Prior to the introduction of steel strings, gut or "sennit" (coconut fibre) were used. The armor was made of thickly woven sennit, a kind of coconut fiber. The runners, crosspieces, and rails are bound together with sennit cordage. The sennit is then coiled in bundles or wound tightly in very neat cylindrical rolls. In the Samoan language, sennit is called "afa". Sennit is a type of cordage made by plaiting strands of dried fibre or grass. Sennit is mentioned in Robert Gibbings book "Over the Reefs" (1948).