the land, or should not be able to keep their plank in a proper direction on the top of the swell, they are left exposed to the fury of the next, and, to avoid it, are obliged again to dive, and regain the place from which they set out. Those who succeed in their object of reaching the shore, have still the greatest danger to encounter. The coast being guarded by a chain of rocks, with here and there a small opening between them, they are obliged to steer their board through one of these, or, in case of failure, to quit it before they reach the rocks, and, plunging under the wave, make the best of their way back again. This is reckoned very disgraceful, and is also attended with the loss of the board, which I have often seen, with great terror, dashed to pieces, at the very moment the islander quitted it. The boldness and address with which we saw them perform these difficult and dangerous manœuvres, were altogether astonishing, and is scarcely to be credit ed."

An accident, of which I was a near spectator, shews at how early a period they are so far familiarized to the water, as both to lose all fears of it, and to set its dangers at defiance. A canoe being overset, in which was a woman with her children, one of them an infant, who, I am convinced, was not more than four years old, seemed highly delighted with what had happened, swimming about at its ease, and playing a hundred tricks, till the canoe was put to rights again.

Besides the amusements I have already mentioned, the young children have one, which was much played at, and shewed no small degree of dexterity. They take a short stick, with a peg sharpened at both ends, running through one extremity of it, and extending about an inch on each side; and throwing up a ball, made of green leaves, moulded together, and secured with twine, they catch it on the point of the peg; and immediately throwing it up again from the peg, they turn the stick round, and thus keep catching it on each peg alternately, without missing it, for a considerable time. They are not less expert at another game of the same nature, tossing up in the air, and catching, in their turns, a number of these balls; so that we frequently

6 An amusement somewhat similar to this, at Otaheite, has been elseere described.

quently saw little children thus keep in motion five at a time. With this latter play the young people likewise divert themselves at the Friendly Islands.

The great resemblance which prevails in the mode of agriculture and navigation, amongst all the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands, leaves me very little to add on those heads. Captain Cook has already described the figure of the canoes we saw at Atooi. Those of the other islands were precisely the same; and the largest we saw was a double canoe, belonging to Terreeoboo, which measured seventy feet in length, three and a half in depth, and twelve in breadth; and each was hollowed out of one tree.

The progress they have made in sculpture, their skill in painting cloth, and their manufacturing of mats, have been all particularly described. The most curious specimens of the former, which we saw during our second visit, are the bowls in which the chiefs drink ava. These are usually about eight or ten inches in diameter, perfectly round, and beautifully polished. They are supported by three, and sometimes four small human figures, in various attitudes. Some of them rest on the hands of their supporters, extended over the head; others on the head and hands; and some on the shoulders. The figures, I am told, are accurately proportioned, and neatly finished, and even the anatomy of the muscles, in supporting the weight, well expressed.

Their cloth is made of the same materials, and in the same manner, as at the Friendly and Society Islands. That which is designed to be painted, is of a thick and strong texture, several folds being beat and incorporated together; after which it is cut in breadths, about two or three feet wide, and is painted in a variety of patterns, with a comprehensiveness and regularity of design that bespeaks infinite taste and fancy. The exactness with which the most intricate patterns are continued is the more surprising, when we consider that they have no stamps, and that the whole is done by the eye, with pieces of bamboocane dipped in paint; the hand being supported by another piece of the cane, in the manner practised by our painters. Their colours are extracted from the same berries, and other vegetable substances, as at Otaheite, which have been already described by former voyagers.

The business of painting belongs entirely to the women,

and

and is called kipparee; and it is remarkable that they always gave the same name to our writing. The young women would often take the pen out of our hands, and shew us that they knew the use of it as well as we did; at the same time telling us that our pens were not so good as theirs. They looked upon a sheet of written paper as a piece of cloth striped after the fashion of our country; and it was not without the utmost difficulty that we could make them understand that our figures had a meaning in them which theirs had not.

