File:Women of all nations, a record of their characteristics, habits, manners, customs and influence; (1908) (14583674067).jpg

Identifier: womenofallnation01joyc (find matches)
Title: Women of all nations, a record of their characteristics, habits, manners, customs and influence;
Year: 1908 (1900s)
Authors: Joyce, Thomas Athol, 1878-1942 Thomas, Northcote Whitridge, 1868-
Subjects: Women
Publisher: London, New York (etc.) : Cassell and Company, limited
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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degree of perfection. Various kinds of bark are used for itspreparation, that of the paper mulberry(Brousonetia papyrifera) makes the bestcloth, and shoots of the tree are speciallygrown for the purpose. The legend of itsorigin is thus told in Samoa :— There were once two brothers, Tutunga,the paper mulberry, and Salato, the stingingtree, and each had his plot of ground anda distinct boundary. One morning Tutungacrossed over his boundary and encroachedon the land of Salato, who thereupon com-plained, and, unable to obtain satisfactionfrom the trespasser, referred the affair totheir parents. These decided that the twobrothers should separate, that Salato shouldgo further inland, and be sacred and re-spected ; and so it is, for no one dares totouch it. On the other hand Tutunga wasto be punished for his aggression. He wasto be cut, and skinned, and beaten, andpainted, and made to cover the bodies ofmen. Then to rot, and then to be burned.And this is his fate to this day. POLYNESIA 43
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by J, ir. !raters. SAMOAN GIRL SITTING CROSS-LEGGED.The hair is dressed in European style. The poorer people, who cannot affordpaper mulberry, use the bark of banyan,hibiscus, bread-fruit, and varieties of lianasin its place. Tlie making of the tapa is one of the mostimportant labours of the women, and thoughto a great extent the native material issuperseded by European cloth, it still formsthe characteristic clothing in many parts. The method of cloth-making is as follows : First the bark of the shoots is strippedoff, soaked, the hard outer rind scrapedaway, and the inner fibrous surface steepedin water ; when thoroughly soaked it is laid on a piece of wood hollow beneath, orraised somewhat from the ground, with aconvex surface above. On either side ofthis sit the women, each one armed with amallet of heavy wood with which she beatsout the cloth (sec illustration on p. 48). Themallets are square, with rounded handle ends,and the sides are incised in different modes,one surface having

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