Bark Cloth Sample

Sleeping Cloth Fragment

A rectangular sample of bark cloth made of wauke (paper mulberry). The sample was removed from a kapa moe (bed covering) measuring approximately 5.5 x 8 feet, present at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum. The kapa is referenced in William T. Brigham’s Ka Hana Kapa. There are three distinct panels of surface decoration: one panel of black and light brown parallel lines, one panel of dark brown and light brown, and a central panel of a light brown kapuai koloa (duck feet) motif. The central panel would have been created with bamboo stamps (‘ohe kāpala). Awapuhi (Zingiber zerumbet) was used to give a light fragrance to the kapa. The pigments used to create the surface decoration were yellow ochre and charcoal.

Kapa cloth is produced from the inner bark of a tree, typically wauke (paper mulberry), which is cultivated, harvested, and processed through soaking, scraping, fermenting, and repeated beating to form and refine the cloth. Patterned beaters may be used during production to create watermarks that can reflect regional styles or maker affiliations. After drying, the cloth is decorated using natural dyes and bamboo implements.

Kapa moe, used as bedding, was made with particular attention to thickness and durability to withstand repeated use, washing, and sun-drying.

From the eighteenth century onward, European collectors and scholars frequently collected kapa, often removing small samples from larger textiles to facilitate transport, study, and comparison in museum and private collections, a practice especially common during and after Cook’s voyages in the Pacific.