THEIR MANUFACTURES. 131 
they were every where received with the greatest 
hospitality, and overwhelmed with marks of 
friendship. The simple inhabitants, wholly 
devoid of envy, rejoiced in each other’s good 
fortune, and when one received a present, all 
seemed equally gratified. Their feelings readily 
broke out either into smiles or tears: even men 
were often seen to weep; and their joys and 
sorrows were as fugitive as those of children. 
Nor are their minds more stable: notwith- 
standing the great curiosity with which they 
gazed at and required an explanation of every 
object in the ship, it was as impossible, says 
the elder Forster, to rivet their attention for 
any time, as to make quicksilver stand still. 
They seemed incapable of either mental or 
bodily effort, and their time was passed in indo- 
lence and enjoyment. They were, however, 
skilful in manufacturing a soft paper from the 
barks of trees ; nets and lines from the fibres of 
the cocoa-nut ; and hooks from muscle-shells ; in 
weaving their rush mats, and especially in 
building canoes and war-boats. The latter, 
large enough to contain forty men and upwards, 
were made of planks laboriously split from the 
