Linton — The Marquesas Islands 411 



CLOTHING AND ORNAMENTS 



The climate of the Marquesas is such that clothing is unnecessary as a 

 protection from the cold. The original native dress was a scant costume of 

 tapa. Mats seem also to have been worn but their use was exceptional. The 

 only mention of this custom is by Krusenstern (34, p. 156) who, speaking of 

 the people of Nuku Hiva, says, 



Mats are sometimes used among them, and the king's son-in-law, though indeed he was 

 the only person, always came to the ship in one of a very coarse kind, and fastened under the 

 chin in such a manner as to merely cover the back. 



In Hiva Oa the natives seem to have no memory of the use of mats as 

 clothing and in view of the tapu which existed on that island against the use 

 by men of mats other than those made of coconut, it seems doubtful that they 

 ever were worn. This tapu was so strong that in former times straw hats 

 which were considered a kind of mat could not be placed on the head without 

 sacrilege. 



TAPA 



Tapa was made from the bark of several different trees. The most im- 

 portant is the life or paper mulberry (Bronssonctia papyrifera or Morns papy- 

 rifera) which yielded a soft white tapa. An inferior greyish tapa was made 

 from the bark of the breadfruit tree, and a strong, mahogany colored tapa, much 

 used in ceremonial costumes, was made from the bark of a species of banyan 

 (Ficus Sp.). Jardin (33, pp. 32-59) says that the bark of the iiiio {Tliespesia 

 populnea) and the katea (Alyxia) were also used to a small extent. 



The paper mulberry was essentially a cultivated plant, and was probably 

 introduced by the early settlers. It was planted in fenced enclosures and care- 

 fully tended. The breadfruit and banyan do not seem to have been grown 

 specially for tapa making, the bark being obtained from shoots and small 

 limbs. A special form of nte tapa, made from the bark of an old tree, was 

 worn as part of a priest's ceremonial costume. 



IMPLEMENTS USED IN MAKING TAPA 



The implements used by the Marquesans in making tapa were scrapers, 

 beaters and anvils. 



Scrapers 



The scrapers used in the manufacture of tapa were made from pearl 

 shells, rarely more than fotu- inches across, whose edges were ground sharp. 

 In some scrapers the irregularities of the hinge were also ground away to make 

 the implement more convenient to hold, but the natural outlines of the shell 

 seem always to have been retained. They must have formerly been very numer- 



[151] 



