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Show COLLECTION OF TAPA CLOTHS. Specimens at San Francisco Are as Fine as Silk. in the collection of South Sea curios now being installed in the' park mu- s'eum at San FrancisV"e Koce.c; Taa and diversified specimens of uijpa c-Joths from various island groups, showing the decorative figures and" patterns peculiar to the Samoans, the HJis, the Tonga Islanders and the ancient Hawaiians. This tapa cloth :ollection will be particularly interesting interest-ing to fanciers of such things, now that tapa cloth is becoming rare and 3ld patterns are worth much more than they were a few years ago. There are some tapas in this exhibit of the softness and fineness of silk, and they were used as loin drapes by dancing girls. Some are a delicate yellow, some a leathery black, some a silvery white and some a grayish black, while there are many ranging through the tan shades and tbe terra cottas so familiar to possessors of tapa cloths. |
