Note: T.i.P. figures 229 and 232 feature oval motifs placed 

 diagonally in squares and rectangles of rubbed design, apparently 

 drawn freehand similar to those on the Botanical Museum piece. 

 In view of the use of animal forms on tapas, there is a possibility 

 that this represents beche-de-mer (trepang, sea slug). This marine 

 animal, great numbers of which inhabit the shallow waters off 

 reefs in the Fiji area, became an especially important item of the 

 Pacific trade with China between the 1820s and the 1840s (E.S. 

 Dodge, 1965, 1976). Since a large working force was recruited to 

 harvest and cure these holothurians, they could have engaged the 

 attention of the islanders even to the point of representation in 

 tapa patterns. Those shown could have been added to already 

 completed rubbed designs done with design tablet techniques. 

 The design of this example is probably of Uvean origin and would 

 have been made on a leaf design tablet, not one of carved wood. 

 Leaf tablets are made of layers of Pan Janus leaves laid crosswise 

 to each other, interlaced and sewn tightly together with coconut 

 fibers. A relief design is superimposed on this foundation and 

 appears on the bark cloth when it is stretched on the tablet and 

 rubbed with a dye-saturated wad. This rubbed pattern is later 

 strengthened and emphasized with hand painting in a darker 

 color. In this case, the emphasis is on the darker oval shape which 

 may or may not represent a sea slug. 



The rubbed pattern of this tapa has a wide border of scattered 

 hand-painted motifs and a narrower border of very dark brown 

 or black, the edge of which is cut into large triangular dentils. In 

 Kooijman (1972, Figs. 234 and 235), there are similar pieces 

 attributed to nearby Futuna (Hoorn Islands). Brigham (1976, 

 Plate 224) depicts a very similar piece. 



Case 411: 4'6" X 5'3 !/ 2 " ( 1 35 X 1 59 cm); black and orange on ecru. 

 "I am not sure about 411.1 did not find similar patterns in my 

 photo collection of western Polynesian tapas. However, I would 

 suggest a Samoan origin, mainly because of the cross-like flower 

 motifs which I found in a more stylized form on a Samoan tapa 

 (T.i.P. Fig. 194)." 



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