150 SAMOAN GROUP. 



and the smooth ones to knit them together. The grooves also give 

 a thready appearance to the surface. 



This method differs from that practised at Tahiti, where the bark 

 is beaten with a smaller mallet, upon a spring-board ; and the tapa 

 made here is of inferior quality. The tapa is often printed with 

 colours in patterns. This is performed in a mode similar to that 

 practised in Europe before the introduction of copper rollers. In- 

 stead of engraved blocks, they form tablets, about as thick as binders' 

 boards, of pieces of large cocoa-nut leaves, by sewing them together. 

 One side of the tablet is kept smooth and even, and upon this cocoa- 

 nut fibres are sewed so as to form the required pattern, which is of 

 course raised upon the surface of the tablet. These tablets are wet 

 with a piece of cloth well soaked in the dye, after which the tapa, 

 which for this purpose is well bleached and beautifully white, is laid 

 upon them and pressed into close contact. The dye is made from 

 herbs and roots, and is of various colours. 



The women also manufacture the mats. Some of these have been 

 mentioned in describing the dress of the natives ; the finest kinds are 

 made of the inner bark of the paper-mulberry ; those of coarser 

 texture of the leaves of the Pandanus, which are nicely scraped 

 and bleached. The mats are all made by hand, and by interlacing 

 the fibres ; one of the finest description will require the industrious 

 labour of a year. 



Among the mats are some of as fine a texture and as soft as if 

 made of cotton. These are rarely or never manufactured at present, 

 and are solely possessed by the chiefs, in whose family they are 

 handed down from father to son, as heir-looms. They are considered 

 as their choicest treasures, and are so much coveted, that wars have 

 been made to obtain possession of them. For the latter reason they 

 are called Fala-taua. 



There are several distinct trades among the men besides that of 

 tattooing. Among the most esteemed is that of canoe-building, in 

 which there is no little skill displayed. 



The usual fishing-canoe is made of a single tree with a small out- 

 rigger to balance it. They have no large double canoes, such as are 

 seen in Tonga and Feejee. 



The largest canoes are from thirty to sixty feet long, and capable 

 of carrying from ten to twelve persons. They are formed of several 

 pieces of plank, fastened together with sinnet. These pieces are of no 

 regular size or shape. On the edge of each plank is a ledge or pro- 



