Kai n taura
Description: Kai n taura. Suspension hooks. This object is in two parts, consisting of two small 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 sharp pointed tips, presumably for hooking the coconut fibre cords on the roki, or for hooking the roki themselves, to the roof eaves. One hook is slightly thicker than the other and light brown in colour while the other is thinner and dark brown/black in colour. Both hooks would have been made from single pieces or branches of te ngea that had a naturally angular pointed form. Overall both are smooth-surfaced with some slight texturing due to the roughly carved nature of the wood. The thicker hook has patches of the darker coloured bark still attached to its exterior while the thinner one has lighter marks where the dark brown outer layer of the wood has been stripped away.
Collection: HUMAN HISTORYAccession Number: 1936.295Accession Date: 1936Description: Kai n taura. Suspension hooks. This object is in two parts, consisting of two small suspension hooks attached to one another with a short string of te kora (coconut fibre…