choly ditty, very well iuited to the mufic. Lycurgus is "a middle-aged man, of a
dhearful, though 'fedate, countenance," with thick black frizzled hair, and a beard
of the fame kind t his behaviour and alpeit had fomething of natural majefty in
them. I (hewed him fome of my drawings, which he greatly admired, and pronounced
their names as foon as he fatv them. Thefe people have a peculiar method
of ftaihring their garments : a Igfol that was iprefent ihewed me the whole
procefs, which is as follows:------She took the young leaves of a convolvulus unfoliated,
and then broke off the'tops of u fmall fig, of a reddiih hue, and fqueezed
out -of it a milky fluid, which 'the fpread on a leaf, rubbing it gently to mix it with
the juice of the leaf, and theii it became red; thisfh'e fpaked up with the leafof a
folanum, and then daubed it upon fome cloth: the colour is good, but whether it
will Hand, I am unable to determine. They make a variety of neat bafket-work
[fee a figure of one of their balkets, pi. XIII. fig. 6.] for/holding of their-•ftplours j
the fimpleft of all is made of the leaf of a cocoa-nut, which they plait together,
and gather up on each fide : they alfo make a kind of bonnet [fee.pl. VIII. fig. 4.}
of the fame materials. They do not feem very fond of their cloaths, of which
they have a variety of colours, but wear "them fonietimbs one way, and fometiwies
another, as their humour is, Perfonsof diftin&ion amongftthem wr^p a number
•of pieces of eloth about them .; and that which is of a carmine colour is only woro
hythe fuperior-clafs. The people in general are very fdnd of-ear-rings, and will
exchange -for them what they deem the moil valuable of their effects. Some of
their ear-rings'[fee pi. XIII. fig. 13 and 14] are made of moth’er-af-plearl cut into
various figtires, which are tied to their ears by human'hair, curiouffiy plaited fey the
women. They alfo tie three peatls together with "hair, and hang them on their
ears. [See ibid. fig. ¿6.]
The cloth, worn by the iiative-s-of this iiland, 'is of'a very Singular kind, ibeing
made of the bark of a fmall tree which contains a glutinous j uice, fome of which
we faw in our excurfions. The mode of 'manufadiudng it is-very fjmple, though
very laborious, and Is '¡¡noftly performed hy women. After the bark has been
leaked in water for a few days, they lay it upon a flat piece of timber, and beat it
out as thin as they think proper with,a.'kimthoL mallet ofiau oblotig fquare, [fee pi.
XIII. fig, 5.] each fide of which is cut into fmall grooves of four different fizes,:
they begin with that fide where'they are the iargeil, and end with the fineft, which
leaving
leaving longitudinal llripes upon the cloth, makes it refetnble paper. Thefe people
have garments alfo made of matting, [fee pi. IX.] which are chiefly worn in rainy
weather.
The rates, or terms, on which we trafficked with the natives, were a fpike for
a fmali pig j a fmaller for a fowlj a hatchet for a hog; and twenty cocoa-nuts,
or bread-fruit, for a middling-fized nail.
When the natives beckon to any perfon at a diftance, contrary to our mode they
,wav£ their hands downwards; and when they meet a friend, or relation, whom
they have not feen for iome time, they affedt to cry for joy, but it feems to be entirely
ceremonial.
The tide rifes and falls fcarce a foot in the harbour; but the furf runs high.
The inhabitants are very expert fwimmers,., and will remain in the water a long
time, even with their hands full. They keep their water on ffiore in large bamboos,
and in them they alfo carry up falt-water into the country. The boys drag
ifor fiffi with .a fort of net made of convolvulus leaves; and,fometimes catch them
•with hooks made of mother of pearl oyilers, large pinna marifia, and other ffiells;
and the ffiapes of them are very lingular. They have alfo fome made of wood,
whiph are very large; [fee figures of feveral of them, pi. XIII. fig. 18, 19, 20, 21,
22, 23, 24, 25.] They fiffi-without bait, but the fiih are attracted the fooneil by
ifuch hooks as are made of glittering ffiells. When they throw their hooks, they
row their canoes as fail as poffible: fometimes they make ufe of a decoy made of
the backs of cowries, and other ffiells, which are perforated, and tied together in
the ffiape of a fiffi, making a head to it with a fmall cowrey; and the tail is formed
of gr.afs ingenioufly plaited. At a little diilan.ce under this decoy, hangs the hook:
[fee pi. XIII. fig. 15 and 25.] To fink their lines, they make ufe of bone, or a
piece of fpar, which they fometimes carve. See ibid. fig. 16, 17.
The chief food of the natives is the bread-fruit and bananas, which they peel
and fcrape with a ffiarp ffiell ; but they eat fpacingly of fleffi, and of fiffi in general;
but of the. latter, fometimes alive, or raw; and, as they have no fait, they dip their
meat into-'fait water. The natives, it feems, are very fubjedt to the itch, and other
D I cuta