Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE MAKING OF TAPA CLOTH
From sunrise to sunset, the deep resonating thump of wood beating against wood echoes
around the villages of Vatulele. This is the sound of tapa cloth production, a fine paper
made from the bark of the mulberry tree , or masi in Fijian. The cloth was traditionally
used as clothing, wrapped around the waist and draped over the shoulder of people with
chiefly status. It also represented a conductor between the spirit and living world, and was
hung from the high ceiling of the bure kalou , or temple, and used by the priest to mediate
with the gods. Today, it is used in decorative artwork and gift wrapping sold in boutique
shops around Fiji.
The production of tapa is almost exclusively done by women. The first step is to slice and
strip the long thin bark of the mulberry tree into single pieces which are then soaked in
the sea for four nights. Once supple, the bark is beaten into a pulp using hardwood slabs
and heavy wooden sticks and joined with other strips to make a single piece of cloth. Dried
in the sun, the cloth is eventually decorated using patterned stencil designs depicting the
origin of the artist and figurative icons relevant to a clan's totemic god - often a turtle or
shark. Once stencilled, the cloth is known in Fijian as masi . Only two or three colours are
used - brown dye is obtained from the bark of the mangrove tree; the black dye comes
from charcoal; while the red dye that is sometimes used is obtained from seeds. For the
villagers on Vatulele, tapa is the main cash crop , generating an average annual income of
F$2000 per household, although for some tapa artists this can reach F$6000, equalling the
basic salary of a Fijian civil servant.
The east coast and the northern tip
The four villages on Vatulele lie within a thirty-minute walk of each other along the flat
east coast . The health centre and primary school are both in the chiefly village of Ekubu ,
sometimes referred to as “Village Number Two”. This side of the island faces a bountiful
fishing lagoon with a fringing reef 3km from shore and several small islets within. One of
them, Vatulevu , was nicknamed “Bird Island”, as it used to host thousands of nesting red-
footed boobies . Unfortunately, when the landowner introduced goats in 2002 it took less than
a year for them to strip the vegetation and leave the island barren. The birds now nest on the
sharp limestone cliffs between Long Beach and the limestone passages of the Grotto along
the northern tip of Vatulele. Guests staying at Vatulele Island Resort can kayak for twenty
minutes along the coast to spot the boobies and their adorable fluffy offspring.
The west coast
Vatulele's famous petroglyphs , carved into the limestone cliffs at a height of 10m, are on
Vatulele's west coast , south of Vatulele Island Resort . The designs include hands, faces and
animals such as roosters. Just south of here is another island icon, the sacred red prawns
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