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: THIS PIECE OF PEALE NUMBER 845, IS UNLIKE THE OTHER "FOREIGN PATTERN" PIECES, PEALE NUMBERS 838 - 846. IT SEEMS TO BE A VERY BRITTLE PIECE OF BROWN "MAMAKI" BARK CLOTH WITH DARKER BROWN PARALLEL LINES AS DECORATION. IT IS IN VERY POOR CONDITION, AND EXCEEDINGLY BRITTLE. HAS PART OF CATALOGUE NUMBER "--88," ALSO AN ATTACHED SHIPPING TAG READS, "NATIVE CLOTH, SANDWICH ISLS AND HILO, HAWAII, EX EX, B[OX]. 7 O". IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THIS IS NOT ACTUALLY ONE OF THE 838-846 PIECES, IT MAY BE PART OF ONE OF ANOTHER "MAMAKI" CLOTH.
label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "3483-89. CAT. 3488, ORIG. 844 AND 845. TWO SPECIMENS OF TAPA, FROM HILO, HAWAII. SAMPLES TAKEN BY K. P. EMORY, 6/24/41."
label: Notes
content: Peale catalogue for numbers 838 to 846 identifies them as "Tapa," cloth made of bark; printed and colored in imitation of foreign patterns by natives of Kauai, Hawaiian Islands."
label: Notes
content: Tapa is entirely brown and very thin. It shows a decorative pattern of parallel lines running lengthwise. The lines are hand-drawn and are of a very dark brown color. This dye could have a high iron content, which would explain some of the degradation. On top of the tapa, the first group of parallel lines is degraded; only three lines are visible. Then, there is a gap of 11.5 cm width with undecorated pattern. The second group of lines is composed of 21 parallel lines. another undecorated gap measures 10.5 cm and another set of parallel lines start; maximum 9 are visible. The thinness and thickness of the lines varies following the way it was hand painted. Sometimes the dye spread and two lines form one thick one. It seems that the brown color of the material is natural; may be a mamaki tapa? Some darker, less finely beaten fibers are on the surface of the fibrous matrix. Beater pattern is very delicate and tapa is very thin. One vertical side is probably the original edge of the tapa.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 31 Jul 2020
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Hawaii (Hawaiʻi), United States, Polynesia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Hawaiian (Kanaka ʻŌiwi, Kanaka Maoli)
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: E3488-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Barkcloth
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: ca 35.5 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 13 cm
label: Length - Object
content: 227 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 40 cm