in the Pacific Ocean, 



115 



formed that every line had its meaning, and gave to the bearer 

 certain privileges at their feasts. This practice of tattooing some- 

 times occasions sores which fester, and are several weeks before 

 they heal ; it however never produces any serious consequences, 

 or leaves any scars behind. 



Their implements for the manufacture of cloths consist only of 

 a beater and a smooth log. They are both of that kind of hard 

 wood of which the war clubs are made. The beater is about 

 eighteen inches in length, one end of which is rounded for the 

 handle, the rest is squared, and slightly grooved the length of 

 the square. The whole operation of making the cloth consists in 

 beating the bark out on the log to the size required, keeping it 

 wet and gently stretched with one hand, while the other is em- 

 ployed with the beater. This employment is left to the old wo- 

 men, who will make three outer garments or cahuos in the course 

 of a day. The cloth is remarkably neat and regular, nearly as 

 strong as fine cotton or linen, but will not bear washing more than 

 once. It is worn about a week before washing ; after being washed 

 it is beat out again to give them a gloss arid strength. Thus a 

 woman, with moderate labour, will in one day make for herself outer 

 garments to last her six weeks. If the garment should be torn 

 in wearing, or by any accident, it is only necessary to wet the 

 edges of the rent, and gently beat the parts together. They are 

 entirely unacquainted with the use of the needle ; this simple 

 mode of repairing their dresses does not require it, nor is it re- 

 quisite in their formation, as each part of their clothing consists 

 of square pieces. 



Their coffins are dug out of a solid piece of white wood, in the 

 manner of a trough ; the size is just sufficient to cram the body 

 in, and it is polished and otherwise finished in a style which 

 proves they pay great respect to the remains of their friends. 

 When a person dies, the body is deposited in a coffin, and a 

 stage erected, either in a house vacated for the purpose, in which 

 the coffin is placed, or a small house of sufficient size to contain 

 the coffin is built in front of a tabhooed house, on the platform of 

 stones, in which the coffin is deposited. The former is practised 

 with the bodies of women, the latter with those of men ; guardians 

 are appointed to sleep near and protect them. When the flesh is 

 mouldered from the bones, they are, as I have been informed, 

 carefully cleansed : some are kept for relics, and some are de- 

 posited in the morais. 



Their fans, of which they are very careful, are made with sur- 

 prising neatness, and consist of a curious piece of mat work, of a 

 semi-circular form, attached to a handle, generally representing 

 four figures of their gods, two above and two below, squatting 

 back to back. The fans are made of a stiff kind of grass, or 



