On the other hand, the dyed patterns on the reed wainscoting, and the carvings on the posts, lintel and boards, showed real beauty and a true sense of line and curve.
Still less reason is there to find fault with their canoes, the larger of which were not only strangely picturesque, but, urged by as many as a hundred paddles, flew through the water at a fine speed, or under sail made long coasting voyages in seas that are pacific only in name.
To the carving on these crafts the savage artists added decoration by red ochre, strips of dyed flax, gay feathers and mother-o'-pearl.

Both the building of the canoes and their adornment entailed long months of labour.

So did the dressing of the fibre of the flax and palm-lily, and the weaving therefrom of "mats" or mantles, and of kirtles.

Yet the making of such ordinary clothing was simple indeed compared to the manufacture of a chief's full dress mat of _kiwi_ feathers.

The soft, hairy-looking plumage of the _kiwi_ (apteryx) is so fine, each feather so minute, that one mantle would occupy a first-rate artist for two years.