Linton — The Marquesas Islands 413 



opposite ends, as some of them overlap slightly in the center of the implement. It 

 seems probable that this form is a hybrid, combining the continuous grooves of 

 the round beaters with the flat surfaces of the square type. 



Tapa Anvils 



The Marquesans employed anvils of both stone and wood. Stone anvils 

 are now little used, but in former times they appear to have been part of the 

 equipment of everv household. In early times they were used for only the pre- 

 liminary beating, but later were occasionally employed for the entire manufacture. 



In its simplest form the stone anvil is nothing more than a large flat water-worn bowl- 

 der, bnt most anvils seen have been carefully worked from large blocks of stone. They are 

 rectangular, with a length of from 18 inches to 2 feet, 6 inches ; a width of from 8 inches 

 to one foot, and a thickness from 4 to 7 inches. The tops have been carefully flattened and 

 smoothed, the sides made vertical or nearly so. The bottom is usually left rough. Some 

 anvils are widest in the middle, tapering evenly toward either end. An especially fine speci- 

 men from Pua Ma'u, Hiva Oa (PI. lxxiv, B) has a longitudinal groove along either side 

 for a short distance below the top and is remarkable in having the bottom more or less 

 hollowed — a feature which may have resulted from its use as a whetstone for stone adzes. 

 These carefully made stone anvils are of considerable interest, as they do not seem to have 

 been used in any other part of Oceania. 



Wooden anvils are still used in the manufacture of tapa. The only one 

 seen was made of breadfruit wood, rectangular in cross section, and was ap- 

 proximately two feet long, ten inches wide, and six inches thick. This anvil 

 differs in form from those described by aged informants, and possibly is of a 

 modern and degenerate type. In former times two types of wooden anvils ap- 

 pear to have been employed. The simpler of these was a long straight log, 

 preferably of breadfruit wood, smoothed but not otherwise prepared. The more 

 elaborate type was made from a light colored wood, possibly a species of sandal 

 wood, obtained on the plateau. It was U-shaped in cross section, with straight 

 ends. Its hollowed interior made it more easily portable and increased its reso- 

 nance so that the sound of cloth beating could be heard for a long distance. 



T.-^PA MAKING 



The paper mulberry, from whose bark the best grade of tapa was made, 

 was raised in regular plantations. Handy was informed that dead trees 18 to 

 20 feet high were cut down and stripped of their bark, that the bark was then 

 soaked, and finally beaten to remove the inner skin. A local informant said 

 that live shoots 10 to 12 feet high were cut and barked while still green, and 

 described the process of tapa making as follows : 



The fresh bark was taken to a stream, where the coarse outer bark was removed with a 

 shell scraper. The bark was not soaked before the initial beating, a point which was stressed 

 by the informant who was familiar with both the Hawaiian and Marquesan processes of tapa 

 making. The bark was beaten on a stone anvil with a round beater until it was similar to 



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