Legends of Old Honolulu (Mythology) / Collected and Translated from the Hawaiian

by W. D. Westervelt

IX

THE LEGENDARY ORIGIN OF KAPA

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.

Kapa or Bark Cloth (piece of real tapa)

Kapa or Bark Cloth (piece of real tapa)

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 [[60]]pig were brought with chickens by their early ancestors.