Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 39.djvu/814

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794
THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

gathered—the pulp of which makes a paste. The root of mahoe is sometimes used. The soft bark of the cocoanut is scraped off and yields a reddish-brown dye. A stampis made of dry leaves of the paoonga sewed together so as to be of sufficient size, and afterward embroidered with cocoanut-husk fiber. These stamps are generally two feet long by half a foot broad. They are tied into

Fig. 5.—Garment of Beaten Bark. South Sea Islands.

the convex side of cylinders of wood six or eight feet long, with the pattern side up. The bark cloth is laid on and smeared over with a piece of gnatoo dipped in dye. Another piece of the gnatoo is laid over the first, so as not to exactly match it. Both are pieced out in all directions, and three layers are built, each being stained separately. The process is continued until a piece six feet broad and forty or fifty yards in length has been printed. This is folded and baked under ground, to harden and darken the dye, also to