tapa, barktyg, kapa [[Etno]], pa'u hula [?]

Hawaiian kapa (barkcloth) is among the most varied cloth-making traditions in the Pacific. Across the region, such cloths are generally known as tapa and were widely used before the introduction of European textiles. In Hawaiʻi, distinctive techniques developed, producing a large range of materials, textures, colours, and patterns.

Several trees provided the raw material for kapa, including wauke (paper mulberry, Broussonetia papyrifera), mamaki (Pipturus albidus), ma’oloa (Neraudia melastomaefolia), and ‘ulu (breadfruit, Artocarpus altilis). The bark was carefully cut with a serrated shell and peeled; the inner bark (bast) was separated from the outer bark, which was discarded. As in other Polynesian cultures, kapa making was traditionally a female practice.

The process of making kapa varied according to its intended use. In some cases, the bast was beaten immediately; in others, it was soaked or retted beforehand. Beating could take place in one or two stages. Hawaiʻi is one of the few Pacific regions where a stone anvil was used for the first beating, rather than a wooden one. The beaten cloth was then dried in the sun, its edges weighted with stones.

A Hawaiian tradition links kapa to the goddess Hina. The clouds are said to be her white cloths spread out to dry, weighted with stones. When she moves them, the rolling stones make thunder, and when she folds the cloth, lightning flashes across the sky.

Pieces of tapa could be assembled in different ways. In this example, five rectangular sheets are joined by cords looped through punched holes along one of the long edges, with the top layer decorated and the four underlying layers left plain white. Sleeping kapa (kapa moe) were the most common pieces that comprised of several layers joined together. However, they were typically sewn using thread made from tapa or hau fibre, often with needles or bodkins, allowing the layers to be turned like the pages of a book to adjust warmth. The joining system used here suggests that the piece may have rather served as a ceremonial pa‘u, a wrapped garment worn around the waist. Historical accounts describe pa‘u worn by high-ranking women as elaborately layered, creating a striking visual effect when draped. The production of this type of cloth increased after King Kamehameha I established the royal court in Honolulu at the end of the 18th century, where dancing was an integral part of life. The intensification of hula ceremonies created a growing demand for finely made pa’u, essential garment of the female dancers.

The ornamentation of this kapa showcases the use of a bamboo liner to produce sets of finely printed lines. This tool, with one or several prongs resembling the teeth of a comb, was dipped in pigment and pressed onto the cloth alongside a bamboo ruler to ensure straight parallel lines. Complex designs were built up by combining single, double, and triple lines of varying widths and spacing, and by intersecting them with oblique lines.
The black pigment was derived from burnt candlenuts (Aleurites moluccanus).

A distinctive Hawaiian practice was to scent tapa with fragrant plants — such as dried fruits, leaves, wood powders, or flowers — either placed between layers of cloth or mixed into the dyes.

Kapa making declined after missionaries arrived in 1820, promoting Western clothing, and had nearly ceased by the late-19th century. (Héloise Dazard 2025).

Provenance:

This tapa was collected by Nils Werngren (1815–1897), a Swedish sailor who completed the first Swedish circumnavigation of the world between 1839 and 1841 aboard the brigantine Mary Ann. He later undertook two further voyages (1842–1844 and 1844–1846) on the Bull. Both ships were owned by the businessman Carl Fredrik Liljevalch (1796–1870), who aimed to trade in Australia. When Werngren returned from his second voyage, he learned that Brunius, purser of another ship, had disappeared with the proceeds from a cargo sale. Werngren was therefore sent on a third voyage to investigate and continue trading.

The Bull departed Stockholm on 6 October 1843, sailing first to Sydney and then to Tahiti, where Brunius had settled under French protection. From Tahiti, the ship continued to the Hawaiian Islands—then known to Europeans as the “Sandwich Islands”—arriving in Maui on 3 July and O‘ahu on 4 July 1844. Unfortunately, Werngren did not record how he acquired the tapa, though he noted that “products from this island are as good as money”: tapa may have been among the items exchanged. After five weeks in Hawai‘i, the Bull sailed for Manila on 10 August 1844. Werngren returned to Honolulu from Hong Kong on February 26, 1845, remaining until April 2, 1845, and visited again from Kamchatka and the Columbia River region, anchoring at Honolulu on September 27, 1845, and departing Lahaina (Maui) on November 17, 1845. Thus, Werngren traveled between Maui and O‘ahu several times between July 1844 and November 1845, and the tapa was likely collected at one of these locations during that period.

It was donated to the museum by Nils Werngren in 1846. (Héloise Dazard 2025).