Kai n taura

Kai n taura. Suspension hooks. This object is in two parts, consisting of two medium sized suspension hooks attached to one another with a short string of te kora (coconut fibre cord) tied around the head of each hook. The hooks are used to suspend roki or coconut frond mats used as screens or blinds within the house. These roki are often woven from two rows of coconut leaf pinnules, to form mats that are tied together, several at a time, on cords of coconut fibre which are then fastened inside the roof eaves of dwelling and meeting houses so that they may be lowered as blinds, slightly overlapping one another, during bad weather. The hooks themselves are fashioned from te ngea wood (ironwood) and feature pointed tips, presumably for hooking the coconut fibre cords on the roki, or for hooking the roki themselves, to the roof eaves. One hook has a slightly thicker pointed tip than the other, and is also brown/grey in colour, whereas the other is dark brown/ black. The lighter coloured hook has a groove a centimetre and a half below the head of the hook where te kora string is secured. On the dark brown/black hook there is a knotty protuberance at the head of the hook that also keeps the te kora cord from slipping off. The exterior of each hook is smooth for the most part but roughly carved and one has a slight crack in its body.