Fatu Hiva 2
VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Wed 23 May 2012 03:04
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Fatu Hiva is the last place in the world where
traditional Polynesian tapas are made. These are intricate designs, similar in
style to the famous tattoos, painted onto the prepared inner bark of three types
of tree. Each tree produces a different colour of bark. Our is from the
breadfruit tree, which as you can see is a light brown:
 It is very fragile; we'll have to get it framed in
Tahiti. The bark is prepared by the women. Here they are at work using exactly
the same technique as their ancestors were using over a thousand years
ago:
 The wet bark is placed over a suitable stone and
beaten repeatedly with a wooden mallet, square in cross section, smooth on two
sides and deeply ridged on the other two. The sound of the beating is a rhythmic
tapping of wood on stone, echoing through the valley and audible on the hill
tops. It must, in any language, be pronounced as tapping noise and hence I guess
the name tapas. Two days of beating eventually produces a very thin uniform
piece of tapas ready for painting after it has been dried. It is then
mostly exported and sold to cruise ship tourists in Tahiti; a thriving
business. Commerce here is mostly by bartering as money is of limited utility:
Alison got her tapas in exchange for a bottle of perfume and some rope. We are
also now laden down with fresh fruit, huge (wonderful) grapefruits,
coconuts, hands of bananas, lemons & limes which Ali has obtained in
exchange for shoes, a T shirt, a bra and some kids' crayons. We are in danger of
getting banana poisoning (there is a lot of potassium in bananas, the danger is
real).
You will note that these are big people.
Unsurprisingly there is a diabetes problem here and we are asked not to give the
kids sweets. And it has become necessary to ask cruisers not to give the
islanders ammunition (almost unbelievably, American sailors have been bringing
ammuntition as a trade good; only governments are supposed to deal in arms,
sadly including our own).
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