jf.6o R E M A R K S o , n t h . e
a r t s defended on one. or two ftdes either with-Board's, or a partition of,
SCIENCES Bamboos,, and.lined befides with mats, here the chief people fit by,
day, and. fleep-at night. The, reft o f thefe boats are nearly of the-
fame.ftrudture with the war-boats-; they-have a r o A , (E-teera) a,
fail of mats in.a frame (EiyaJ.i at the top o f the mail; they carry a,
huflj o f young branches o f a-tree, this bunch of. rods is named.
E-whateva,. and fr.om the top o f the, mall,, or-theuppermoft part,
o f the frame o f the fail, one.or two long garlands o f feathers, are,
hanging down called Mat'tttee.. When they dp, not join two boats,
together, but have only one, acrofs the middle o f it a long beam is.
fixed, fPatoa) to which, they fallen, on qne fide fmall pieces o f wood-
pointing downwards and joined to a piece o f fpar, fhaped like a keel,
i. e, triquetrous,.which.is nearly o f the.fame-length with the.boat..
T h is out-rigger they call E-oa>, and it is faftened befides to th e :
canoe by one or, more crofs beams.. Such an apparatus muft hinder.-
the boat from overfetting,. and.hardly retards the motion o f the
boat. T h e fwift- proas at the Ladrone-illands defcribed in Lord'
Anfon’s voyage round the world, give the beft idea o f the utility of.
this apparatus. T o the projecting- crefs beams, about the mail;- ,
the fhrowds are faftened, and on the fide pppofite to the. out-rigger,.
they faften fometimes a large ftone in order, to tr im . the boat-,
by it.
Th e
H U M A N S P E C I E S . .46' i
Th e fifhing boats are not unlike thofe intended for voyages, a r t s -
a n d
only the whole apparatus is meaner, and the hut is lefs elegant, i f s c ie n c e s .
any fliould happen: to be fixed on the' boat; This account will
convince us that the natives o f thefe ifles are not deficient in the
knowledge and’pradtice of'mechanical-arts; and that they carefully-
preferve this knowledge, by early inftrudling- their young people
in all that belongs to their, food, raiment, and habitations; - I f we
confider that a ftone adze, a chifiel of the fame materials, or o f '
.bone, and a piece o f rough-coral rock; together with-a faw made-
from a part1 o f the fling-ray's Ikin faftened round a piece o f wood,
are all the inftruments to affift them in the flrudture o f their houfes
and boats, we muff certainly give ample teftimony to their ingenuity.
Their mechanical genius I particularly admired, having an-
opportunity. o f feeing one day a man bufy in- fewing a large canoe-
together : he employed'a flick with a forked branch for the purpofe
of drawing the firing more powerfully together-; one of' thefe
branches he fixed :againft the lOwermoft plank, and to the other- he"
had faftened the firing or rope; which gave him an-amazing pur •
chafe, and as foon as the firing or rope was ftretched to its utmoft,
an afliftant-ftruek a peg into the hole through which the firing
palled, to prevent its giving way again.- Their methods o f fifhing
and the feveral implements ufed for that purpofe, afford many in-
ftances of. their genius and fpirit o f obfervation. They make
harpoons