Their fiihing-hooks are made o f mother-of-pearl, bone,
or wood, pointed and barbed with fmall bones, or tortoife-
fhell. T h e y are o f various fizes and fo rm s ; but the moft
common are about two or three inches long, and made in
the fhape o f a fmall fifh, which ferves as a bait, having a
bunch o f feathers tied to the head or tail, Thofe with
which they fiih for iharks, are o f a very large fize, being
generally fix or eight inches long. Confidering the materials
o f which thefe hooks are made, their ftrength and
neatnefs are really aftonilhing ; and in fa it we found them,
upon trial, much fuperior to our own.
The line which they ufe for fifhing, for making nets, and
for other domeftic purpofes, is o f different degrees o f fine-
nefs, and is made o f the bark o f the touta, or cloth tree,,
neatly and evenly twifted, in the fame manner as our common
tw in e ; and may be continued to any length. They
have a finer fort, made o f the bark d f a fmall fhrub called
areemah; and the fineft is made o f human hair; but this laft
is chiefly ufed for things o f ornament. They alfo make
cordage of a ftronger kind, for the rigging of their canoes,
from the fibrous coatings o f the cocoa-nuts. Some o f this
we purchafed for our own ufe, and found it well adapted to
the fmaller kinds of running rigging. They likewife make
another fort o f cordage, which is flat, and exceedingly
flrong, and ufed principally in laihing the roofing o f their
houfes, or whatever they wiih to fallen tight together.
This laft is not twifted like the former forts, but is made of
the fibrous firings o f the cocoa-nut’s coat, plaited with the
fingers, in the manner our failors make their points for the
reefing o f fails.
T he gourds, w hich grow to fo enormous a fize, that fome
o f them are capable o f containing from ten to twelve g a llons,
Ions, are applied to all manner o f domeftic purpofes; and in '779.
order to fit them the better to their refpeftive ufes, they have ’ f
the ingenuity to give them different forms, by tying bandages
round them during their growth. Thus, fome o f
- them are o f a long, cylindrical form, as beft adapted to contain
their fifhing-taekle; others are o f a diih form, and
thefe ferve to hold their fait, and felted provifions, their
puddings, vegetables, & c . ; which two forts have neat clofe
-covers, made likewife o f the gourd; others again are ex-
adlly the fhape of a bottle with a long neck, and in thefe-
they keep their water. 1 They have likewife a method o f
fcoring them with a heated inftrument, fo as to give them
the appearance o f being painted, in a variety o f neat and
elegant defigns.
Amongft their arts, we muft not forget that o f making:
felt, with which we were amply fupplied, during our flay at
thefe iflands, and which was perfectly good o f its kind.
Their falt-pans are made o f earth, lined with clay ; being:,
generally fix or eight feet fquare, and about eight inches-
deep. They are raifed upon a bank o f ftones near the high
water mark, from whence the felt water is conduited to the-
foot of them, in fmall trenches, out o f which they are filled,
and the fun quickly performs the neceflary procefs o f
evaporation. The fait we procured at Atooi and Oneeheow
on our firft vifit, was o f a brown and dirty fort;, but that?
which we afterward got inKarakakooa Bay, was white, and:
o f a moft excellent quality, and in great abundance. Be-
fides the quantity we ufed in felting pork, we filled all our
empty calks, amounting to fixteen puncheons, in the Refo-
lution only.
Their inftruments o f war are fpears ; daggers, called pa-
hooas; clubs;, and flings. The fpears are o f two forts, and:
made