338 FEEJEE GROUP. 
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, undergoes 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 bamboo; it is then 
washed with a thin solution of arrow-root, which gives it a kind of 
glazing. Tapa-making is the work of 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. 
a 
WOMAN BRAIDING, 
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 
braided, about three inches wide, where the ends of the bark project 
so as to form a fringe, which is dyed red or black. This is the only 
article the women wear to cover their nakedness. The band is so 
plaited as to be a little elastic, by which means only it is kept on. 
The manner of braiding it is by affixing it to the great toe of the right 
foot. 
The Pandanus odoratissimus furnishes the materials for their mats, 
