ne tapa, a cloth--or
more properly speaking a strong paper--made by hand from the inner
bark of the wild mulberry. Briefly, the process of manufacture is as
follows:

When full of glutinous sap, the bark of the mulberry is stripped and
steeped in running water until the outer layer is softened. This is
scraped away and the inner bark beaten with corrugated paddles of palm
wood until strips two or three inches broad are widened to ten or
twelve inches.

The edges of these strips are then pasted together with a strong
vegetable glue and laminated with more beating. So skillfully is this
done that it is impossible to detect the lines of jointure.

The tapa used in binding this book is of the stout, heavy grade; but
that used for clothing and scarfs is often as sheer as fine muslin.

Tapa making is confined entirely to the women, men never occupying
themselves with any of its processes.

GLOSSARY

Hawaiian words may be easily pronounced correctly by using the Spanish
alphabet. There are no silent letters, and all syllables are stressed
equally.

Alae (Hawaiian gallinule): Native bird figuring largely in Hawaiian
legends.

Ao-opua: Talisman, guardian spirit.

Haleakala: House (hale) of the Sun (la).

Haole: White man.

Hau: Native tree much favored for lanais (arbors) and the wood for
outriggers on canoes and floats for its cork-like lightness. (Hibiscus
arnottianus).

Heiau: Ancient Hawaiian temple.

Honu: Turtle, turtle-shaped.

Imu: Underground stove made by scooping a hole in the ground, lining
it with rocks, and building a fire in it. The food to be cooked is
placed in the heated cavern, which is then covered tightly with leaves
and earth.

Kaipaaloa: Inlet or estuary where the sea is quiet.

Keahi: Of the fire.

Kuluua: Of the (gentle) rain.

Lauhala: Leaf (lau) of the puhala tree (Pandanus odoratissimus).

Makai: Toward the sea.

Malihini: Stranger, foreigner.

Mamake: Shrub about ten feet high (Pipturus albidus).

Mamalahoa kanawai o na alii: Your king proclaims this the law of the
land (free translation).

Mauka: Toward the mountains.

Olona: Native flax (Touchardia latifolia).

Pahoehoe: The sterile, flintlike lava as distinguished from aa, the
friable and highly fertile lava.

Pau: The end, finished.

Pili: Grass yielding stout fibres (Andropogon contortus).

Puka: Doorway, entrance, hole.

Puu: Small hill, usually of rounded form.

Ti (formerly written ki): Plan