Bark cloth

“ This, with a hat of grass from the river-bank, is his wardrobe, except an 212 extra shirt of foreign manufactured cotton, worn in the heat of the day when not at work, or in the evening when the musquitoes are troublesome. The bark cloth is most frequently used at night, when they particularly protect themselves. In the middle of the day they take off their clothes, carefully fold them up, and place them aside until they are required. ”

“ Bark cloth is used for making perineal bands, men’s caps, illness-recovery capes, bark cloth head strings, mourning strings and dancing aprons and ribbons. Netting is used for fishing and hunting nets, sleeping hammocks, the various forms of carrying bags and the mourning vests worn by the widows of chiefs. ”

“ The wearing of bark has sometimes been kept up as a sign of primitive simplicity. Thus in India it is written in the laws of Manu that when the grey-haired Brahman retires into the forest to end his days in religious meditation, he shall wear a skin or a garment of bark. A ruder people, the Kayans of Borneo, while in common life they like the smart foreign stuffs of the trader, when they go into mourning throw them off and return to the rude native garment of bark-cloth. ”

“ Clothes, in fact, are often donned by savages at periods of license only. See Westermarck, History of Human Marriage, chap. ix.
[63] There are several trees in these forests that supply the needed fibrous bark. im Thurn suggests that the bark used is that of the Lecythis ollaria, but Spruce states that tauari is made from the bark of certain species of Tecoma of the Bignoniaceae order, and tururi, a thinner bark-cloth, from various figs and Artocarps. ”

“ He tells me that according to tradition Mukasa used to give his oracles by the mouth of a man, not of a woman. To wear two bark cloths, one on each shoulder, is a privilege of royalty and of priests. The ordinary man wears a single bark cloth knotted on one shoulder only. With the single exception mentioned in the text, women in Uganda never wear bark cloths fastened over the shoulders. ”

“ Care is taken that the cloth shall be in all parts of an equal thickness, so that if the bark happens to be thinner in any particular part of one layer than the rest, a piece that is somewhat thicker is picked out to be laid over it in the next. ”

“ Good bark-cloth is very soft and pliable, and very warm in cold weather. Even after the introduction of English cloth, women were often seen wearing bark-cloth above their calico on cold or wet days. As already remarked, it continues to be worn ceremonially in the mysteries.
IRONWORK AND WOOD-CARVING
The Mang’anja, like the Mashona and other Makalanga tribes, have been distinguished from time immemorial as workers in iron. The Zulus do not appear to have practised this art to any great extent, though it was handed down in certain families, who probably learnt it from the Makalanga. ”

“ Like the waistcoats worn by the women, the bonnets are made of ingeniously plaited fibre, and both of these look well when they are newly made, but they very quickly become hideous with damp and dirt, and the wearer is a person to be shunned. The small girls, unlike the boys, wear a narrow strip of bark cloth tucked between the legs almost as soon as they can walk. It is perhaps worth mentioning that these people have the art of sewing; they make eyed needles out of sharp fish bones, and with strands of fibre they contrive to sew pieces of bark cloth very neatly together. ”

“ The finest sort when bleached is very white and comes nearest to fine Cotton. Thick cloth, especially fine, is made by pasting two or more thickness's of thin cloth, made for that Purpose, together. Coarse thick cloth and ordinary thin cloth is made of the Bark of Bread fruit Trees, and I think I have been told that it is sometimes made from the Bark of other trees. The making of Cloth is wholy the work of the women, in which all ranks are employ'd. ”

“ Nature is not always so kind as in Brazil, where, Tylor says, a man who wishes a garment goes to a shirt tree. He cuts a four or five foot length of trunk or large branch, gets the bark off in an entire tube, which he has then to soak and beat soft and cut slits in for arm-holes. A short length makes a woman's waist. But bark is used as a dress material widely. Throughout a large portion of Oceania the natives have their tapa, masi, or gnatoo cloth, made by beating the bark of the malo tree. ”

