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 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 [13] 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 [14] vine. This
mesh was fashioned into a mahiole, or warrior’s helmet, a kihei, or
shoulder cape, or an ahuula, or long cloak, and covered with the most
brilliant red and golden feathers which could be secured from the birds
of the forest.
In the legend of Makuakaumana the gods Ka-ne and Kanaloa are
represented as feeling pity for one of their worshippers when they saw
him shivering in a fierce storm of cold rain; therefore they taught him
how to make a kihei, or shoulder cape. Great was the wonder of the
people of the northern side of the island of Oahu when he appeared
among them and taught them how to make cloaks like “the gift of the
gods.” The legend is interesting, but only shows that the people
sometime learned how to make a work-day cloak. Presumably the Hawaiian
method of pounding the adhesive bark of certain trees until that bark
becomes a pulpy mass and then making it into sheets and drying it was
used in Samoa and many other islands of the Pacific Ocean and also even
in Mexico hundreds of years ago. Evidently the Hawaiian brought the art
with him or learned it from the sea rovers of about the tenth century.
Nevertheless, the Hawaiian legend of the origin of kapa is a myth well
worth keeping on record in Hawaiian literature. It was partly published
in a native paper, the Kuokoa, in 1865, but many references in other
legends printed about the same time fill out the story.
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 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 [15] tree.
The daughters with great fear drew near to this monument which was over
their father’s grave. They believed it was a gift from the aumakua, the
ghost-god, into which they supposed the spirit of their father had been
changed.
Reverently they touched the tree, broke off some of the branches,
stripped off the bark, and pounded and pounded until the pieces were
fastened together in a rude kind of cloth. Thus they found kapa, “the
beaten thing,” and learned how to make it into small and large pieces
and out of these fashion such clothing as met their need.
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, [16] the maa-loa and
po-ulu, were found to have bark from which kapa could be made; but the
old people said, “From the wauke we get the best kapa for fine, soft
clothing.”
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 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 [17] 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 fibres. Stone cups were
kept in the kapa-fields for the dye and the marking-splint.
Sometimes torn-up pieces of dyed kapas were pounded up with new sheets,
producing a mottled effect. White kapas of the best texture were used
in the temples to cover the gods during certain parts of the temple
ceremonies. They were also used to mark a strict tabu. When kapa was
laid on an object, it meant that it was not to be touched under pain of
punishment by the guarding aumakua. Fastened to a staff and placed in a
path, it meant that this path was tabu. It was in this way that tabu
standards were placed around the temples.
A kapa dipped in a black dye was kept for the death covering,
especially for those of very high rank.
Sometimes the perfumes of sweet flowers or the oil of such trees as the
iliahi [18] (sandalwood) were pounded into the kapa while it was being
made. The perfumes were made in this way. The sweet-smelling things
were placed in a calabash and covered with water. Hot stones were put
in the water and the fragrance drawn out of the plants. The water was
boiled away until the perfume became very strong. This was done with
the sweet-scented flowers of the niu [19] (coconut) and of the
lau-hala, [20] and the wood of the iliahi and other fragrant plants.
When the kapas were perfumed, they were dried inside a house so that
the fragrance should not be lost.
Sometimes the kapas were well scraped with pieces of shell or rubbed
with stones, then were rolled in dirt and put in a calabash and well
soaked for a long time. When these kapas were washed, scraped and
pounded again, they became very soft. Often the kapa-maker would take
these sheets of kapa and spread them over a layer of cold, wet,
fresh-water moss, leaving them all night for the dew to fall upon.
These kapas became very bright and shining. Sometimes finished kapas
were oiled so that they became excellent protectors from the wet and
cold of heavy mists and rains. These oiled kapas were frequently
varnished by being rubbed with eggs. Spider eggs were considered the
best for this purpose.
In the early time a flat stone was used upon which to pound out the
sheets of kapa, but blocks of wood and long, heavy sticks were found to
give the best results. These were called kua-kuku. A block cut in a
certain way was very much liked by the women, for it gave back a soft
sound with the rhythmic beat of the mallets, accompanied by their own
chants and incantations to Maikoha or one of the other aumakuas.
Hina, the mother of the demi-god Maui, was the great kapa-maker of the
legends of the ancient Hawaiians. It is said that she still spreads her
kapas in the sky. They are the beautiful clouds of all colors,
sometimes piled up and sometimes lying in sheets. When fierce winds
blow and lift and toss the cloud kapas and roll off the stones which
Hina has placed on them to hold them down, or when she throws off the
stones herself, the noise of the rolling stones is the thunder which
men hear.
When Hina rolls the cloud sheets together, the folds glisten and flash
in the light of the sun; thus what men call lightning is the sunlight
leaping from sheet to sheet of Hina’s kapas in cloudland.
X