Tapa is everywhere ...

Around the beaches of 'Eua you find the white, naked branches of mulberry, which have been stripped of their bark, and the fibrous material immersed in the lagoon for days to cure it. The bark is then beaten out into strips, which are bound together to make the beautiful Tongan tapa cloth ... the most elaborate in the Pacific. I came across this guy in the back streets of Nuku'alofa beating out the bark all day on his porch ...

When finished, the tapa cloth is stained, and made into a fabric that is gifted at weddings and funerals, or turned into a bags or wall ornaments, such as these in the downtown markets of Nuku'alofa.