Flax Cloak
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1858
label: Collection Date
content: 1840
name: label: Donor Name
content: United States Exploring Expedition
notes: label: Notes
content: "KOROWAI". FROM CARD: "3766-75. ORNAMENTED." CATALOGUE NUMBER 3777 HAD FOR SOME TIME HAD TWO DIFFERENT OBJECTS UNDER IT. THE ONE WITH THE ORIGINAL NUMBER 707 MATCHES THE DESCRIPTION IN THE ORIGINAL LEDGER FOR 3777. THE SECOND OBJECT IS A MAORI FLAX CLOAK WITH WILKES ORIGINAL NUMBER 516, THIS OBJECT HAS BEEN ASSIGNED THE CATALOGUE NUMBER 3769, WHICH HAD BEEN MISSING INVENTORY DATA. FROM CARD FOR 3777 [OLD NUMBER ONCE USED FOR THIS OBJECT]: "PEALE CAT. NO. 516 BEARS PROBABLY INCORRECT CAT. NO. 3777. A TAG ATTACHED TO SPECIMEN READS "(MEAMUKA) OR FLAX SHALL [sic, they probably meant "shawl"] FROM THE EAST BAY OF NEW ZEALAND. BOX NO. 2 NEW ZEALAND).""
label: Notes
content: Korowai. Plain flax fiber cloak fringed at neckline and bottom with black "hukahuka" tags or tassels, and with black "hukahuka" tassels on body of cloak. There are the remnants of red wool thread/yarn decoration on the borders.
label: Notes
content: Peale catalogue identifies # 515 - 522 as "Flax mantles called "Meamuka" made and used by the natives of New Zealand." Additional notes from D.R. Simmons, Curator, Auckland Institute and Museum, Auckland, New Zealand, 1973: "Mea muka = things made from muka or flax fibre."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 29 Apr 2018
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: North Island (Te Ika-a-Māui) / Bay of Islands, New Zealand (Aotearoa), Polynesia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Maori
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 66A00050
label: USNM Number
content: E3769-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Cloak
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 127 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 214.5 cm