no towns or villages, moft of the houfes are built in the plantations,
with no other order than what conveniency requires;
they are neatly conftrudted, but do not exceed thofe in the
other ifles. The materials of which they are built, are the
fame; and fome little variation in the difpofition of the
framing is all the difference in their conftruCtion. The
floor is a little raifed, and covered with thick ftrong mats ;
the fame fort of matting ferves to inclofe them on the windward
fide, the other being open. They have little areas before
the moft of them, which are generally planted round
with trees, or fhrubs of ornament, whofe fragrancy perfumes
the very air in which they breathe. Their houfehold
furniture confifts of a few wooden platters, cocoa-nut fhells,
and fome neat wooden pillows fhaped like four-footed ftools
or forms. Their common clothing, with the addition of a
mat, ferves them for bedding. We got from them two to
three earthen veffels, which were all we faw among them.
One was in the fhape of a bomb-lhell, with two holes in it,
oppofite each other ; the others were like pipkins, containing
about five or fix pints, and had been in ufe on the fire.
I am of opinion they are the manufacture of fome other
ifle; for, if they were of their own, we ought to have feen
more of them. Nor am I to fuppofe they came from Taf-
man’s fhips ; the time is'too long for brittle veffels like thefe
to be preferved.
We faw no other domeftic animals amongft them but hogs
and fowls. The former are of the fame fort as at the other
ifles in this fea; but the latter are far fuperior, being as
large as any we have in Europe, and their flefh equally good,
if not better. We faw no dogs, and believe they have none,
as they were exceedingly defirous of thofe we had on board.
My friend Attago was complimented with a dog and a bitch, >773.
the one from New Zealand, the other from Ulietea. The i
name of a dog with them is kooree or gooree, the fame as at
New Zealand, which fhews that they are not wholly ftrangers
to them. We faw no rats in thefe ifles, nor any other wild
quadrupeds except fmall lizards. The land birds are pigeons,
turtle-doves, parrots, parroquets, owls, bald couts with a blue
plumage, a variety of fmall birds, and large bats in abundance.
The produce.of the fea we know but little of; it is
reafonable to fuppofe that the fame forts of fifh are found
here as at the other ifles. Their fifhing inftruments are the
fame; that is, hooks made of mother of pearl, gigs with
two, three, or more prongs, and nets made of a very fine
thread, with the rnelhes wrought exactly like ours. But
nothing can be a more demonftrative evidence of their ingenuity
than the conftrudlion and make of their canoes,
which, in point of neatnefs and workmanfhip, exceed every
thing of this kind we faw in this fea. They are built of
feveral pieces fewed together with bandage, in fo neat a
manner, that on the outfide it is difficult to fee the joints.
All the faftenings are on the infide, and pafs through kants
or ridges, which are wrought on the edges and ends of the
feveral boards which compofe the vefiel, for that purpofe.
They are of two kinds, viz. double and Angle ; and the di-
menfions and conftruftion of each will be belt feen in the
annexed plan. The Angle ones are from twenty to thirty feet
long, and about twenty or twenty-two inches broad in the
middle ; the ftern terminates in a point, and the head fome-
thing like the point of a wedge. At each end is a kind of deck,
for about one third part of the whole length, and open in
the middle. In fome the middle of the deck is decorated
with a row of white Ihells, ftuck on little pegs wrought out
of