FEEJEE GROUP. 357 



They are exceedingly pleased with a gift of it; however small, it 

 is always thankfully received ; this, however, is the prevailing taste 

 throughout Polynesia, and the farther west one travels, the more the 

 natives seem to be addicted to its use. 



We were told by the whites of a native nankeen-coloured cotton : 

 of this we did not get specimens; but we found another, which 

 produces a fine white cotton. They have also the cotton-tree (Gossy- 

 pium herbaceum), which grows to the height of fifteen feet. 



The Feejees carefully cultivate the paper mulberry (Broussonetia 

 papyrifera), from which they make their tapa-cloth, and which they 

 call malo. The plantations of this tree resemble young nurseries. 

 The plants are cut down when the stems are about one inch in dia- 

 meter ; the bark is taken off in as long strips as possible, sometimes 

 the whole length of the tree, ten or twelve feet ; it is next steeped in 

 water, scraped with a conch-shell called kaku, and then macerated. 

 When thus prepared it is laid on a log (nondatua) and beaten with a 

 mallet (ike), three sides of which are grooved longitudinally, and the 

 fourth is plain. They always beat two strips of tapa into one, for the 

 purpose of strengthening its fibres, and during this operation it is 

 diminished one-fourth in length. The bark is always kept moist 

 by water, which unites with the gluten. Although it contracts in 

 length, a piece of two inches wide is not unfrequently beaten out to 

 eighteen inches in width. They find no difficulty in joining the 

 pieces together, for the sap is sufficiently tenacious for that purpose, 

 and the junction is often so neatly done as to escape detection. After 

 the tapa is made it is bleached in the sun, as we are in the habit of 

 doing with linen; and that which they desire to have figured under- 

 goes the following process, called kesukesu. Strips of bamboo, of 

 the size of the little finger, are fastened on a board ; on these the tapa 

 is laid, and rubbed over with a sort of dye, or juice, from the fruit of 

 the laudi, which only adheres to the tapa where it touches the bam- 

 boo : it is then washed with a thin solution of arrow-root, which gives 

 it a kind of glazing. Tapa-making is the work of the women, who 

 are generally employed at it early in the morning, and a woman 

 can make ten fathoms of cloth a day. The tapa is also printed 

 after the manner which has been described in treating of the Samoan 

 Group. 



The bark of the Hibiscus tiliaceus is much used in braiding bands, 

 &c. ; for this purpose it is first steeped in water, to make it soft and 

 pliable ; of it the women make their liku, which is a band beautifully 



vol. in. 90 



