M 8 AVOYAGETO 



■779- turns, a number of thcfe balls ; fo that we frequently faw 



March. ■ ' 



«. — ;, > little children thus keep in motion five at a time. With this 



latter play the young people likewife divert themfelves at 

 the Friendly Iflands. 



The great refemblance which prevails in the mode of 

 agriculture and navigation, amongft all the inhabitants of 

 the South Sea iflands, leaves me very little to add on thofe 

 heads. Captain Cook has already defcribed the figure of 

 the canoes we faw at Atooi. Thofe of the other iflands were 

 prcciicly the fame ; and the largell we faw was a double ca- 

 noe belonging to Terreeoboo, which meafured feventy feet 

 in length, three and a half in depth, and twelve in breadth ; 

 and each was hollowed out of one tree. 



The progrefs they have made in fculpture, their fkill in 

 painting cloth, and their manufacturing of mats, have been 

 all particularly defcribed. The molt curious fpeciraens of 

 the former, which we faw during our fecond vifit, are the 

 bowls, in which the Chiefs drink ava. Thefe are ufually 

 about eight or ten inches in diameter, perfectly round, and 

 beautifully poliihed. They are fupported by three, and 

 fomctimes four fmall human figures, in various attitudes. 

 Some of them reft on the hands of their fupportcrs, ex- 

 tended over the head ; others on the head and hands ; and 

 fome on the moulders. The figures, I am told, are accu- 

 rately proportioned, and neatly fmifhed, and even the ana- 

 tomy of the mufcles, in fupporting the weight, well 

 exprcflcd. 



Their cloth is made of the fame materials, and in the 

 fame manner, as at the Friendly and Society Iflands. That 

 which is defigned to be painted, is of a thick and flrong tex- 

 ture, fcveral folds being beat and incorporated together ; 

 I after 



