206 cook's voyage to april, 



were generally about six feet long, made of a hard 

 black wood, lance-shaped at the end, but much 

 broader, with the edge nicely scolloped, and the 

 whole neatly polished. Others of them were narrower 

 at the point, much shorter and plain ; and some were 

 even so small as to be used with one hand. The 

 spears were made of the same w r ood, simply pointed ; 

 and, in general, above twelve feet long ; though some 

 were so short, that they seemed intended to be thrown 

 as darts. 



" The place where we were all the day was under 

 the shade of various trees, in which they preserved 

 their canoes from the sun. About eight or ten of 

 them were here, all double ones ; that is, two single 

 ones fastened together (as is usual throughout the 

 whole extent of the Pacific Ocean), by rafters lashed 

 across. They were about twenty feet long, about 

 four feet deep, and the sides rounded with a plank 

 raised upon them, which was fastened strongly by 

 means of withes. Two of these canoes were most 

 curiously stained or painted all over with black, in 

 numberless small figures, as squares, triangles, &c. 

 and excelled by far any thing of that kind I had ever 

 seen at any other island in this ocean. Our friends 

 here, indeed, seemed to have exerted more skill in 

 doing this than in puncturing their own bodies. The 

 paddles were about four feet long, nearly elliptical, 

 but broader at the upper end than the middle. Near 

 the same place was a hut or shed about thirty feet 

 long, and nine or ten high, in which perhaps these 

 boats are built, but at this time it was empty. 



"The greatest number of the trees around us were 

 cocoa-palms ; some sorts of hibiscus ; a species of 

 euphorbia; and, toward the sea, abundance of the 

 same kind of trees we had seen at Mangeea Nooe 

 Nainaiwa; and which seemed to surround the shores 

 of this island in the same manner. They are tall 

 and slender, not much unlike a cypress; but with 

 bunches of long, round, articulated leaves. The 



