Kai n taura
Wāhanga PacificRā Tāpiringa 1936Accession Number 1936.295Kupu whakaahua Kai n taura. Suspension hooks. This object is in two parts, consisting of two suspension hooks of varying size attached to one another with a short string of te kora (coconut…
Kai n taura. Suspension hooks. This object is in two parts, consisting of two suspension hooks of varying size 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 sharp pointed tips, presumably for hooking the coconut fibre cords on the roki, or for hooking the roki themselves, to the roof eaves. The first of the two hooks is considerably smaller than the second however both have the same standard form. The head of each hook has a protruding, roughly rounded knob and a small groove just below it that keeps the te kora string from slipping off. The long cylindrical shaft of each hook gives way to a sharply angled pointed tip that would have been part of the natural form of the single te ngea branches from which they were made. The tips of the hooks have been pared down to make them more pointed and the overall surface texture of each is smooth with some small knotty protuberances on the smaller hook. Each is dark brown in colour and patchy, where sections of the bark have not been completely removed.