Note: Dr. Brigham, the director of the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, well says, "Kapa (tapa) is simply ka (the) and pa (beaten) or the beaten thing."
The cloth used for centuries by the Hawaiians and some other Polynesians was "the beaten thing" resulting from beating the inner mucilaginous bark of certain trees into pulp and then into sheets which could be used for clothing or covering.
The letters "k" and "t" have from time immemorial been interchangeable among the Hawaiians, therefore the words "kapa" and "tapa" have both been freely used as the name of the ancient wood-pulp cloth of the Hawaiians.
The old people said that in the very long ago their ancestors did not have anything like the kapa cloth which has been known for many centuries. They said also that there was no kapa maoli, meaning that there was nothing in nature which provided clothing or covering. Very little reference is made in the legends to the use of skins as clothing, although the dog and
{p. 60}
pig were brought with chickens by their early ancestors.
The clothing of the oldest time was sometimes made by tying dried banana leaves around the body, and coverings were made by throwing dry banana leaves over the body. Thus Kawelo was warmed and brought back to life, according to one of the most famous legends of the island Kauai.
The long, fragrant leaves of the ti[1] plant were dried, soaked in water until soft, the outside scraped off, then fastened together by braiding or tying. In this way a very warm cloak was made and worn by bird-catchers. They found it very good for shedding rain and keeping out cold when they went into the mountains.
Sometimes the long leaves of the Lau-hala were thatched into covering for the body as well as for the house. So also grass was braided into very fine cloaks as well as into mats. Banana leaves hanging in strips like a fringe were used for malos (loin cloths) for men, and pa-us (skirts) for women.
For many generations the Hawaiians made most beautiful and costly feather garments. They braided or wove a foundation mesh of very fine vegetable fibres, such as the long threads of the ieie[2] vine. This mesh was fashioned into a mahiole, or warrior's helmet, a kihei, or shoulder
{p. 62}
BACK of Honolulu a beautiful valley rises in a gentle slope between two rugged, precipitous ranges of lava mountains until it reaches cloudland and drinks ceaselessly from the fountains of the sky. A stream of laughing water rising from waterfalls blown into spray by swift winds rushes and leaps in numberless cascades through pleasant groves down this valley of restful shadows until it is lost in the coral reefs of an iridescent sea.
This is the noted Nuuanu Valley of winding ways loved by sightseers as they climb to the grand outlook over extinct craters, island coast and boundless ocean, called "the view from Nuuanu Pali."
This was the valley supposed to have been the first habitation of the gods, from which all life spread over the island group. Here the gnomes, or the eepa people, had their home, and here the Menehunes (the fairies) built a temple for "the child adopted by the gods."
The waters of the valley stream fertilized large areas where the valley broadened into the broad
{p. 63}
seaside plain in which now lies the city of Honolulu. Here at Pu-iwa, by the side of the running water, a farmer by the name of Maikoha lived with his daughters, having no care except raising whatever food they needed for themselves and for their tribute to the king and their offerings to the gods.
Years passed by and Maikoha became weak and ill. The eepa people of the upper valley had always sent driving rains and cold winds down the valley, and Maikoha had cared little for them; but the old man at last went into the days of death feeling a chill which struck to his very heart. On his death-bed he called his daughters and commanded them to listen carefully and to obey his words, saying: "When I die, bury my body close to the waters of our pleasant stream. A tree will grow from that burial-place. This tree will be to you for kapa, from which you will make all things good for clothing as well as covering when you sleep or are ill. The bark of this tree is the part you will use."
When death came, the daughters buried their father by the running water. After a time a tree grew from the grave. The daughters saw that it was a new tree such as they had never seen before. It was not tall and large, but threw out a number of small, spreading branches. This was the wauke[1] tree.
Wherever they cut or broke the branches of this new tree the broken pieces took root, or, if the fragments were caught by the swift-flowing stream, they were tossed on the bank or carried and scattered over the plain, and wherever they went they found a place to plant themselves until they grew even to the sea.
Branches were carried to the other islands; thus the wauke became a blessing to all the people. This tree under the name "aute," which is the same as wauke, was a blessing to many Polynesians, from Tahiti to New Zealand.
In after years other trees, such as the mamaki,[1] the maa-loa and po-ulu, were found to have bark
Maikoha became the chief aumakua, or ancestor-god, of the Hawaiian kapa-makers, and has been worshipped for generations. When they planted the wauke branches, or shoots, prayers and incantations and sacrifices were offered to Maikoha. Before branches were cut and placed in bundles to be carried to a field set apart for kapa-making, the favor of Maikoha was again sought.
One of the daughters of Maikoha, whose name was Lau-hu-iki, became the aumakua of all those who pounded the prepared bark, for to her was given the power of finding kapa in the bark of the wauke-tree, and she had the power of teaching how to pound as well as bless the labor of those who worshipped her.
The other daughter, Laa-hana, Was also worshipped as an aumakua by those who used especially marked clubs while beating the bark into patterns or marked lines, for they said she learned how to scratch the clubs with sharks' teeth so that marks would be left in the pounded sheets. She was also able to teach those who worshipped her to mark figures or patterns on the pounded kapa.
Thus Maikoha and his daughters became the
{p. 66}
chief gods of the kapa-makers; but other ancestral gods were also found from time to time as some new step was taken in perfecting the art.
Ehu, a man, was made the aumakua of kapa-dyers because he learned how to dip the cloth in dyes and give it color. He discovered the red dye in the blood of the kukui[1] tree; therefore prayers were offered to him and sacrifices laid on his altar when the kapa-maker desired to color some of the work.
A small corner in a house in the kapa-field usually had a very small pile of stones called "the altars." Here small offerings of leaves or fruit could be placed while the worshipper chanted his prayer.
Kapa-dyers searched forests for trees and plants which could give life-blood for different dyes. The sap of these plants was carefully put in bamboo joints and carried to the place where the pounders sang and worked.
Offerings of leaves and fruits and flowers were made to Ehu from time to time while the dyes were being collected as well as when they were used to color the kapa.
Sometimes the sheets were spotted by sprinkling colors over them. Sometimes they were marked in lines and figures by using bamboo splints or bamboos with ends pounded into brush-like