lO 



Ka Hana Kapa. 



finest of their lioboo does not attain either its whiteness or softness until it has been ■ 

 worn some time, then washed and beaten over again with the very finest beaters. 



"Of this thin cloth they have almost as many different sorts as we have of linen, 

 distinguishing it according to its fineness and the material of which it is made. Each 

 piece is from nine to fifteen ^-ards in length, and about two and a half broad. It serves 

 them for clothes in the day and bedding at night. When, by use, it is sufficiently 

 worn and becomes dirtv, it is carried to the river and washed, chiefl}' b}- letting it soak 

 in a gentle stream, fastened to the bottom b}- a stone, or, if it is ver^- dirt}-, b}- wring- 

 ing it and squeezing it gentl}-. Several of the pieces of cloth so washed are then laid 

 on each other, and being beaten with the coarsest side of the beater, adhere together. 



Fig. 2. T.\HITIAN BEATER.S IX THE BISHOP MVSEIM. 



and become a cloth as thick as coarse broad-cloth, than which nothing can be more 

 soft or delicious to the touch. This softness, however, is not produced immediateh' 

 after the beating; it is at first stiff as if newly starched, and some parts not adhering 

 together as well as others it looks ragged, and also varies in thickness according to 

 an\- faults in the cloth from which it was made. 



"To remed}' this is the business of the mistress and the principal women of the 

 family, who seem to amuse themselves with this, and with dj'eing it, as our English 

 women do with making caps, ruffies, etc. In this way they spend the greater part of 

 their time. Each woman is furnished with a knife made of a piece of bamboo cane, 

 to which they give an edge by splitting it diagonally with their nails. This is suffi- 

 cient to cut an}' sort of cloth or soft substance with great ease. A certain quantity of 

 a paste made of the root of a plant which serves them also for food, and is called by 

 them Pea Ypici\ {Chaitea tatca) YTacca pinnatifida\^ is also required. With the knife 

 they cut off an}- ragged edges or ends which may not have been sufficiently fixed down 



