320 CAPTAIN COOK'S VOYAGES 



lines, triangles, and other figures of a black colour ; in- 

 stances of which we saw practised at New Zealand. Their 

 wooden dishes and bowls, out of which they drink their ava, 

 are of the etooa-tree, or cordia, as neat as if made in our 

 turning-lathe, and perhaps better polished. A great variety 

 of fishing-hooks are ingeniously made of pearl-shell. One 

 fishing-hook was procured, nine inches long, of a single 

 piece of bone, which, doubtless, belonged to some large fish. 

 The elegant form and polish of this could not certainly be 

 outdone by any European artist, even if he should add all 

 his knowledge in design to the number and convenience 

 of his tools. 



" The only iron tools, or rather bits of iron, seen amongst 

 them, and which they had before our arrival, were a piece 

 of iron hoop, about two inches long, fitted into a wooden 

 handle ; and another edge-tool, which our people guessed 

 to be made of the point of a broadsword. How they came 

 by them I cannot account for. 



" Though I did not see a chief of any note, there were, 

 however, several, as the natives informed us, who reside 

 upon Atooi, and to whom they prostrate themselves as 

 a mark of submission. After I had left the island, one of 

 the chiefs made his appearance, and paid a visit to Captain 

 Clerke on board the Discovery. His attendants helped 

 him into the ship and placed him on the gangway. Their 

 care of him did not cease then, for they stood round him, 

 holding each other by the hands ; nor would they suffer 

 any one to come near him but Captain Clerke himself. 

 He was a young man, clothed from head to foot, accom- 

 panied by a young woman, supposed to be his wife. His 

 name was said to be Tamahano. Captain Clerke made 

 him some suitable presents, and received from him, in 

 return, a large bowl, supported by two figures of men, 

 the carving of which, both as to the design and the execu- 

 tion, shewed some degree of skill. 



" In their language they had not only adopted the soft 

 mode of the Otaheitans in avoiding harsh sounds, but the 

 whole idiom of their language, using not only the same 

 affixes and suffixes to their words, but the same measure 

 and cadence in their songs, though in a manner somewhat 

 less agreeable. 



" How happy would Lord Anson have been, and what 

 hardships would he have avoided, if he had known that 

 there was a group of islands, half way between America 

 and Tinian, where all his wants could have been effectually 

 supplied. 



" On the 2nd of February we stood away to the north- 

 ward, and without meeting with anything memorable, on 



