212 canoes. [1839. 



smooth and soft as nankeen cotton. But few of this quality 

 are now made, as a single one requires nearly a year's la- 

 bor. A species of cloth, of which parens, siapos, and tipu- 

 tas, are made, is manufactured, by the women, of course, of 

 the inner bark of the Chinese paper mulberry (morns papy- 

 ri Ifera) ; and the tree is now cultivated for this purpose in 

 nurseries. The stems, or branches, are cut when small, and 

 the gum separated from the bark by washing. The bark is 

 then beaten like tapa. Both the mulberry cloth and tapa 

 are varnished with the gum obtained from the tuitui tree, 

 or dyed in fanciful colors with other materials. 



The largest canoes of the natives are from thirty to forty 

 feet long, and will hold twenty or twenty-five persons. Some 

 are built of a single log, having pieces fastened upon it, to 

 raise it as high as is desired. Others are formed of several 

 pieces of bread-fruit planks, rudely dovetailed together, and 

 scoured with sennit. They are covered in at both ends, — 

 thus presenting decks forward and aft. The former is the 

 post of honor, where the chiefs usually sit crosslegged on a 

 platform, underneath an awning made of pandanus leaves. 

 For cement, they use pitch manufactured from the gum of 

 the bread-fruit tree. The paddles are long, narrow, and ele- 

 gantly shaped ; and they are used with great dexterity. 

 Double canoes are made by lashing two single ones side by 

 side. Both are very swift, and are managed with a skill 

 almost unparalleled. The sail, usually of a half oval shape, 

 serves the purpose of an outrigger, and is used to windward 

 or leeward, as may be necessary. On the opposite side a 

 boom projects, to steady the craft, which is secured to the top 

 of the mast with guys. 



Recently, several small vessels, of from twenty-five to forty 

 tons burden, have been built by foreigners, to trade between 

 the different islands, and with the neighboring groups. 



(8.) Pigs and fowl in great numbers are found here. 

 The natives are fond of the former, but they prefer selling to 

 eating them. There are no native quadrupeds — the hog 

 having been imported ; and the only mammal observed, is 



