Aute in Neiu Zealand. 17 



white bleached paper-like bark contrasting excellently Avell with their ebon locks. 

 Very many of the heads of Maoris in the plates in both Cook's voyages and Parkinson's 

 journal are drawn thus ornamented with the ante:' [I have given in Fig. 5 a Maori 

 head from Cook showing the fibres spread out as a white fringe in the ear, and in Fig. 6 

 a head drawn by Parkinson showing the bark rolled up and stuck in the ear-hole, a 

 more common device, judging by the illustrations given by both authors. When we 

 return to the eastern Pacific region I shall ask a comparison with the ornamental 

 head-wrap of white tapa there found.] "Yet though commonly cultivated, it. was of 

 small size, and never was used by the Maoris for clothing purposes, as it was by many 

 other of the Polynesians. The chiefs also made ornamental paper kites of it." " 



This account of the connection of tapa with the Maori histor}' may well be 

 extended by the information my friend S. Percy Smith, formerly Surveyor General of 

 New Zealand, and always one of the best authorities on Maori histor}^ and antiquities, 

 has written me: I may be pardoned for giving his letter in full: — 



'Matai Moana' 



New Plymouth, N. Z. 

 My Dear Dr. Brigham: Aug. 17, 1909. 



In reply to your letter of the 28th ult., I am indeed pleased to see that you are 

 going to add to the many debts all Polynesian Scholars owe to you for what you have 

 done in the wa}- of Polynesian Ethnology, by publishing a work on the Tapa or, as 

 you Hawaiians call it, Kapa. 



There is, scattered about in Maori traditions a good deal about the Ante, which 

 is the native name of the Broussonetia in manj' of the islands. Maoris do not know 

 now of the name tapa for the manufactured article, but it is alwa3'S called ante, which 

 seems rather to imply that tapa is a name introdiiced after the Maoris left central 

 Pacific. But of course this is not capable of proof. The Maoris were well acquainted 

 with the ante, indeed their traditions are quite positive that the}- brought the plant 

 here with them, and this is proved by the further fact that the manufactured article 

 was in use here when the early settlers (missionaries and beach comers) arrived here. 

 But it was never in common use, probabl}' because the plant itself did not flourish 

 without a great deal of care, and was consequently rare and therefore only used 

 by the Chief, usual]}- in the form of a fine gauze-like material, quite white, which was 

 worn bound round the head in a turban form with flowing ends. 



I onl}' know of one expression that has been handed down that would seem to 

 imply its use as a garment in da\'S long ago. It is customary amongst Maoris to 



"Transactions New Ztalaiiil Iiislilulu, xiii, i8. 



,MeMUIR» li. P. li. MU8KUM, Vol,. III.— L'. 



