Bark Cloth
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1858
label: Collection Date
content: 1838 to 1842
name: label: Donor Name
content: United States Exploring Expedition
notes: label: Notes
content: Peale catalogue identifies # 1411 - 1434 as: "Masi". Cloth made of bark, worn by the men of the Fiji Islands."
label: Notes
content: Long, narrow undecorated tapa, made in one layer, with two sections attached with arrowroot, per Adrienne Kaeppler, Curator for Oceania Ethnology. The attachment of the two sections is 115 cm from one end of the piece. There are long fringes on both ends of the tapa, made from tightly twisting very thin tapa strips. There are additional fringes all along the sides, made by cutting the edge of the tapa into a strip and splitting the strip into four smaller strips. According to Adrienne Kaeppler, this tapa would remain undecorated and used as clothing as it is. It would be wrapped around the upper body, then between the legs and drawn up in the back and the remainder would hang down in the back. Has original Peale # label near center of the tapa.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 31 Jul 2020
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Fiji, Melanesia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 66A00050
label: USNM Number
content: E4664-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Barkcloth
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 406 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 72 cm