Evening Post for publication :— To the Europeans : — Friends — Salutations to yon. The women of Ngatiawa, living at Waikanae, have commenced to dress flax, and what they have done is beautiful. They thoroughly clean the flax, and it is the same description of flax that is used for j the para wai, the korirangi, the hana, and all the other fine garments of the Maori, j The whole of the outside of the leaf is taken off, and the flax is as good as wool, for it has been, said that the flax should be as soft as silk! But, my friends, supposing that the flax, is^d.ressed in .that superior manner^ will a good price be paid for it ? It is no i small jworfe to 1 dress the flax ;_ indeed it is very -hard work. f '.-You? .can, if you wish", ' inspect* _ the samples of flax which. haye,.been prepared.., - T „,r , Friends — The flax - dressed by the Maori is different to that dressed/ by machines. The .outside of the *. leaf ■is all taken off by the Maoris. ; the machinedressed flax is very liable to break, ahd is no better than pureke (the commonest description of Maori dressed flax). That is all. I give the names of several kinds of flax : Oue, Raumoa, Huhiroa, Ngutunui, Atiraukawa, Rataro**, Ateweke, and Taririki. All these are very superior; all grow at Waikanae. Wi Tako Ngatata. Waikanae, 19th December. j