FIBER PLANTS 189 



growers of Hawaii at one time devised a method for success- 

 fully wrapping banana bunches with wisps of rice straw. 



Baobab (Adansonia digitata) is one of the giants among 

 the trees. It belongs to the mallow family and is native of 

 Africa. The trunk of the tree attains a huge size. The inner 

 bark is stripped off into sheets and the bast obtained from 

 this bark has been found to be suitable for paper, cheap cord- 

 age, and sacking. The tree is cultivated to some extent in 

 Madagascar and Reunion but thus far has attained no com- 

 mercial importance. 



Tapa (Broussonetia papyrifera), or paper mulberry, is a 

 native of Polynesia, China, Japan, Siam, etc. Tapa is a small 

 bush which is widely distributed throughout the Hawaiian 

 Islands, as well as the other parts of the Polynesian group. 

 The bast obtained from the bark of this shrub is easily pulped 

 and is used for making paper in Japan, for the manufacture 

 of papier-mache articles in Burma, and for tapa cloth in 

 Hawaii, Fiji, and Samoa. The bark is peeled off in strips, 

 after which the outer coat is scraped off with shells. The 

 strips are laid on a smooth log and beaten with a hardwood 

 mallet. The strips are then united by overlapping the edges 

 and beating them together. Tapa cloth varies in weight from 

 a muslin-like fabric to a material resembling leather. It was 

 used by the ancient Hawaiians for pa-u or riding garments, 

 for making the malo or girdle, mantles, blankets, burial cloths, 

 and for numerous ornamental purposes. The tapa fabrics 

 were colored usually yellow, red, and black in curious figures. 

 The finest grades of tapa are of extreme value. The manu- 

 facture of tapa, however, is a lost art in Hawaii. The ma- 

 terial is no longer made by the natives, although tapa is 

 still made by the natives of Samoa. The mamake (Pipturus 

 gaudichaudianus) has also been much used in Hawaii in 

 making tapa cloth. 



Screw pine (Pandanus utilis) and other species of Pan- 

 danus occur widely throughout the Tropics. They are palm- 



