Tapa-niaking in Tahiti. 51 



natives of the South Sea Islands use a greater variety' of materials than their neigh- 

 bours in the northern group : the bark of the different varieties of wajiii., or paper 

 mulberry, being almost the only article used by the latter ; while the former employ 

 not onl}^ the bark of the paper mulberry, which the}^ call ajiti., but also that of the aoa 

 and of the breadfruit. ■" 



"The process of manufacture is much the same in all, though some kinds are 

 sooner finished than others. When the bark from the branches of the breadfruit or 

 auti is used, the outer green or brown rind is scraped off with a shell; it is then 

 slightly beaten, and allowed to ferment, or is macerated in water. A stout piece of 

 wood resembling a beam, twenty or thirty feet long, and from six to nine inches 

 square with a groove ait in the nnder side, is placed on the ground ; across this the 

 bark is laid and beaten with a heav}^ mallet of casuarina or iron-wood. The mallet 

 is usually fifteen or eighteen inches long, about two inches square, and round at one 

 end for the purpose of being held firmly. The sides of the mallet are grooved ; one 

 side very coarse or large, the opposite side exceedingly fine. One of the remaining 

 sides is generally cut in chequers or small sqiiares, and the other is plain or ribbed. 

 The bark is placed lengthwise across the long piece of wood, and beaten first with the 

 rough side of the mallet, and then with those parts that are finer 



"Vegetable gum is rarelj- employed; in general, the resinous matter in the 

 bark is sufficiently adhesive. The fibres of the bark are completely interwoven by 

 the frequent beating with the grooyed or chequered side of the mallet; and when the 

 piece is finished, the texture of the cloth is often fine and even ; while the inequalities 

 occasioned by the fine grooves, or small squares, give it the appearance of woven cloth. 

 During the process of its nianufadure, the cloth is kept saturated with moisture, and 

 carefully wrapped in thick green leaves every time the work-women leave off; but as 

 soon as it is finished, they spread it to dry in the sun, and bleach it according to the 

 purpose for which it is designed. The ore or cloth made with the bark of the aoa, is 

 usually thin and of a dark brown colour; that made with the bark of the bread-fruit 

 and a mixture of the auti, is of a light brown or fawn colour, but the finest and most 

 valuable kind is called ho/m. It is made principally, and sometimes entirely, from 

 the bark of the paper-mulberry, and is bleached till beautifully white. This is chiefly 

 worn by the females. 



"It is astonishing that they should be able, by a process so simple, to make 

 bales, containing sometimes two hundred yards of cloth four yards wide; the whole in 

 one single piece, made with strips of bark seldom above four or five feet long, and 

 when spread open not more than an inch and a half broad — joined together simply 



•"jU'willfbe seen'in the chapter on the raw material th.at the Ilawaiians were not so liniiteil in their resonrces 

 as Mr. Ellis supposes. 



