THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 



23-9 



perhaps better polifhed. And amongft their articles of 

 handifcraft, may be reckoned fmall fquare fans of mat 

 or wicker-work, with handles tapering from them of the 

 fame, or of wood ; \Vhich are neatly wrought with fmall 

 cords of hair, and fibres of the cocoa-nut coir, intermixed. 

 The great variety of fifhing-hooks are ingeniouily made ;. 

 fome of bone, others of wood pointed with bone, and many 

 of pearl fhell. Of the laft, fome are like a fort that we 

 faw at Tongataboo; and others fimply curved, as the com- 

 mon fort at Otaheite, as well as the wooden ones. The 

 bones are moilly fmall, and compofed of two pieces ; and 

 all the different forts have a barb, either on the infidc, like 

 ours, or on the outfide, oppofite the fame part ; but others 

 have both, the outer one being farthefl: from the point. Of 

 this laft fort, one was procured, nine inches long, of afingle 

 piece of bone, which, doubtlefs, belonged to fome large 

 fifli. The elegant form and polifh of this could nor, cer- 

 tainly, be outdone by any European artift, even if he fliould 

 add all his knowledge in defign, to the number and conve- 

 nience of his tools. They polifli their ftones, by conflant 

 fricftion, with pumice-ftone in water; and fuch of their 

 working inftluments, or tools, as I faw, refembled thofeof 

 the Southern Iflands. Their hatchets, or rather adzes, were, 

 exadly of the fame pattern, and either made of the fame 

 fort of blackifli Hone, or of a clay-coloured one. They 

 have alfo little inftruments made of a fingle fhark's tooth, 

 fome of which are fixed to the forepart of a dog's jaw- 

 bone, and others to a thin wooden handle of the fame 

 fliapc; and at the other end there is a bit of firing faften- 

 ed through a fmall perforation. Thefe ferve as knives oc- 

 cafionally, and arc, perhaps, ufed in carving. 



The-,. 



177?. 



Febriwrv. 



