62
*77°- Tillage, weaving, and the other arts of peace, feem to be
«— v---- - beft known and moil praftifed in the northern part of this
country; for there is little appearance of any of them in
the South: but the arts of war flourifh equally through the
whole coaft.
Weapons* o f weapons they have no great variety, but fuch as they
have are well fitted for deftruftion ; they have fpears, darts,,
battle-axes, and the Patoo-Patoo. The fpear is fourteen
or fifteen feet long, pointed at both ends, and fometimes
headed with bone: thefe are grafped by the middle, fo that
the part behind balancing that before, makes a pufh more
difficult to be parried, than that of a weapon which is held
by the end. The dart and other weapons have been fuffi-
ciently defcribed already; and it has alfo been remarked,
that thefe people have neither fling nor bow. They throw
the dart by hand, and fo they do ftones ; but darts and floues
are feldom ufed except in defending their forts. Their
battles, whether in boats or on fhore, are generally hand to
' hand; and the daughter muft confequently be great, as a
fecond blow with any of their weapons .is unneceflary, i f the
firft takes place: their truft, however, feems to be principally
placed in the Patoo-Patoo, which is fattened to their
wrifts by a ftrong ftrap, left it fliould be wrenched from
them, and which the principal people generally wear flicking
in their girdles, confidering it as a military ornament,
and part of their drefs, like the poinard of the Afiatic, and
the fword of the European. They have no defenfive armour;
but, befides their weapons, the Chiefs carried a ftaff of dif-
tinftion, in the fame manner as our officers do the fpontoon:
this was generally the rib of a whale, as white as fnow, with
many ornaments of carved work, dog’s hair, and feathers ;
but fometimes it was a flick, about fix feet long, adorned in
the