in the Pacific). Notably in Hawaii, the inner bark of other plants 

 was once used. A Pipturus species and Hibiscus tiliaceus are 

 especially mentioned. The inner bark of Broussonetia papyri/era 

 was invariably and everywhere preferred as the source of the best 

 quality of bark cloth and the one always used for purposes 

 associated with rank and ceremony. 



Planting, cultivating and harvesting the material for bark cloth 

 is man's work. Once the material is provided, all the rest of the 

 labor of making bark cloth is woman's work, with rare exceptions 

 when men make cloth for a special occasion under conditions of 

 taboo and other traditionally imposed restrictions. 



To summarize: the making of bark cloth in Polynesia varies in 

 details that defy generalization. In Kooijman's comments with 

 supplementary notes on the pieces in the Botanical Museum's 

 collection, only the pertinent among these details are described. 

 There are many more, equally significant and equally widespread, 

 among which are the following: of dyeing methods used in paint- 

 ing characteristic patterns; of joining pieces by pasting or felting; 

 of the use of design tablets and rubbing on colors; of the occa- 

 sional scenting of bark cloth to counteract a somewhat unpleas- 

 ant odor (especially of newly made cloth); of the use of glazes to 

 preserve colors or to provide a measure of waterproofing. 



Kooijman (1972 and 1977) sums up variants of technique in 

 both text and a series of tables. Both Brigham (1976) and Degener 

 (1975) contribute ethnobotanical data that by necessity Kooij- 

 man does not include in his more specialized approach. 



Wrote Rudyard Kipling: 



There are nine and sixty ways 



of constructing tribal lays. 

 Any every-single-one-of-them 



-is-right! 



— and he could well have been writing, instead, of the nine and 

 sixty ways and many more, of "constructing" bark cloth in 

 Polynesia. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



The manufacture and uses of bark cloth by the island dwellers 

 of the South Pacific constitute a culture trait that although it 



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