Poncho-like garment tiputa

Humphrey No. 37: ‘an aihoo, or upper Garment, or Coat, made of thick white Bark Cloth, the form extremely simple, bordered with red, from the Society Isles.’

The poncho-like garment is made of barkcloth, ‘ahu. It consists of several layers of thicker bark bast. In contrast to Oz 621, this tiputa is undyed, but has a border running around it which is dyed red. One corner measuring 18 x 6 cm has been cut away. The slit-like opening for the head is 33 cm long. A Humphrey label with the number 37 is stuck on to one corner. On the basis of the characteristics described, the piece can be identified as tiputa according to Humphrey’s annotation above. Gundolf Krüger