Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 February 1910 — TAPA CLOTH. [ARTICLE]

TAPA CLOTH.

Attire of tbe Native Hawaiian! Refer Civilisation Arrived. The ’’paper mulberry” tree (Broussonetia papyrifera) is the source of the famous “tapa cloth” of the Polynesian islands. This is a natural tissue and is derived from the inner bark and after being torn off in strips is scraped with shells and beaten with a mallet until it resembles a soft, flexible paper. The individual strips are united by overlapping the edges and beating the fibers together until large pieces of the tissue are formed. It is said that before Hawaii was swept with the wave of ’civilization men and women were dressed in this natural bark cloth “tapa” or “kapa." The dress pf the women consists of the “pa-u,” or wrapper, composed of five thicknesses of tapa, about four yards in length by three in width, passed several times around the waist and extending below the knee. The dress of the men was the “malo,” or girdle, about a foot in width and several yards long. A “kikel.” or mantle, six feet square. Was sometimes worn ■by both sexes. In former years these natural cloths were sometimes'bleached to snowy whiteness or were dyed in colors and even pcintfed or ornamented usually in cheeks or squares. —Exchange.