i`e (tapa beater)

This is an i’e (tapa beater) from Samoa, it is a hand tool used to beat and flatten pieces of tree bark to create pieces of cloth. This example is carved from wood and square in section with long grooves running the length of three of its surfaces, with the fourth surface left smooth.

The making of barkcloth or tapa, was once widespread throughout the islands of the Pacific. Today, it is most strongly practised in the west Polynesian island groups of Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa. Barkcloth made in Samoa is called siapo.

Making barkcloth 

Siapo makers use the bark of the u'a (paper mulberry tree) to make their cloth. The bark is carefully peeled off the tree in strips and then the inner bark is separated and scraped clean. It is then pounded with the i’e on a special wooden anvil until it widens into a larger size. The pieces of cloth then go through a process where they are pasted together to make a larger cloth and then decorated.

Acquisition History

This i'e was donated to the Dominion Museum (Te Papa's predecessor) in 1955 by William Perry.