the children, by their parents. As thefe nations have not yet a multiplicity
o f artificial wants, and as their time is not yet taken up with
any bufinefs more material than the three enumerated articles, their
manufactures are in eonfequence very Ample, and undivided in many
branches ; nay, they are all thought neceffary for every individual
in thefe ifles, and for that reafon every child is inilrudled in the bell
methods o f cultivating the bread-fruit tree, the plantane-ftalks, the
roots o f yams, and other eatable roots j the molt expeditious, ways
for catching fiih, the proper feafon and bait for each kind,, and the
places which they haunt and refort to, are told to their-children
nay, all the fifties, {hells, and blubbers, which in any ways may
w ith fafety be eaten, are named and {hewed to them, together with
their nature, food, haunts, and qualities; the devices for catching
birds, for rearing dogs, fwirie, and fowls!. and all the names of
fpontaneous eatable plants are communicated to their youths, together
with their feafons and qualities j fo that there is hardly a boy
of i o or 12 years old, who is not perfectly well acquainted with
thefe articles. But as the bark o f the mulberry tree, requilite for
raiment, mull be cultivated with a great deal o f 'care and application,
their youths are well inftruCted in the methods' .neceffary for
that purpofe : and every young woman is early inftruCted in all the
operations requilite for manufacturing and dying their cloth, and
Jikewife in thofe o f making mats, and other parts of their drefs,
ï The
T h e wood which is heft calculated for building a houfe, a canoe, a r t s
■ I I • • AND
sor other utenliIs, together with every operation for ere&ing a habi- SCIENCES
,tation, for making the .various parts o f a boat, and for navigating
it by paddles or fails, are underftood by every perfon, from the ;laft
toutou to the fi.rft chief of the land. In fliort, there is not one me- .
.chanical operation, -which they do not teach to every youth, and
which, after fome time, he is not capable o f executing with as
much adroitnefs and {kill as the beft and oldeft man in the nation,
It might feem that after all, thefe are but trifles in a/fyffem of
.education ; but the very exiftence o f thefe iflanders depends upon
•the knowledge they have of the .various vegetables, their cultivation
and preparation into food, & c . & c . and alfo o f the birds, fifties,
{hells, & c . which mdee part of their food. I-had occafion to write
down the names o f 48 fifties, which they all reckoned eatable 5 and
.‘Captain Cook declared, thofe-he had feen in his {irft voyage, and o f
which they heard the names from the natives were about 150.
■ T h e very bread-fruit, fartocarpus communis) called by the natives
ooroo, has three varieties diftinguiftied by peculiar names: thus for
inftance, the variety with more narrow pinnatifid leaves and oblong
fruit, is called' maira ■, another variety with oblong fruit, but
a more rough; and as it were, fcaly outfide, they name epatea4 and
ftjll another oblong variety, whofe rind has fnwll mammillary
L 1 1 prickles
’ll