The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-01-18
Especial to the Advertiser9

~ Sunday Chronicle has an article
~ on tapas which will be of in
terest TO the readers of the Advertiser,
as those tapas shown in the colored
page illustration of the article were all
brought from Honolulu. Tapas are be-
coming quite popular here in the last
few months, and are being used eX7
tensively for home decoration. OF
course. most Of them are Samoan. as
the Hawaiian variety As scarce ana
very expensive. The Chronicle story is
written by Mrs. Rose-Soley, an Aus
tralian lady who is not unknown in
Honolulu, and is as follows:
one melting morning the South Sea
heat, quivering through palm glade
gave me the prettiest sun-picture that
ever gladdened artistic heart. At the
far end of the leafy vista l spied girl
ism figure seated in a gigantic halo
colored blossoms showered about her,
Japanese dabs of color cleaning on
head and bust, kirtle and 1.-the brown
arms. she looked so dainty and Orien-
tai that I was irresstibly reminded OF
Austin Dobson's Nankin Plate and the
maid Just sixteen-long eyed-as lily
straight" But, on closer Inspection
my little palanquin maid resolved her
self into a busy South Sea miss, posing
South Sea misses. Petals floated down
upon her from a tree hibiscus; PINK
oleander cleaned in her hair. scarlet
berry glowed at her throat, gay drae-
cena leaves fell about her waist, warm
brown tapa rustled at her knees; ever
and anon she mirrored herself in a
tiny pool as she moistened the thin lips
of narrow white bark which her deft
fingers stretched and beat cut. My lit
tie maid is now a citizeness of the
United States, and probably may be
seen any day at the self-same work
for she was then at the early stage OF
tapa making, and Americans are show
ing a marked partially for tapa-the
native cloth prepared by their lately
annexed brown sisters.
Classical and antique, like SO many
South Sea items, what is tapa but the
familiar papyrus of the Egyptions
Only for straight bare sedge you must
substitute straight, leafy paper-mul-
berry and for hieroglyphic legend a
more OF less stereotyped design. And
the method of manufacture has doubt
less been handed down from olden
time, but tradition does not say wheth-
er papyrus making was such a joyous
performance as the tap-tap of the NAL
let. Perchance the papyrus- maker was
a hard worked slave, who cursed softly
while plying weary fingers. To the
modern brown maid who plies her mall
| let. tapamaking is one of lies clad
some occupations; a social bee,
where, if tea be absent, gossip is ever
present and Mrs. Overtheway's actions
are discussed with truly feminine rel
| ish. You can scarce go through an isl
and village without hearing the famll-
| lar beat, beat, beat that denote cloth
making. If you listen you detect an ac-
compartment of merry voices and CUR
Cling laughter, and you know that the
makers are amusing themselves. They
are doing something else at the same
! time-developing figure and muscle
! and our physical culture teachers migh
| well take hint from them. The eX
panded chest, firm. full bust, plump
strong arms, well-poised head of the
South Sea girl are all more or less INT
result of her constant play with tht
mallet There is no better cure foi
chest contraction and it's attendan
consumption, and the day on whlci
American girls take to tapamaking a.
a pastime will be a bad day for th'
| doctors.
Ny little Oriental maid is the only
| solitary tapa-worker 1 ever happened
on, and no wonder, for solitary patience
is a dull game, and it requires all tn
South Sea woman's wheedling patienc'
to coax the long stems of the .'Brous
sonetia papyrifera, slight as a reed
into broad draperies. Watch her as SIT
squats cross-legged, one of busy row
| tap-tap-tapping, like Poes raven, witt
a practical object. The moistened, ma
cerated strip of bark meekly takes al
the hammering it can stand, till at las
soft. silky and patchy, it requires doc
toring with native arrowroot. 1ol
don't think much of this plant whei
you first see it-a commonplace sort
growth. sticking up arroganly, DIS
playing indented leaves and show!
iyellow flowers. But If. on a chHl!
morning, you have a cocoanut brough
you. flied with delicately cooked ar
rowroot and .cocoanut cream, or II yo'
have watched the clever brown peopl
converting the root into paste for wear
ing apparel, your respect for the ma
tive arrowroot grows apace- So doe
your respect for the brown sisters in
genuity: for the native woman fash
lon Of utilizing nature puts your Owl
machine made dependence to the blush
| Very little of the cloth is left in al
early, flmy stage. A small portion o
the slightest texture. is laid aside, pro
viding waist girdles for importan
ceremonia1s. but several thicknesse
are required TO make the cloth service
able For tapa that is to remain white