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the colours of their cloth, fome of which are confpicuQufly fuperior to others.

The beauty, however, of the best is nor permanent, but it is probable that fome method might be found to fix it, if proper experiments were made, and perhaps to fearch for latent qualities, which might be brought out by the mixture of one vegetable juice with another, would not be an unprofitable employment; our prefent most valuable dyes afford fufficient encouragement to the attempt; for by the mere infpection of indico, woad, dyer's weed, and most of the leaves which are ufed for the like purpofes, the colours which they yield. could never be difcovered. Of this Indian red I fhall only add, that the women who have been employed in preparing or using it, carefully preferve the colour upon their fingers and nails, where it appears in its utmost beauty, as a great ornament.

The yellow is made of the bark of the root of the Morinda citrifolia, called Nono, by fcraping and infu. fing it in water; after standing fome time, the water is ftrained and used as a dye, the cloth being dipped into it. The Morinda, of which this is a fpecies, feems to be a good fubject for examination with a view to dyeing. Brown, in his Hiftory of Jamaica, mentions three fpecies of it, which, he fays, are used to dye brown; and Rumphius fays of the Bancuda. Auguftifolia, which is nearly allied to our Nono, that it is used by the inhabitants of the Eaft-India iflands as a fixing drug for red colours, with which it particularly agrees.

The inhabitants of this ifland alfo dye yellow with the fruit of the Tamanu; but how the colour is extracted, we had no opportunity to difcover. They have alfa a preparation with which they dye brown and black; but these colours are fo indifferent, that the method of preparing them did not excite our curiofity.

Another confiderable manufacture is matting of various kinds, fome of which is finer, and better in every respect than any we have in Europe; the coarfer fort ferves them to fleep upon, and the finer to wear in wet weather. With the fine, of which there are also two forts, much pains is taken, especially with that

made

made of the bark of the Poerou, the Hibiscus tiliaceus of Linnæus, some of which is as fine as a coarse cloth; the other fort, which is ftill more beautiful, they call Vanne; it is white, gloffy, and shining, and is made of the leaves of their Wharrou, a fpecies of the Pandanus, of which we had no opportunity to fee either the flowers or fruit: they have other matt's, or, as they call them, Moeas, to fit or to fleep upon, which are formed of a great variety of rushes and grafs, and which they make, as they do every thing elfe that is plaited, with amazing facility and dispatch.

They are alfo very dextrous in making basket and wicker-work; their baskets are of a thousand different patterns, many of them exceedingly neat; and the making them is an art that every one practifes, both men and women: they make occafional baskets and panniers of the cocoa-nut leaf in a few minutes, and the women who visited us early in a morning, ufed to fend, as foon as the fun was high, for a few of the leaves, of which they made little bonnets to fhade their faces, at fo fmall an expence of time and trouble, that when the fun was again low in the evening, they used to throw them away. Thefe bonnets, however, did not cover the head, but confifted only of a band that went round it, and a fhade that projected from the forehead.

1769.

Of the bark of the Poerou they make ropes and lines from the thickness of an inch to the fize of a fmall packthread; with thefe they make nets for fifhing; of the fibres of the cocoa-nut they make thread, for faftening together the feveral parts of their canoes and belts, either round or flat, twisted or plaited; and of the bark of the Erowa, a kind of nettle, which grows in the mountains, and is therefore rather scarce, they make the best fishing-lines in the world; with thefe they hold the strongest and most active fish, such as bonetas and albicores, which would fnap our strongest filk lines in a minute, tho' they are twice as thick.

They make alfo a kind of feine, of a coarfe broad grafs, the blades of which are like flags; thefe they twift and tie together in a loose manner, till the net, which is about as wide as a large fack, is from fixty to

1769. eighty fathom long; this they haul in fhoal smooth water, and its own weight keeps it fo clofe to the ground that scarcely a fingle fish can escape.

In every expedient, indeed, for taking fish, they are exceedingly ingenious; they make harpoons of cane, and point them with hard wood, which in their hands ftrike fish more effectually, than those which are headed with iron can do in ours, fetting aside the advantage of ours being faftened to a line, so that the fish is fecured if the hook takes place, tho' it does not mortally wound him.

Of fish-hooks they have two forts, admirably adapted in their conitruction, as well to the purpose they are to answer, as to the materials of which they are made. One of thefe, which they call Wittee Wittee, is used for towing. The thank is made of mother-ofpearl, the most gloffy that can be got; the infide, which is naturally the brighteft, is put behind. To thefe hooks a tuft of white dogs or hogs hair is fixed, fo as somewhat to refemble the tail of a fish ; thefe implements, therefore, are both hook and bait, and are used with a rod of bamboo, and line of Erowa. The fisher, to fecure his fuccefs, watches the flight of the birds, which conftantly attend the bonetas when they swim in fhoals, by which he directs his canoe, and when he has the advantage of these guides, he feldom returns without a prize.

