The butt ends are not specially scraped, though they show a tuft of fibre from the takirikiri process of tearing the strips off the butt end of the leaf. The strips are allowed to dry a little, so as to avoid subsequent shrinkage. The whole bundle of strips is divided into two equal parts. The strips composing one part are knotted together at their thin ends, corresponding to the narrower tip end of the leaf, with an overhand knot. The strips are then separated into three equal parts, and, commencing from the knot, are plaited in three-ply braid. As the strips increase in width the band naturally thickens and widens. The plaiting is continued for about 11 in., when the three equally divided parts of the other half of the strips are added, one to each ply. The strips are reversed, the wider butt ends of the added strips being plaited in first. The added strips materially increase the thickness of the band, until the butt ends of the first set are reached, when the band gradually tapers off until the tip ends of the second end are reached and finished off with an overhand knot. The total length of the band I am describing is, 46 in. Its width in the middle is 2 ½ in. and thickness 1 ¼ in. The part of the band between the tapering 11 in. at either end maintained the fairly even width of 2 ½ in., and therefore the business part of the band is roughly 2 ft. in length. It was thus necessary to have two or three bands to encircle the oven, the tapering ends, being too low, being overlapped by the wider-parts of the neighbouring bands. (See Plate 36, fig. 3.) These braided paepae lasted a long time, and were hung up in the cooking-houses after use. They make a strong serviceable band, but owing to their narrower width the food is more likely to flow over than with the wider-plaited bands. On the other hand, they save the trouble of seeking out fresh flax before cooking each meal. 5. Fire-Fans: Piupiu Ahi. Fans, which must have been well known to the Maori in Polynesia, were soon forgotten and discarded in the colder climate of New Zealand. So far as one can gather, there were no fans used for directing a current of air towards the heated face. The sole representative of the well-made and artistic fans of the various Polynesian islands was a rectangular strip of plaited flax used for fanning a smouldering fire into flame. To avoid the repeated use of the fire-plough, with its somewhat strenuous exertion, the coals of a fire which had completed its immediate work were covered over with ashes so as to keep them alive. To restart the fire the ashes were parted, and the coals, which had smouldered slowly, were fanned into a glow as the kindling-wood was added. The banking-up of fires was an ancient and important method of preserving a light, and is illustrated in the following incident. One of my tribal ancestors, who had been reduced to weakened circumstances owing to the untimely death of his six elder brothers and their warriors, was subjected to a series of annoyances by a neighbouring sub-tribe. This was done in order that he might be constrained to leave the district without an actual declaration of active hostilities. When he went inland, his previous day's catch of fish, hanging up to preserve, were surreptitiously removed. When he went afishing, his stacks of fern-root, drying in the sun, were similarly appropriated. The limit of forbearance was reached when the live coals of his banked-up fire were abstracted. The coala were not put out with water, as active signs of interference would have been noticed; but, like the fish and the fern-root, they simply disappeared—they faded away. The sole survivor of