Hina, the goddess who in the long ago made her home in the great cave
beneath Rainbow Falls, was especially gifted in the art of tapa
making. So wonderfully artistic and fine were the tapas of Hina that
people journeyed from all parts of the Island to view them and to
covet. Even across the mighty shoulders of Mauna Loa from Kona and
Kailua and down the rugged Hamakua Coast from Waipio they came, and
from the other islands as well.
It was hard, laboring over the tapa every day, and especially hunting
for the olona which Hina sometimes used. But she used also the bark of
the mamake and wauke trees, which were more plentiful and very good
for tapa.
Interested though he was in the manufacture and decoration of this
beautiful paper-cloth, Hina's son, the demi-god Maui, held aloof from
the work. In the making of tapa man's hand was tabu, yet he could not
forbear an occasional suggestion when his mother created mystic
designs for decoration of her work.
After the tapa was made it had to be placed for the Sun to dry, but by
the time Hina would reach the drying frames, the Sun was far up in the
sky. All too soon long shadows would creep across the stream below
Rainbow Falls, warning her that night approached and that it was time
to take in her tapa.
[Illustration: Drawn by Will Herwig. Paradise Eng.