A VANISHING PEOPLE OF THE SOUTH SEAS 



289 



pits dug in the ground for this purpose. 

 After the pit was filled it would be cov- 

 ered with a layer of earth and a stone 

 wall, too high to be jumped by the wild 

 pigs, built around it. 



Every valley had several of these pits, 

 guarded by tapu until the food supply 

 ran short. Sometimes five years would 

 elapse before necessity forced the king to 

 lift the ban and open a given pit. 



By experience, it was discovered that 

 even ten years did not destroy the buried 

 breadfruit. The once green outer rind 

 turned black, and the contents presented 

 a white, somewhat mushy appearance, 

 fermentation beginning immediately after 

 it was broken open. This, when ground 

 in a wooden bowl with a stone pestle, 

 would rise like a mass of fermenting 

 dough and had the same sticky con- 

 sistency. It had an unpleasant odor and 

 possessed an acrid, bitter flavor decidedly 

 unwelcome to the uninitiated palate. 



This is the famous poipoi of the Mar- 

 quesas, not to be confounded for a mo- 

 ment with the delightful pox of Hawaii, 

 Tahiti, and other South Sea islands. The 

 latter more nearly resembles the Mar- 

 quesan koehi, 3. similar preparation of 

 fresh breadfruit over which a cream 

 squeezed from grated fresh coconut is 

 poured. Centuries of eating the fer- 

 mented breadfruit finally destroyed the 

 Marquesan taste for the fresh fruit, and 

 his principal food, together with his fa- 

 vorite varieties of pig, became the acrid 

 poipoi and raw fish dipped in a bowl of 

 salt water. 



THE CARE-FREE LIFE OE THE MARQUESAN 

 GIRL 



It would be a grave error to conclude 

 from the taboos mentioned that the life 

 of the Marquesan woman was a hard 

 one. I doubt seriously if a more care- 

 free or contented maiden ever existed. 

 Her domestic duties were light and agree- 

 able. The furnishings of her thatched 

 shelter consisted of a few pandanus 

 sleeping mats — nothing more. Outside 

 on the stone platform was an assortment 

 of bowls, crudely carved by the men in 

 their intervals from warfare. These held 

 poipoi, fish, fruit, or whatever of food 

 might be prepared for the one daily meal, 

 at which the savages gorged to repletion. 



Then there were dainty coconut shells. 

 ground thin and polished by rubbing on 

 stone under water, often carved, which 

 held the coco oil and other preparations 

 for the toilet, dear to the heart of the 

 Marquesanne. 



A community fire was usually kept 

 smouldering in a fallen tree, where it 

 would burn for weeks. Otherwise youths 

 who were adept in fire-making from 

 wood by friction would quickly furnish 

 the housekeeper with a blaze in the small 

 stone oven at one end of the terrace. 



The making of tappa cloth was her 

 only tedious occupation, and, as the girls 

 always gathered in groups and discussed 

 matters of interest to the feminine mind 

 while they worked, I doubt if it proved 

 more onerous than the modern sewing 

 circle. 



WOODEN HAMMERS WERE THE LOOMS FOR 

 TAPPA CLOTH 



The tappa was made from the bark of 

 several trees, the breadfruit tree making 

 the best quality. The manufacture of the 

 fabric was simple. A sapling or branch 

 two or three inches in diameter was used. 

 The bark was slit with a sharp stone and 

 peeled off, then cut in two lengthwise. 

 each piece about 12 inches long. This 

 strip of bark was then laid on a flat stone 

 and gently but firmly beaten with a tappa 

 stick, a short club with corrugated sides, 

 until its fibers spread to an incredible 

 length and width. While in this almost 

 pulpy state, the next piece beaten out 

 would be tapped into the edge of the 

 first, and so on until sheets sometimes 30 

 and 40 feet square were made and joined 

 without a seam. The cloth was then laid 

 in the sun to bleach, its deep rich brown 

 turning a creamy white in the process, 

 after which it was sometimes dyed with 

 vegetable stains. 



The resulting fabric was a very thin 

 but surprisingly durable one, to be used 

 for loin cloths and girdles — when anv 

 were worn — for covering on chilly nights, 

 and other household purposes. Its name, 

 as will readily be perceived, is derived 

 from the tapping sound made on the 

 stone by the wooden pounder. 



I have mentioned the use of coco oil by 

 the Marquesans. Probably no race ever 

 attained a greater skill in the art oi mas- 



