14 Ka Halt a Kapa. 



distributed to every one in the companj-, I do not know. In laying the dye upon the 

 cloth, they take it up in the fibres of the niooo^ and rubbing it gently over the cloth, 

 spread the outside of it with a thin coat of dye. This applies to the thick cloth: of 

 the thin they very seldon dye more than the edges; some indeed I have seen dyed 

 through, as if it had been soaked in the d3'e, but it had not nearly' so elegant a colour 

 as that on which a thin coat only was laid on the outside." 



"Though the r/c« leaf is the most generall}- used, and I believe produces the 

 finest colour, yet there are several more, which by being mixed with the juice of the 

 little figs produce a red colour. Such are Tomncjoytia scricca ( which the}- call 

 taheino)^ Convok'ulus hras/Iiciisis \Ipo})uta Prs-capirr^^ Solan /tin lafifoliniit {ebooa) . 

 By the use of these different plants or of different proportions of the materials many 

 v-arieties of the colour are observable among their cloths, some of which are very 

 conspicuously superior to others 



"The painter whom I have with me tells me that the nearest imitation of the 

 colour that he could make would be bv mixing together vermilion and carmine, but 

 even thus he could not equal the delicacy, though his would be a body colour, and 

 the Indian's only a stain. In the way that the Indians use it, I cannot say much 

 for its lasting; they commonly keep their cloth white up to the ver}- time it is to be 

 used, and then dye it, as if conscious that it would soon fade. I have, however, used 

 cloth dyed with it myself for a fortnight or three weeks, in which time it has very 

 little altered, and by that time the cloth itself was pretty well worn out. I have now 

 also some in chests, which a month ago when I looked into them had very little 

 changed their colour: the admixture of fixing drugs would, however, certainly not a 

 little conduce to its keeping. 



"Their yellow, though a good colour, has certainly no particular excellence to 

 recommend it in which it is superior to our known yellows. It is made of the bark 

 of a root of a shrub called nono (Morinda uniheUata). This they scrape into water, 

 and after it has soaked a sufficient time, strain the water and dip the cloth into it. 

 The wood of the root is no doubt furnished in some degree with the same property 

 as the bark, but not having any vessels in which they can boil it, it is useless to 



'I am surprised that our author does not mention the use of fern leaves as stamps with whicli to impress this 

 red dye. I have in my collection some specimens brought home in the Endeavour in which these two cf)lors are 

 pleasinglj- combined, tile red leaf on a rich yellow ground, and should have given a sample among the colored plates 

 had not the tints greatlj- faded from what Mr. Banks describes. In Fig. 4 is given a sample of the pattern. 



I have also the following description of the dye written for me by a Tahitian lady. Miss Tcuira Henrj-. "The 

 Ficns tinctoria (inati) sap is taken from the stem end of the fresh berrj- just as it is plucked, and sprinkled on to 

 fresh young leaves of the ton (Cordia siihcordata); thej- are then kneaded together in a little water, which when 

 expressed from the mixture produces the red dye into which the fern is dipped for printing. The mati sap alone is 

 yellow, and it is the ton that blends with it into a pleasing red color. The more mati there is, the brighter the 

 red." It will be seen that the coconut water is not considered indispensable. 



