. The history of mankind . e bark-cloth, known as tapa or guatu, is preparedMariner gives the following account: A circular cut is made with a shell in thebark above the root of the tree ; the tree is broken off, and in a few days, when thestem is half-dry, the bark and bast are separated from it. The bast is then cleanedand macerated in water, after which it is beaten with the ribbed club on a woodenblock. This beating enlivens a village in Tonga as threshing does in half an hour the piece will have changed in shape from a strip almost to asquare. The edges are snipped with shells,
. The history of mankind . e bark-cloth, known as tapa or guatu, is preparedMariner gives the following account: A circular cut is made with a shell in thebark above the root of the tree ; the tree is broken off, and in a few days, when thestem is half-dry, the bark and bast are separated from it. The bast is then cleanedand macerated in water, after which it is beaten with the ribbed club on a woodenblock. This beating enlivens a village in Tonga as threshing does in half an hour the piece will have changed in shape from a strip almost to asquare. The edges are snipped with shells, and a large number of the piecesare drawn separately over a semi-cylindrical wooden stamp, on which the pattern,worked in coco-fibre, is stretched and smeared with a fluid at once adhesive andcolouring. On each a second and third layer is placed ; and the piece, threelayers thick, is coloured more strongly in the parts which are thrown into reliefby the inequalities of the bed. Others are annexed to it both at the side and. Mats from Tongatabu. (Vienna Ethnographical Museum. the end, until pieces a yard wide, and 20 to 25 yards long, are produced. Forprinting their kapa (as they call it) the Hawaiians used sticks broadened at theend, and carved with figures in relief, and drew lines on the stuff with a woodencomb. Some of the most remarkable patterns of Polynesian tapa from thatportion of Cooks collection which is now at Vienna, are represented on ourcoloured plate. The tints are black, white, and reddish brown ; the patterns,with the exception of a dotted one which seldom occurs, are rectilinear. Europeaninfluence has unluckily not improved them. Mats from the Gilberts andMarshalls show a special pattern for each island,1 displaying a relatively goodstandard of taste. The women of Micronesia, in Ruk, Mortlock, and Nukuor,weave a fabric from the fibres of a Musa and a Hibiscus. The looms, or ratherframes, are like those of the Malays. The Gilbert and Marshall Islanders arecleve
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectethnology, bookyear18
