46 Kd Han a Kapa. 



generally- b}- scraping it with a large shell, and the inner bark, of which the cloth is 

 made, is occasionally laid in water, to extract the resinous substances it may contain. 

 Bach piece of bark is then taken singly, and laid across a piece of wood, twelve or 

 eighteen feet long, six inches square, smooth on the top, but having a groove on the 

 under side, and is beaten with a square mallet of hard, heavy wood about a foot in 

 length and two inches wide ; three sides are carved in grooves or ribs, the other into 

 squares, in order that one mallet niav answer for the different kinds of cloth they are 

 accustomed to manufacture. 



"Various sorts of cloth are made with this plant, some remarkably fine and 

 even ; that which has been beaten with a mallet, car\-ed in different patterns, much 

 resembles muslin at first sight, while that made with a grooved mallet appears, until 

 closelv examined, something like dimity. There are other kinds ver}- thick and 

 tough, which look like wash-leather, but the most common sort is the paii, worn round 

 the waists of the females. To make this a piece of bark is beaten until it is four 

 vards long, and more than a yard wide, and of an equal texture throughout. Some- 

 times two or three pieces of bark are necessar}- to make one piece of cloth. Five of 

 these pieces when finished, are spread out one upon the other, and fastened together 

 at one end. These five pieces make one paii. The inside pieces are usually white, 

 or vellow; but the outside piece is stained, or painted, with vegetable d^-es. No gum 

 is used in the manufacture of the paii, except that contained in the bark, 3'et the fibres 

 adhere firmlv together. Those painted red or yellow, &c., are sometimes rubbed over 

 with a vegetable oil, in which chips of sandal wood, or the seeds of the patidatiits odor- 

 atisshuKs have been steeped. This is designed to perfume the cloth, and render it 

 impervious to wet; it is, however, less durable than the common paii. 



"There is another kind of cloth called tapa luoc (sleeping cloth), made princi- 

 pallv for the chiefs, who use it to wrap themselves in at night, while they sleep. It is 

 generally three or four yards square, very thick, being formed of several la3-ers of 

 common tapa, cemented with gum,'^ and beaten with a grooved mallet till the}- are 

 closel}- interwoven. The colour is various, either white, yellow, brown or black accord- 

 ing to the fanc}- of its owner. Nearh' resembling the tapa moe is the kihei, onl}- it is 

 both thinner and smaller. It is made in the same manner, and is about the size of a 

 large shawl or counterpane. Sometimes it is brown, but more frequent!}- white or 

 yellow, intermixed with red and black [see PI. A]. It is generally worn by the men, 

 thrown loosely over one shoulder, passed under the opposite arm, and tied in front or 

 on the other shoulder. 



"This was probably a local variety, and no specimen is in my collection which contains dozens of the kapa 

 moe, but all these are of the usual five separate sheets, fastened together at one end onl)- bj- a kapa tape or cord of 

 other fibre as will be illustrated later. 



