oct. 1769 NEW ZEALAND CANOE 193 
sation with one of their priests; they seemed to agree very 
well in their notions of religion, only Tupia was much 
more learned than the other, and all his discourse was 
received with much attention. He asked them in the course 
of his conversation many questions, among the rest whether 
or no they really ate men, which he was very loth to 
believe; they answered in the affirmative, saying that they 
ate the bodies only of those of their enemies who were killed 
in war. 
Among other knicknacks, Dr. Solander bought a boy’s 
top, which resembled those our boys play with in England, 
and which they made signs was to be whipped in the same 
manner. 
28¢h. On an island called Jubolai we saw the largest 
canoe which we had met with; her length was 684 feet, 
her breadth 5 feet, and her height 3 feet 6 inches. She 
was built with a sharp bottom, made in three pieces of 
trunks of trees hollowed out, the middlemost of which was 
much longer than either of the other two; their gunnel 
planks were in one piece 62 feet 2 inches in length, carved 
prettily enough in bas-relief; the head also was richly 
carved in their fashion. We saw also a house larger than 
any we had seen, though not more than 30 feet long; it 
seemed as if it had never been finished, being full of chips ; 
the woodwork was squared so evenly and smoothly that we 
could not doubt of their having very sharp tools. All the 
side-posts were carved in a masterly style of their whimsical 
taste, which seems confined to making spirals and distorted 
human faces; all these had clearly been moved from some 
other place, so that such work probably bears a value among 
them. 
While Mr. Sporing was drawing on the island he saw a 
most strange bird fly over his head. He described it as 
being about as large as a kite, and brown like one; his tail, 
however, was of so enormous a length that he at first took 
it for a flock of small birds flying after him: he who is a 
grave thinking man, and is not at all given to telling 
wonderful stories, says he judged it to be yards in length. 
fC) 
