12 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.79 



in building elaborate houses, in making large canoes, and in carving 

 out bowls, dishes, clubs, and spears from the Samoan chestnut. The 

 women weave mats of the finest texture, and beat out bark cloth of 

 strong fiber with corrugated clubs, decorating the fabric with native 

 designs in color. 



The Samoans are of the brown Polynesian race which at some 

 early period spread over the Pacific to numerous widely separated 

 islands and reached to within 1,800 miles of the South American Con- 

 tinent, The Samoan Islands were visited by the Dutch navigator 

 Roggoveen in 1722, and named by Bougainville in 1768. Like the 

 Hawaiians, Samoans live in villages which are scattered along the 

 coasts of their tropical islands. They were formerly ruled by heredi- 

 tary chiefs, but as the islands noAv belong to the United States their 

 governments are accordingly administered by naval officers. 



Tapa cloth, leaf girdles, nechlaces. — The making of tapa cloths is 

 one of the oldest native industries of the Samoans, Fijians, Ha- 

 waiians, and of other Pacific islanders. These cloths of beaten bark 

 are now used mainly for decorative purposes during festivals and 

 ceremonies. They were originally used as lava lavas, a kind of 

 loin cloth worn by Polynesians; also as robes. They are still used 

 as objects of wearing apparel to a limited extent, although natives 

 find the imported cotton and other European textiles more satis- 

 factory. 



Tapa cloth is a primitive type of paper, although not fashioned 

 from the pulp of the wood. It is rather made from the bast of a 

 species of mulberry tree, which grows abundantly throughout Poly- 

 nesia and which in past years was especially cultivated. When 3 

 months old it is cut clown and its bark stripped from it. The bark 

 is then tied together in bundles and weiglited down in fresh water, 

 where it is allowed to soak for about a day. After this soaking the 

 strips are placed on a flat board and scraped with a mussel shell. 

 After they are scraped clean they are beaten with sticks on a round 

 log which causes them to spread out into wider strips. The root of 

 the arrowroot, which resembles a plant bulb, is then boiled and the 

 skin removed. It is then used as a sort of gum for sticking the differ- 

 ent strips together. It is rubbed along the edge of one strip which 

 is placed upon the edge of the other and in this manner they are 

 joined, forming cloths of various dimensions. 



The cloths are then dyed and painted with patterns for which 

 nothing but native-made vegetable dyes are used. Wooden patterns 

 are made, the white tapas are placed upon them, and with a cloth 

 the dye is rubbed all over them. In this manner the pattern is 

 transferred to the tapa cloths. In some cases the patterns and figures 



