Tapa-making in Taliiti. 27 



two hundred sometimes being emplo3'ed on one piece of cloth four fathoms wide, and 

 fort}^ fathoms long. 



"Their cloth is made of a variet}- of colors, black, white, and several shades of 

 crimson, ^-ellow, gray, and brown. The black is dyed with the sap of the mountain- 

 plantain, or under the roots of such cocoa-nut trees as grow in wet and swamp3^ 

 grounds, where they lay the cloth to soak for a daj- or two, then dry it, repeating the 

 process until it becomes a deep black, when it is washed in salt water to fix the colour. 

 This is called oowery. The brown is dyed or tanned with the bark of several trees, 

 especiall}^ the toa, which gives a fine bright colour, heightened by the sun. . The bark 

 is scraped with a shell, and after lying to infuse in water, and wrung out, the cloth 

 is dipped in the infusion, and spread in the sun to dr}-, repeating the operation till it 

 becomes a fine bright brown, called heere and powheere. The yellow is extracted from 

 turmeric or re5'a, which grows here in great abundance, the countrj' being over-run 

 with it, and capable of furnishing any quantit}^, as well as of poohey ava or ginger. 

 The gra}^ is the natural coloiir of the cloth when unbleached ; after being half worn 

 it ma}^ be d3'ed brown, and lined with white, bj- pasting two cloths together; this is 

 called hopaa. The red is produced from the mattde berr}'. 



" When the brown cloth is worn out they bark the branches of the bread-fruit, 

 and mix the old brown cloth with the new bark, beating them together, which makes 

 a mottled piece: this the}' dip in a light yellow prepared from the root of a shrub 

 called nono, which gives it a beautiful appearance ; they line it also with white, and 

 infusing perfumes in the j-ellow d3'e, call the cloth opotta potta: they have j'et another 

 kind of cloth called marra, made of the mulberr}' bark, half beaten : this consists of 

 several layers of irregular thickness, for upper garments. At this the arreoies are 

 peculiarly expert, though it is reckoned women's work, and requires skill and nicety 

 in the joining, to prevent the part pasted on from stiffening the cloth : this they paint 

 with a beautiful crimson called mattde, extracted from a berry growing on a tree of 

 the same name. The expressed juice of the berr}^ thej' mix with the leaves of another 

 tree called tow, and imprint sprigs and leaves on the cloth by wetting them with this 

 juice, and impressing them on the cloth according to their fancy. The berries of the 

 mattde are brown when ripe, of the size of a sloe; and being gathered, the^^ nip them 

 between the thumb and finger, expressing a j'ellow drop or two, which the}' sprinkle 

 on the leaf of the tow, by hitting one hand against the other: two or three drops 

 suffice for a leaf. When the berries are all nipped, and the leaves wetted, they are 

 worked with the hands in a wooden tray, sprinkling water on them till a beautiful 

 crimson colour begins to appear, when they express the dye from the leaves, and 