“ It is very striking that while coarse and scanty garments (sackcloth or bark-cloths among peoples who usually wear cotton or wool, and mere loin-cloths or nothing at all among peoples usually clad) are worn in place of more luxurious stuffs, a frequently recurring prescription is old worn-out clothes. ”

“ As it was, the spoil of the barks so easily taken contented him. Now he was bound for Lima. Along the way he fell in with a bark which, being boarded and rifled, produced a good store of linen cloth. When as much of this stuff as was desired had been taken the bark was cast off. ”

“ Lustre Dress Fabrics.—This class of union fabric, when woven with a fast black dyed cotton warp and a worsted mohair weft, is representative of union fabrics in general, and the treatment of this material when in its grey state applies to the majority of union fabrics. The warp is generally a 2/80's, i.e., a strong yarn, and the weft, say, a 1/14's. The warp being dyed prior to weaving, there only remains the weft to be dyed after the unfinished cloth leaves the loom. ”

“ The extent and variety of our cloth manufacture, our fertility in making designs, our different ways of weaving, were really remarkable. We made cloth in stripes broad and narrow, and in checks wide and small. We made plain cloth, twilled cloth, jeans, and salt-and-pepper cloth, the latter by alternating one thread of white and one thread of black the width and length of the warp, and the same in the woof. This was a slow process, as the shuttles, with the quills of black and white thread, were changed at every tap of the batten. Plaids were woven both of wool and cotton thread. ”

“ Their ordinary working garb is made of bark; their better robe, for more festive occasions, consists of a twilled cotton of their own manufacture, exceedingly soft and fine, but very close and strong. ”

“ The under-garment is a coloured shirt, over which is worn a sleeved waistcoat of a different colour, and above this is an open-fronted coat reaching to the knees. Loose trousers, so full as to look like a petticoat, are worn, and frequently an apron and a heavy silver belt are added. The head-dress is very becoming, and consists of a raised cap of cloth or silk, embroidered or jewelled, with a white muslin veil over it and the head, but the face is exposed, except in the case of married women, who draw a part of the veil over the mouth. It is not proper that the hair should be seen. ”

“ The girl also keeps secluded by keeping in the house where the wives of Lock and Lock-nee are, and she is busy fixing her dresses, combing her hair and keeping herself very neat and what spare time she may have after this she is making a new dress or skirt from the inner bark of the wild maple that grows on the river. The bark is bleached until white, then platted and hung to a band that goes around the waist, making it as a skirt, coming down to the ankles. All the workers which are called Nah-quelth are ready to work like beavers getting everything in readiness. ”

“ In fine, the British wool could not be got rid of without a copious importation of foreign wool to aid the manufacturer in his disposal of it, as fine cloths are so much better and more durable in their wear than coarse cloths, that they are coming more and more into demand, to the almost total exclusion of the latter. Moreover, the good old custom of making home-spun cloth is reviving among our farmers, and as it is excellently suited for work-day wear, though necessarily of an inferior gloss, coarse cloths will, to a considerable extent, cease to be the concern of our manufacturers. ”

“ The name is taken from the bird whose downy breast the finish of the fabric resembles. The warp is usually 28s cotton, the filling 36s cotton. It is a plain weave. Filling and warp count 48 picks per inch. The goods are finished by being burled, sheared, washed, singed, dyed, rinsed, dried, and pressed, care being taken not to press too hard. Sometimes singeing is omitted. Albatross cloth is generally in white, black, or solid colors. It is not often printed. It is light in weight, and is used for dress goods. ”

“ With wool we make mattresses and weave cloth, flannel, serge, in fact all the different fabrics best adapted for protecting us from the cold. It is far and away the most suitable material for clothing; cotton, despite its importance, takes only [273] second place; and silk, with all its fine qualities, is very inferior to wool for actual service. The sheep’s coat, more than anything else, we use for clothing; we cover ourselves with its fleece after converting it by spinning and weaving into magnificent cloth. ”

