504 MAORI ABORIGINAL MANUFACTURER. 
their hair grow long. The manufacture of native cloth is entirely left 
to women of places not inhabited by great chiefs, probably because the 
noise caused by the beating out of the cloth is disliked by courtly ears. 
The rythm of tapa-beating imparts, therefore, as thoroughly a country 
air to a place in Fiji as that of threshing corn does to our European 
villages. The Masi tree is propagated by cuttings, and grown about 
two or three feet apart, in plantations resembling nurseries. For the 
purposes of making cloth, it is not allowed to become higher than about 
twelve feet, and about an inch in diameter. The bark, taken off in as 
long strips as possible, is steeped in water, scraped with a conch shell, 
and then macerated. In this state it is placed on a log of wood, and 
beaten with a mallet (Ike), three sides of which have longitudinal 
grooves, and the fourth a plain surface. Two strips of Tapa are always 
beaten into one, with the view of strengthening the fibres — an operation 
increasing the width of the cloth at the expense of its length. It is easy 
to join pieces together, the sap of the fibres being slightly glutinous ; 
and in order to make the junction as perfect and durable as possible, a 
paste is prepared of arrowroot, or a glue of the viscid berries of the Tou 
(Cordia sprengelii, De Cand.) I have seen pieces of native cloth intended 
for mosquito curtains and screens, which were nearly one hundred feet 
long and thirty broad. Most of the cloth worn is pure white, being 
bleached in the sun as we bleach linen, but printed Tapa is also, though 
not so frequently, seen, whilst that used for cui tains is always coloured. 
Their mode of printing is by means of raised forms of little strips of 
bamboo, on which the colour is placed, and the tops pressed ; indeed, 
the fundamental principle is the same as that of our printing books, the 
little strips of bamboo standing in the place of our types. The chief 
dye employed is the juice of the Lauci (Aleurites triloba, Forst.), and the 
pattern, though rudely executed, often displays much taste. 
" The most simple form of an article of dress, and one much worn 
in Fiji, is called " Liku" consisting of a number of fringes simply 
attached to a waistband. Liku is made of many different plants, the 
most esteemed being the entire body of a species of Rhizomorpha. The 
plant is called vernacularly " Wa loa" literally, black creeper. It 
grows in swamps on decaying wood fallen to the ground ; the threads 
of which it consists are several feet long, leafless, and not much branched. 
The threads, having been beaten between stones in order to free them 
from impurities adhering, are buried for two or three days in muddy 
places, and are then ready for plaiting them to the waistband, 
" The Liku worn by the women are made principally of the fibres of 
the different species of Vau ; the Vau dina (Paritium tiliaceum, Juss.), 
the Vau dra (Paritium tricuspis, Guill.,) and the Vau damudamu 
(Paritium purpurescens, Seem.) The bark of these trees is stripped off, 
steeped in water to render it soft and pliable, and allow the fibres to 
separate. The fibres are either permitted to retain their original white- 
