1779. THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 139 



the manner our sailors make their points for the reef- 

 ing of sails. 



The gourds, which grow to so enormous a size, that 

 some of them are capable of containing from ten to 

 twelve gallons, are applied to all manner of domestic 

 purposes; and in order to fit them the better to their 

 respective uses, they have the ingenuity to give them 

 different forms, by tying bandages round them dur- 

 ing their growth. Thus, some of them are of a long, 

 cylindrical form, as best adapted to contain their 

 fishing-tackle; others are of a dish form, and these 

 serve to hold their salt, and salted provisions, their 

 puddings, vegetables, &c. ; which two sorts have 

 neat close covers, made likewise of the gourd ; others 

 again are exactly the shape of a bottle with a long 

 neck, and in these they keep their water. They 

 have likewise a method of scoring them with a heated 

 instrument, so as to give them the appearance of 

 being painted, in a variety of neat and elegant de- 

 signs. 



Amongst their arts, we must not forget that of 

 making salt, with which we were amply supplied, 

 during our stay at these islands, and which was per- 

 fectly good of its kind. Their salt pans are made of 

 earth, lined with clay; being generally six or eight 

 feet square, and about eight inches deep. They are 

 raised upon a bank of stones near the high water 

 mark, from whence the salt water is conducted to the 

 foot of them, in small trenches, out of which they are 

 filled, and the sun quickly performs the necessary 

 process of evaporation. The salt we procured at 

 Atooi and Oneeheow, on our first visit, was of a 

 brown and dirty sort; but that which we afterward 

 got in Karakakooa Bay, was white, and of a most 

 excellent quality, and in great abundance. Besides 

 the quantity we used in salting pork, we filled all our 

 empty casks, amounting to sixteen puncheons, in the 

 Resolution only. 



Their instruments of war are spears; daggers, 



