BAMBOO KNIFE. 297 



natives attached most value to articles of clothins- of 

 every description. Glass bottles were also eag-erly 

 soug'ht after — but iron was not prized — indeed its 

 use appeared to be unknown^ nor had they any name 

 for it. While leaning- out of one of the wardroom 

 ports, and getting words from a very intelligent 

 native whose attention I secured by giving him 

 various little presents from time to time, I had 

 occasion to point to a bamboo scoop* lying in the 

 canoe in order to get its name. The man, to my 

 surprise, immediately bit off a narrow strip from 

 one side, as if to sharpen the edge, and taking 

 up a piece of stick, shewed me that this scoop was 

 used as a knife. Not to be outdone I took one of 

 our common knives and cut away vigorously at a 

 piece of wood to shew the superiority of oiu" knives 

 over his one ; he appeared suddenly to become ter- 

 rified, talked vehemently to the others, drew their 

 attention to me, and repeated my motions of cutting 

 the wood, after which his canoe pushed off from the 

 ship's side. My friend refused to accept of the 

 knife — as I afterwards found the natives had also 

 done to other people when iron implements were 

 offered them — nor would he pay any further atten- 

 tion to my attempts to effect a reconciliation. 



The greatest peculiarity among these people is 

 their mode of dressing the hair ; it is usually shaved 

 off the temples and occasionally a little way up the 



* Resembling that figured in Jukes' Voyage of the Fly, vol. i. 

 p. 277, — but smaller. 



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