Z& A VOYAGE TO 
177.8. ftripes is truly furprizing• for, as far as we knew, they 
tcbiuary^ ^ aV g no thing like ftamps or prints, to make the impref- 
ftons. In what manner they produce their colours, we 
had not opportunities- of learning; but belides the party- 
coloured forts, they have fpm,e pieces of plain white cloth, 
and others of a fingle colour, particularly dark brown and 
light blue. In general, the- pieces which they brought to 
us, were about two feet broad, and four or five yards long, 
being the form and quantity that they ufe for their com¬ 
mon drefs, or maro; and even thefe we fometimes found 
were compofed of pieces fewed together; an art which we 
did not find to the Southward, but is ftrongly, though not 
very neatly, performed here. There is alfo a particular 
fort that is thin, much refembllng oil-cloth ; and which is 
actually either oiled or foaked in fome kind of varnifh, and 
feems to refill the adlion of water pretty well. 
They fabricate a great many white mats, which are 
ftrong, with many red Itripes, rhombufes, and other figures 
interwoven on one fide; and often pretty large. Thefe, 
probably, make a part of their drefs occafionally ; for they 
put them on their backs when they offered them to fale. 
But they make others coarfer, plain and ftrong, which they 
fpread over their floors to lleep upon. 
They ftain their gourd-fhells prettily with undulated 
lines, triangles, and other figures of a black colour; in¬ 
fiances of which we faw pradlifed at New Zealand. And 
they feem to poftefs the art of varnifhing; for fome of 
thefe ftained gourd-fhells are covered with a kind of lacker; 
and on other occalions, they ufe a ftrong fize, or gluey 
fubftance, to fallen their things together. Their wooden 
dilhes and howls, out of which they drink their ava, are 
of the etooa- tree, or cordia y as neat, as if made in our turn¬ 
ing- 
