- description
- # PROCESS OF MAKING TAPPA
## Overview
This section, titled "PROCESS OF MAKING TAPPA," details the traditional method of creating "tappa," a native cloth widely known across the Polynesian Archipelago. The text describes the materials used, the preparation process, and the techniques involved in its manufacture. This section is part of a larger collection, [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW), and was extracted from the file [typee.txt](arke:01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4).
## Context
The description of tappa production is presented as a significant cultural practice, contributing to the comfort and luxury of the inhabitants of the valley. The text emphasizes that this detailed account of the manufacturing process is being provided because such descriptions are believed to be previously unavailable. This section follows the section titled [CONCEIT OF MARHEYO--PROCESS OF MAKING TAPPA](arke:01KG8AKTA29R7ANCYRE9W48Z6H).
## Contents
The process begins with gathering young branches of the cloth-tree. The outer green bark is removed, leaving a fibrous substance that is carefully stripped from the stick. This material is then wrapped in large leaves, similar to wrapping paper, and secured with a line. The bundles are submerged in running water for two to three days, weighed down by a stone. After this soaking, the material is exposed to air, with each piece inspected for sufficient effect. This process is repeated until the desired state is achieved, characterized by softened, relaxed fibers ready for the next stage. The softened strips are then laid out in layers on a smooth surface, such as a prostrate coconut tree trunk. Each addition to the pile is beaten with a wooden mallet, approximately twelve inches long and two inches wide, made of a hard, ebony-like wood. The mallet has a rounded handle and resembles a four-sided razor strop in shape.
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- PROCESS OF MAKING TAPPA
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- text
- But to turn to something a little more important. Although the whole
existence of the inhabitants of the valley seemed to pass away exempt
from toil, yet there were some light employments which, although amusing
rather than laborious as occupations, contributed to their comfort and
luxury. Among these the most important was the manufacture of the native
cloth,--‘tappa’,--so well known, under various modifications, throughout
the whole Polynesian Archipelago. As is generally understood, this
useful and sometimes elegant article is fabricated from the bark
of different trees. But, as I believe that no description of its
manufacture has ever been given, I shall state what I know regarding it.
In the manufacture of the beautiful white tappa generally worn on the
Marquesan Islands, the preliminary operation consists in gathering a
certain quantity of the young branches of the cloth-tree. The exterior
green bark being pulled off as worthless, there remains a slender
fibrous substance, which is carefully stripped from the stick, to which
it closely adheres. When a sufficient quantity of it has been collected,
the various strips are enveloped in a covering of large leaves, which
the natives use precisely as we do wrapping-paper, and which are secured
by a few turns of a line passed round them. The package is then laid in
the bed of some running stream, with a heavy stone placed over it, to
prevent its being swept away. After it has remained for two or three
days in this state, it is drawn out, and exposed, for a short time, to
the action of the air, every distinct piece being attentively inspected,
with a view of ascertaining whether it has yet been sufficiently
affected by the operation. This is repeated again and again, until the
desired result is obtained.
When the substance is in a proper state for the next process, it
betrays evidences of incipient decomposition; the fibres are relaxed and
softened, and rendered perfectly malleable. The different strips are
now extended, one by one, in successive layers, upon some smooth
surface--generally the prostrate trunk of a cocoanut tree--and the heap
thus formed is subjected, at every new increase, to a moderate beating,
with a sort of wooden mallet, leisurely applied. The mallet is made of a
hard heavy wood resembling ebony, is about twelve inches in length, and
perhaps two in breadth, with a rounded handle at one end, and in shape
is the exact counterpart of one of our four-sided razor-strops. The flat
- title
- PROCESS OF MAKING TAPPA