veffels.of this fort in many other countries, thought thofo of
Peeew furpaffed in neatnefs and beauty any;they had ever
met with elfewhere; the tree out of which.they were formed
grew to a,very,;confiderabIe height, and refembled much the
Afh.—They were painted-red, both within and without
*y and inlaid- with foeUs in,different forms.—When they
went out in hate, the heads and fterns Were adorned with ft
variety of ihclls ftrung on a cord, and hung in feftoons.—The
fmalleft veffi;l.that they built. corüd hold four or five people,
the largeft were able to contain from twentyrfiye to thirty.—
They carried an outrigger, but only on one fide ; and ufied
latine fails made of matting.— As they were not calculated to
refift a very rough fca, they rarely went without the coral
reef,, and foldom, within it, had any violent fea to encounter;
whenever it blew hard the natives always kept clofe Under,
foore,— In vifits of ceremony, when the King, or the great
JLupacks approached the place where, they intended to land,
the rowers flourilhed their paddles with wonderful ad*
drefs, and the canoes advanced with a ftately movement*
at other times they got on With,an amazing velocity.—
When they went againft A r t in g a l l , the little canoes,
* As their applying their paint Was uncommon, it may merit being parti,
criarly defenbed Tfa* colours are crumbled with the hand into water, whilft it jj
warming over a gentle fire in earthen pots; they carefully ftim from the furface wbat-
dry lcaves m7 float 2» the top i When they find it fufficiently thick, they
apply .t warm, and let it dry upon the wood ! the next day they rub it well over with
cocoa-nut oil % and, with the dry hulk of the cocoa-nut, give it, by reneated r„ J
apdifh and liability that the waves cannot wafli off. ' **S*
which
which our people termed Frigates, as carrying orders from
the King to his officers, flew about like arrows, and fcarcely
feemed to touch the water.—In the grand expedition to Pe-
LEErEW, where a fleet of upwards of three hundred canoes,
of different fizes, were collected together* they formed a.
moil beautiful and fplendid appearance*