Wilkes Describes Samoan Siapo. 37 



inches long, with a handle at one end; two of its faces are grooved and the other two 

 smooth ; the bark is laid on a board, and struck with the mallet in a direction at right 

 angles with its fibres ; the grooved sides are used to spread out the fibres, and the 

 smooth ones to knit them together. The grooves also give a thready appearance to 

 the surface. 



"This method differs from that practised at Tahiti, where the bark is beaten 

 with a smaller mallet, upon a spring board ; and the tapa made here is of an inferior 

 quality. The tapa is often printed with colours in patterns. This is performed in a 



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FIG. 14. TABI<ET SUCH AS MENTIONED BY WII,KES. 



mode similar to that practised in Europe before the introduction of copper rollers. 

 Instead of engraved blocks, they form tablets, about as thick as binder's boards, of 

 pieces of large cocoa-nut leaves, by sewing them together. One side of the tablet 

 is kept smooth and even, and upon this cocoa-nut fibres are sewed so as to form 

 the required pattern, which is of course raised upon the surface of the tablet. These 

 tablets are wet with a piece of cloth well soaked in the dye, after which the tapa, 

 which for this purpose is well bleached and beautifull}^ white, is laid upon them 

 and pressed into close contact. The dye is made from herbs and roots, and is of 

 various colors." ~^ 



"'Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition, ii, 142. 



