Most of Cook's Kapa Had Plain Nao. 



211 



In studying the Cook kapa, by which is meant the specimens brought home by 

 Captain James Cook, and scattered in various ways so that no complete set remained 

 for the British Government or any one museum, it was found true of the specimens 

 in the author's collecftion, numbering about one hundred and fiftj^, that the nao or 

 pattern produced by the beater on the compressed fibre, and best seen b}^ transmitted 

 light, is 7nole or smooth in the Hawaiian as well as in those from the southern islands, 



FIG. 130. STAMP OF NO. 2469. 



Tahiti, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, etc., with very few exceptions, and these comprised none 

 of the more complicated designs so distinct a mark of the Hawaiian beaters ; only the 

 hoopai^ which is common to all races using kapa. 



This was certainly an interesting discover}^ and so far as the plain, undeco- 

 rated kapa is concerned made it a difficult task to determine the origin of the speci- 

 mens as the mole and hoopai beaters and the material beaten as well as the general 

 process of manufa<5lure were the same in all groups. With the decorated specimens 

 the case was different. 



