David Malo Tells of Kapa-makiug. 47 



" But the best kind of cloth made ^vith the cultivated plant is the zc'aiJi'irii\ -which 

 is made into paiis for the females, and maros for the men. The paiis are generally 

 four 3'ards long, and about one j-ard wide, verj- thick, beautif nil)- painted with brilliant 

 red, 3'ellow, and black colours [see Pis. L, M, N], and covered over with a fine gum and 

 resinous varnish, which not onl}- preserves the colours, but renders the cloth impervious 

 and durable. The maros are about a foot wide, and three or four yards long. 



"The colours thej" emploj- are procured from the leaves, bark, berries or roots 

 of indigenous plants, and require much skill in their preparation. One or two kinds 

 of earth are also used in mixing the darker colours. Since foreigners have visited 

 them they have found, upon trial, that our colours are better than theirs, and the 

 paints the}^ purchase from ships have superseded in a great degree the native colour.'^ 

 in the painting of the most valuable kinds of cloth." 



"Their manner of printing is ingenious. Thev cut the pattern thej- intend to 

 stamp on their cloth on the inner side of a narrow piece of bamboo, spread their cloth 

 before them on a board, and having their colours properly mixed, in a calabash by 

 their side, dip the point of the bamboo, which thej- hold in their right hand, into the 

 paint, strike it against the edge of the calabash, place on the right or left side of the 

 cloth, and press it down with the fingers of the left hand. The pattern is dipped in 

 the paint after ever}- impression, which is repeated until the cloth is finished." ^" 



We will cite one more witness, a native one, to tell us of Hawaiian kapa-making. 

 It is noteworthy that while he is the onl}- native from an}- of the kapa-making islands 

 that we can call upon, and while he lived and wrote at a time when there was certainl}- 

 a good assortment of the best kapa in existence (although the Alii had already- largel}' 

 given up the pleasing work of decorating the cloth), he tells us very little that Cook 

 and Banks and Ellis have not already- told, and he tells that little in a manner that 

 shows he was h\ no means appreciative of his people's proficiency in this manufacfture ; 

 to Davida Malo the Old, which he represents to a marked degree, was passing, and the 

 New, which for us may be represented bj- foreign cloth, was now occup^-ing his thought, 

 and doubtless had his approval. 



If we could have cross-examined Malo we might have learned a little more, but 

 not much, for his information in such matters was largely hearsay, and the curious 

 compilation which bears the name of INIalo's Antiquities was mainly composed from 

 contributions brought him bv his pupils at Lahainaluna. He mentions casually one 

 process not alread}^ noticed bv his predecessors; indeed I owe to him the only infor- 

 mation I have that the Hawaiians practised it, — the coloring of kapa by steaming in 

 the zniu or underground native oven. How or whv this was done he either did not 



" This matter of foreign colors will be treated more fully later. 



^'W. Ellis. Polynesian Researches, London, 1853, iv, 109. Figures of these bambu type are given in rl. S. 