“ Plain cloth is the simplest cloth that can be woven. In this weave one series of threads (filling) crosses another series (warp) at right angles, passing over one and under one in regular order, thus forming a simple interlacement of the threads. This combination makes a strong and firm cloth, but does not give a close or a heavy fabric, as the threads do not lie as close and compact as they do in other weaves. In plain cloth, if not fulled or shrunk in the finish, the result is a fabric perforated with large or small openings according to the size or twist of yarn used. ”

“ The warp and filling are made of carded wool so that the web (cloth) will shrink or full evenly. The stock is generally dyed in the raw state when used for men’s wear. When taken from the loom it does not have the smooth, lustrous appearance which is its distinctive feature. It is rough and dull colored, with the threads showing plainly. To improve its appearance it is first subjected to the action of the fulling mill, with the result that the fibers of the warp and weft become entangled to such an extent that the cloth never unravels. ”

“ Let it be here remarked, that the women’s dresses are not dresses at all in the sense of being garments made up, or cut out; they are simply pieces of drapery disposed about the body, fastened beneath the shoulders with brooches, and confined at the waist with a girdle; but for the girdle and the overlapping of the edges of the cloth, the wearer’s person would be disclosed on one side. ”

“ From the king to the peasant the costume of the men consists of a large loose web of coarse cotton cloth, enveloping the entire person in graceful folds, but well-nigh incapacitating the wearer from exertion. Frequently disarranged, and falling ever and anon upon the ground, the troublesome garment must be constantly tucked up and folded anew about the shoulders, from which it is removed in deference to every passing superior. A cotton waistcloth of many yards in length is swathed about the loins, and a pair of very wide loose trousers, termed senáphil, hang barely to the knee. ”

“ If a strip of this bark, which is remarkable for the fineness of its texture, after being soaked in water, be laid on a smooth stone, and then carefully beaten with a bat or mallet, the surface of which is cut into fine ribs, the fibres will become separated more or less from one another, and if the beating be carefully conducted, the bark will ultimately assume the appearance of a web of fine linen, two pieces of bark being made to incorporate with one another simply by laying them so as to overlap a little, and then beating again. ”

“ Brogues were formerly made of raw hides, with the hair inwards, and such are perhaps still used in rude and remote parts; but they are said not to last above two days. Where life is somewhat improved, they are now made of leather tanned with oak bark, as in other places, or with the bark of birch, or roots of tormentil, a substance recommended in defect of bark, about forty years ago, to the Irish tanners, by one to whom the parliament of that kingdom voted a reward. The leather of Sky is not completely penetrated by vegetable matter, and therefore cannot be very durable. ”

“ When they prepare to take it, the outer bark is first torn or cut away; the inner is then marked out with a proper tool to the requisite size, usually three cubits by one; it is afterwards beaten for some time with a heavy stick to loosen it from the stem, and being peeled off, laid in the sun to dry, care being taken to prevent its warping. The bark used in building has nearly the texture and hardness of wood; but the pliable and delicate bark of which clothing is made is procured from a bastard species of the bread-fruit. ”

“ Such cloths as tweeds, cheviots, cassimeres, meltons, and kerseys are among the best-known types of woolen cloth. Just before the Civil War the worsted industry made its appearance in this country. The worsted fabric differs from the woolen cloth in being made of combed yarn, as distinguished from the carded yarn which goes into the woolen cloth. The combing process involves, to a greater or less extent, the use of finer and longer grades of wool, and yields a fabric with a smooth surface, on which the weave is plainly visible. ”

“ A light-weight cotton fabric, the distinguishing feature of which is the cords or ribs running warpwise through the cloth, and produced by doubling the warp threads in either heddle or reed in sufficient quantity to form the rib desired. The name is from a Greek word meaning two-threaded. Dimity is a ladies’ [Pg 180] summer dress fabric, and is made of regular cotton yarn, from 1/60’s to the finest counts in both warp and filling. It is made in both white and colors, solid white being used in the most expensive grades. ”