456 CANOES. POTTERY. GAMES. 



and closely united by lashings passed through flanges left on 

 each of the pieces. The joints were closed by the gum of the 

 bread-fruit tree. The sails were large and made of mats. 

 The mast was generally about half the length of the canoe, 

 and the yard and boom usually twice as long as the mast. 

 Their principal tool was an adze, formerly of stone, but now 

 generally of iron. For boring holes they used the long spines 

 of the echina, pointed bones, and, when they could get them, 

 nails. Small teeth, such as those of rats and mice, were used 

 for carving ; and their knives were made of the outside of a 

 piece of bamboo, shaped into form while green. After being 

 dried, it was charred, and thus became very hard and sharp, 

 so that it might even be used in surgical operations. They 

 differed from the Polynesians in using earthenware pots for 

 cooking. These were graceful and well made, though the 

 potter's-wheel was unknown. The pottery was all made by 

 women. Their tools were very simple, consisting of a small 

 round flat stone to fashion the inside, and a flat mallet or 

 spatula for the surface, which they made almost as round as 

 if it had been turned in a lathe. Forks appear to have been 

 long in use among the Fijians ; a remarkable fact, if we 

 remember that they were unknown in Northern Europe until 

 the seventeenth century. 



The Fijians have several kinds of games. They are fond 

 of swinging, and of throwing stories or fruits at a mark. They 

 have also a game resembling skittles. Their dances, like 

 those of so many other nations, are anything but decorous. 

 Their musical instruments are the conch-shell, the nose-flute, 

 pipes, a Jew's-harp made of a strip of bamboo, and several 

 sorts of drums. They are also fond of poetry. 



Their agricultural implements have been described by Mr. 

 "Williams. The digging- sticks are made of a young mangrove- 

 tree. They are about the size of an ordinary hay-fork, and 

 the lower end "is tapered off on one side, after the shape 