The other kind of hook is alfo made of mother-ofpearl, or fome other hard fhell; they cannot make them bearded, like our hooks, but, to effect the fame purpose, they make the point turn inwards. These are made of all fizes, and used to catch various kinds of fish with great fuccefs. The manner of making them is very simple, and every fisherman is his own artificer; the fhell is firft cut into fquare pieces, by the edge of another fhell, and wrought into a form correfponding with the outline of the hook by pieces of coral, which are fufficiently rough to perform the office of a file; a hole is then bored in the middle, the drill being no other than the first stone they pick up that has a sharp corner; this they fix into the end of a piece of bamboo, and turn it between the hands.

like a chocolate-mill; when the fhell is perforated, and the whole fufficiently wide, a fmall file of coral is introduced, by the application of which the hook is in a fhort time completed, few cofting the artificer more time. than a quarter of an hour.

Of their, mafonry, carving, and architecture, the reader has already formed fome idea, from the account that has been given of the Morais, or repofitories of the dead: the other most important article of building and carving is their boats; and, perhaps, to fabricate one of their principal veffels with their tools, is as great a work as to build a British man of war with

ours.

They have an adze of ftone; a chiffel or gouge of bone, generally that of a man's arm, between the wrift and elbow; a rafp of coral; and the fkin of a ftingray, with coral fand, as a file or polisher.

.

This is a complete catalogue of their tools, and with thefe they build houfes, conftru&t canoes, hew stone, and fell, cleave, carve, and polish timber.

The ftone which makes the blade of their adzes is a kind of Bafaltes, of a blackish or grey colour, not very hard, but of confiderable toughness; they are formed of different fizes, fome, that are intended for felling, weigh from fix to eight pounds; others, that are ufed for carving, not more than fo many ources; but it is neceffary to fharpen both almost every minute, for which purpose a stone and a cocoa-nut shell full of water are always at hand.

Their greatest exploit, to which thefe tools are lefs equal than to any other, is felling a tree; this requires many hands, and the conftant labour of feveral days. When it is down, they fplit it, with the grain, into planks from three to four inches thick, the whole length and breadth of the tree, many of which are eight feet in the girt, and forty to the branches, and nearly of the fame thickness throughout. The tree generally used is in their language called Avie, the stem of which is tall and ftraight; though fome of the fmaller boats are made of the bread-fruit tree, which is a light fpongy wood, and eafily wrought. They fmooth the plank very expeditiously and dexterously with their adzes, and can take off a thin coat from a VOL. II. whole

F

1769.

1769. whole plank without miffing a stroke. As they have not the art of warping a plank, every part of the canoe, whether hollow or flat, is shaped by hand.

The canoes, or boats, which are ufed by the inhabitants of this and the neighbouring iflands, may be divided into two general claffes, one of which they call Ivahahs, the other Pahies.

The Ivahah is used for short excurfions to fea, and is wall-fided and flat-bottomed; the Pahie for longer voyages, and is bow-fided and fharp-bottomed. The Ivahahs are all of the fame figure, but of different fizes, and used for different purposes; their length is from feventy-two feet to ten, but the breadth is by no means in proportion, for those of ten feet are about a foot wide, and thofe of more than seventy are scarcely two. There is the fighting Ivahah, the fishing Ivahah, and the travelling Ivahah; for fome of these go from one island to another. The fighting Ivahah is by far the longeft, and the head and ftern are confiderably raised above the body, in a femicircular form, particularly the ftern, which is fometimes feventeen or eighteen feet high, though the boat itself is fcarcely three. These never go to fea fingle, but are fastened together, fide by fide, at the distance of about three feet, by strong poles of wood, which are laid across them and lafhed to the gunwales. Upon thefe, in the fore-part, a ftage or platform is raifed, about ten or twelve feet long, and fomewhat wider than the boats, which is fupported by pillars about fix feet high; upon this ftage ftand the fighting men, whofe mifile weapons are flings and fpears; for, among other fingularities in the manners of these people, their bows and arrows are ufed only for diverfion, as we throw quoits: below thefe ftages fit the rowers, who receive from them thofe that are wounded, and furnish fresh men to afcend in their room. Some of thefe have a platform of bamboos, or other light wood, through their whole length, and confiderably broader, by means of which they will carry a great number of men; but we faw only one fitted in this manner.

The fishing Ivahahs vary in length from about forty feet to the fmalleft fize, which is about ten; all that are of the length of twenty-five feet and upwards, of

whatever