Bark-cloth in Borneo. 6i 



Lake Sentani viara, sometimes shortened to mar; the addition c/mnbau^ therefore 

 luara chembau for the red brown kind, according to my interpreter, points to the 

 species of tree. 



" Not much attention was given in Ase to the nature of the beating instrument. 

 Stones, as used on Celebes (Adriani and Kruyt, he. cit.^ p. 139) but also in New 

 Guinea'*'' (Schmeltz), or coral beaters (Schellong, loc. cit.., p. 221), as known of Finsch 

 Harbour, carved on the striking surface, or wooden beaters with circular grooves as 

 in the possession of the Utrecht colleAion from Geelvink Bay, and as illustrated b}- 

 Uhle'" from Dore, by Erdweg'" from Kaiser Wilhelms Land, and hy Edge-Partington 

 (Album 1895, pi. 178) from British New Guinea, were not known here."^' Fig. 23. 



While the decorations on the Papuan bark-cloth are generallj- rude, and red and 

 yellow appear to be the favorite colors, on the Solomon Islands, a peculiar blue is com- 

 mon in the specimens in hand, and the figures in this group are often of natural 

 objects, as maj- be seen in Pis. 29 and 30. The figures often seen on the New Guinea 

 cloth are regular and well drawn, and will be considered later with the subject of design. 



A single example maj', however, be given here to show the decoration of a 

 chief's garment, his Nakwiii or poncho. In Fig. 22 the material is a soft, rather 

 coarse-fibred, buff-colored kapa with dull red figures generally' bordered with a black 

 ciliate line. The effect is not unpleasing in this specimen from German New Guinea. 

 [B. P. B. M., No. 1769.] 



Before turning to the Malay element in Borneo and the Malaj- Peninsula we 

 may look at the tapa-making in Japan fift}^ years ago. Sir Rutherford Alcock was 

 writing from this then new and little understood country. He was at Atami Baj'. 

 " The manufacture [of paper] here, at least, consists entirely of the produce of bark 

 of trees, with coloring matter introduced in the process. I could not ascertain the 

 botanical character of the trees, for onlj' the bark alreadj^ pulled off is brought from 

 the surrounding hills. But more than one plant of the growth of shrubs is emploj-ed; 

 some for the fibrous qualit3^, others for glutinous properties. The process is very 

 simple and requires no elaborate machinery. The bark is first steeped in water 

 until thorough!}^ softened, it is then beaten with wooden mallets until rediiced to a 

 state of mash, it is then again macerated in water, and when finally brought into a 

 pvilpy and homogeneous state, any colouring matter desired is introduced, and the 



•"Intern. Arch. f. Ethnogr. I, 233. Steinerne Schlager fiir Tapabereilnng von Ost Neu Guinea. 



^'Uhle, Dr. Max — Holz-und Bambusgerrithe aus Nord-West-Xeu-Guinea. Publ. der Kon. EUinogr. Museum 

 zu Dresden. Leipzig, vol. vi, no. 4521, pi. vii, fig. i. 



'°Die Bewohner der Insel Tumleo, Berlinhafen, Deutsch-Neu-Guinea. Von P. M. J. Erdweg. Mitt. d. Anthro- 

 pologischem Gesellschaft in AVien. Bd. xxxii, p. 308. 



"Nova Guinea. Resultats de L'Exp6dition Scientifique N^erlandaise a la Nouvelle Guinea, en 1903, sous les 

 auspices de Arlliur Wichman. I.eyden, 1907, vol. iii, p 234. 



