148 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF SOUTH SEA ISLANDS CH. vn 



short time. But I believe that the finest of their Jioboo 

 does not attain either its whiteness or softness until it has 

 been worn some time, then washed and beaten over again 

 with the very finest beaters. 



Of this thin cloth they have almost as many different 

 sorts as we have of linen, distinguishing it according to its 

 fineness and the material of which it is made. Each piece 

 is from nine to fifteen yards in length, and about two and a 

 half broad. It serves them for clothes in the day and 

 bedding at night. When, by use, it is sufficiently worn and 

 becomes dirty, it is carried to the river and washed, chiefly 

 by letting it soak in a gentle stream, fastened to the bottom 

 by a stone, or, if it is very dirty, by wringing it and squeez- 

 ing it gently. Several of the pieces of cloth so washed are 

 then laid on each other, and being beaten with the coarsest 

 side of the beater, adhere together, and become a cloth as 

 thick as coarse broad-cloth, than which nothing can be more 

 soft or delicious to the touch. This softness, however, is not 

 produced immediately after the beating : it is at first stiff 

 as if newly starched, and some parts not adhering together 

 as well as others it looks ragged, and also varies in thick- 

 ness according to any faults in the cloth from which it was 

 made. 



To remedy this is the business of the mistress and the 

 principal women of the family, who seem to amuse them- 

 selves with this, and with dyeing it, as our English women 

 do with making caps, ruffles, etc. In this way they spend 

 the greater part of their time. Each woman is furnished 

 with a knife made of a piece of bamboo cane, to which 

 they give an edge by splitting it diagonally with their nails. 

 This is sufficient to cut any kind of cloth or soft substance 

 with great ease. A certain quantity of a paste made of the 

 root of a plant which serves them also for food, and is called 

 by them Pea (Chaitcea tacca 1 ), is also required. With the 

 knife they cut off any ragged edges or ends which may not 

 have been sufficiently fixed down by the beating, and with 

 the paste they fasten down others which are less ragged, and 



1 Tacca pinnatifida, Forst. 



