1770 MANUFACTURES 243 



warp or long threads are laid very close together, and each 

 crossing of the woof is distant at least an inch from another. 

 They have besides this several other kinds of cloth, and 

 work borders to them all, but as to their manner of doing 

 so I must confess myself totally ignorant. I never but 

 once saw any of this work going forward ; it was done in a 

 kind of frame of the breadth of the cloth, across which it 

 was spread, and the cross threads worked in by hand, which 

 must be very tedious ; however, the workmanship sufficiently 

 proves the workmen to be dexterous in their way. One 

 notable point I must not forget, which is that to every 

 garment of the better kind is fixed a bodkin, as if to remind 

 the wearer that if it should be torn by any accident, no 

 time should be lost before it is mended. 



Nets for fishing they make in the same manner as ours, 

 of an amazing size ; a seine seems to be the joint work of a 

 whole town, and I suppose the joint property. Of these I 

 think I have seen as large as ever I saw in Europe. Besides 

 this they have fish pots and baskets worked with twigs, and 

 another kind of net which they most generally make use of 

 that I have never seen in any country but this. It is 

 circular, seven or eight feet in diameter, and two or three 

 deep ; it is stretched by two or three hoops and open at 

 the top for nearly, but not quite, its whole extent. On the 

 bottom is fastened the bait, a little basket containing the 

 guts, etc., of fish and sea ears, which are tied to different 

 parts of the net. This is let down to the bottom where the 

 fish are, and when enough are supposed to be gathered 

 together, it is drawn up with a very gentle motion, by 

 which means the fish are insensibly lifted from the bottom. 

 In this manner I have seen them take vast numbers of fish, 

 and indeed it is a most general way of fishing all over the 

 coast. Their hooks are ill made, generally of bone or shell 

 fastened to a piece of wood ; indeed, they seem to have little 

 occasion for them, for with their nets they take fish much 

 easier than they could with hooks. 



In tilling they excel, as people who are themselves to 

 eat the fruit of their industry, and have little else to do but 



