PACIFIC AND BEERINO'S STRAIT. 195 



may be distinguished : but it soon begins to smell c ^ p * 

 very offensively; so much so, that the seamen would ^— v- 

 not touch it with their hands to throw it overboard. {q%6. 

 The tee-plant (clraccena terminalis) is a fusiform 

 root about two feet long, and as thick as the arm ; 

 its flavour is not unpleasant, but from its coarseness 

 it must, to ordinary stomachs, be very indigestible. 

 The natives collect the fibres in their mouths, and spit 

 them out in round balls. Fish and shell-fish, of 

 which the large pearl oysters and chama are in the 

 greatest abundance, must form a material part of the 

 food of these people : they have, besides, the sweet 

 potatoe, taro, and the before-mentioned fruits ; but 

 these cannot be abundant, as they never brought 

 any of them to us for sale, and frequently deceived 

 us with empty cocoa-nuts. 



Their method of procuring fish is by lines and nets, 

 and a contrivance still resorted to in Otaheite, con- 

 sisting of casting into the sea a great many branches 

 of the cocoa-nut tree, and other boughs, tied toge- 

 ther, and allowing them to remain some time, dur- 

 ing which the small fish become entangled, and are 

 dragged out with them. The nets and lines, as well 

 as cord, sinnet, &c, are all made from the bark of 

 the porou, as in all the islands of Polynesia. One 

 net which we measured was ninety feet in length. 

 In the manufacture of these, they display a greater 

 proficiency than in their cloth, which is much inferior 

 to that at Pitcairn Island or Otaheite. Their imple- 

 ments for this purpose are the same in shape as 

 those at the above-mentioned places ; but the one 

 which we got differed in not being grooved. 



Their weapons consist of spears, and a staff flat- 

 tened at the end like a whale-lance : they are made 



o 2 



