Bark-doth in Central Africa. 69 



is a kind of fig which grows freel}- in even- part of Uganda; the best kind, however, 

 onh" grows in Sango, a part of Budu. The trees are at their best when about eight 

 feet long in the trunk, and six inches in diameter. They bear one bark each 3-ear for 

 six j-ears, the third being the finest qualit}'. 



"The outer bark is scraped off the tree trunk, and the inner one, which is about 

 three-eighths of an inch thick, is removed in one long strip, and left to harden all 

 the night; the tree trunk is wrapped round with plantain leaves and a new bark 

 grows ; in the morning after its removal from the tree the inner side of the bark is 

 scraped and the bark beaten on a log, having a flat surface made on it, with a round 

 mallet in shape like a stone mason's, which has grooves running round it. The man 

 goes over the bark three times using a different mallet each time in which the grooves 

 are finer; after the third course of beating the bark is thin like a piece of coarse 

 calico, all holes are patched, and the cloth is exposed to the sun b\' spreading it on the 

 ground ; the effect of the sun is to give the upper side a beautiful terra cotta tint 

 whilst the under side is much lighter, almost 3-ellow. [I have a specimen from Lake 

 Mwero, British Central Africa, which I owe to the kindness of Professor Balfour of 

 Oxford, which shows this variation of color.] The bark-cloth is cut so that the two 

 pieces, when stitched together, form a square of about six or seven feet. Sometimes 

 patterns in black from cla}- found in the swamps, or from a preparation made from 

 charred wood and oil, are painted on the cloths to make them more valuable.'"' 



Dr. Karl Weule, a recent traveler in central and eastern Africa, gives us some 

 additional information as to the manufadlure of tapa in the region east and north of 

 Lake Tanganyika."- It seems that the active implements in the rude manufadlure 

 are a long, sharp and pointed knife, which is carried unsheathed in the belt, and a 

 wooden hammer not unlike the primitive stone hammer, and like that lashed into the 

 loop of a split bambu with a cunningl}- twisted strip of tapa. The stone hammer is 

 to be found in all colle6lions of the implements of undeveloped man, and this chiefl}' 

 differs in the presence of a flatter head grooved with parallel cuts. In the more mod- 

 ern forms the handle is inserted into a hole in the head. It will be noticed that this 

 is a marked departure from all the mallets we have seen hitherto. 



Dr. Weule is not particular as to the kind of bark used, but it probabl}- was 

 one of the figs commonly used in central Africa; and a stem of about the thickness 

 of a man's thigh is selected, and two circular cuts about ten feet apart are made 

 through the bark and a longitudinal slit connecting these; the outer bark is then 

 ver}- carefullv lifted by aid of the knife and wholl}' removed. The bast or inner bark 



"'■ Rev. J. Roscoe, Further Notes on the Jlauuers and Customs of the Bagandas. Journ. Roy, Anthrop. Inst., 

 1902, p. 78. 



'^Dr. Karl Weule Xegerleben in Ostafrica. Zweite Auflage, L,eipzig, 1909, p. 355. 



