1778. TIIE PACIFIC OCEAN. 219 



of the other places ; but in colouring, or staining it, 

 the people of Atooi display a superiority of taste, by 

 the endless variation of figures which they execute. 

 One would suppose, on seeing a number of their 

 pieces, that they had borrowed their patterns from 

 some mercer's shop, in which the most elegant pro- 

 ductions of China and Europe are collected ; besides 

 some original patterns of their own. Their colours, 

 indeed, except the red, are not very bright ; but the 

 regularity of the figures and stripes is truly surpris- 

 ing ; for, as far as we knew, they have nothing like 

 stamps or prints, to make the impressions. In what 

 manner they produce their colours, we had not op- 

 portunities of learning; but besides the party-coloured 

 sorts, they have some pieces of plain white cloth, and 

 others of a single colour, particularly dark brown and 

 light blue. In general, the pieces which they brought 

 to us, were about two feet broad, and four or rive 

 feet long, being the form and quantity that they use 

 for their common dress, or maro ; and even these we 

 sometimes found were composed of pieces sewed to- 

 gether ; an art which we did not find to the south- 

 ward, but is strongly, though not very neatly per- 

 formed here. There is also a particular sort that is 

 thin, much resembling oil-cloth; and which is actually 

 either oiled or soaked in some kind of varnish, and 

 seems to resist the action of water pretty well. 



They fabricate a great many white mats, which are 

 strong, with many red stripes, rhombuses, and other 

 figures interwoven on one side ; and often pretty 

 large. These, probably, make a part of their dress 

 occasionally ; for they put them on their backs when 

 they offered them for sale. But they make others 

 coarser, plain and strong, which they spread over their 

 floors to sleep upon. 



They stain their gourd-shells prettily with undu- 

 lated lines, triangles, and other figures of a black 

 colour ; instances of which we saw practised at New 

 Zealand. And they seem to possess the art of var- 