Their mats are made of the leaves of the pandanus; and, as well as their cloths, are beautifully worked in a variety of patterns, and stained of different colours. Some have a ground of pale green, spotted with squares or rhomboids of red; others are of a straw colour, spotted with green; and others are worked with beautiful stripes, either in straight or waving lines of red and brown. In this article of manufacture, whether we regard the strength, fineness, or beauty, they certainly excel the whole world.

Their fishing-hooks are made of mother-of-pearl, bone, or wood, pointed and barbed with small bones or tortoiseshell. They are of various sizes and forms, but the most common are about two or three inches long, and made in the shape of a small fish, which serves as a bait, having a bunch of feathers tied to the head or tail. Those with which they fish for sharks are of a very large size, being general ly six or eight inches long. Considering the materials of which these hooks were made, their strength and neatness are really astonishing; and, in fact, we found them, upon trial, much superior to our own.

The line which they use for fishing, for making nets, and for other domestic purposes, is of different degrees of fineness, and is made of the bark of the touta, or cloth-tree; neatly and evenly twisted, in the same manner as our common twine; and may be continued to any length. They have a finer sort, made of the bark of a small shrub, called areemah; and the finest is made of human hair; but this last is chiefly used for things of ornament. They also make cordage of a stronger kind, for the rigging of their canoes, from the fibrous coatings of the cocoa-nuts. Some of this we purchased for our own use, and found it well adapted to the smaller kinds of the running rigging. They likewise make another sort of cordage, which is flat, and exceed

ingly

ingly strong, and used principally in lashing the roofing of their houses, or whatever they wish to fasten tight together. This last is not twisted like the former sorts, but is made of the fibrous strings of the cocoa-nut's coat, plaited with the fingers, in the manner our sailors make their points for the reefing of sails.

The gourds, which grow to so enormous a size, that some of them are capable of containing from ten to twelve gallons, are applied to all manner of domestic purposes; and in order to fit them the better to their respective uses, they have the ingenuity to give them different forms, by tying bandages round them during their growth. Thus some of them are of a long cylindrical form, as best adapted to contain their fishing-tackle; others are of a dish form, and these serve to hold their salt and salted provisions, their puddings, vegetables, &c. which two sorts have neat close covers, made likewise of the gourd; others, again, are exactly in the shape of a bottle with a long neck, and in these the y keep their water. They have likewise a method of sco ing them with a heated instrument, so as to give them the appearance of being painted in a variety of neat and elegant designs.

Amongst their arts, we must not forget that of making salt, with which we were amply supplied during our stay at these islands, and which was perfectly good of its kind. Their salt-pans are made of earth, lined with clay; being generally six or eight feet square, and about eight inches deep. They are raised upon a bank of stones near to highwater mark, from whence the salt-water is conducted to the foot of them in small trenches, out of which they are filled, and the sun quickly performs the necessary process of evaporation. The salt we procured at Atooi and Oneeheow, on our first visit, was of a brown and dirty sort; but that which we afterward got in Karakakooa Bay was white, and of a most excellent quality, and in great abundance. Besides the quantity we used in salting pork, we filled all our empty casks, amounting to sixteen puncheons, in the Resolution only..

Their instruments of war are spears, daggers, called pahooas, clubs, and slings. The spears are of two sorts, and made of a hard solid wood, which has much the appearance of mahogany. One sort is from six to eight feet in length, finely polished, and gradually increasing in thick

ness

ness from the extremity till within about half a foot of the point, which tapers suddenly, and is furnished with four or six rows of barbs. It is not improbable that these might be used in the way of darts. The other sort, with which we saw the warriors at Owhyhee and Atooi mostly armed, are twelve or fifteen feet long, and, instead of being barbed, terminate toward the point like their daggers.

The dagger, or pahooa, is made of heavy black wood, resembling ebony. Its length is from one to two feet, with a string passing through the handle, for the purpose of suspending it to the arm.

The clubs are made indifferently of several sorts of wood. They are of rude workmanship, and of a variety of shapes

and sizes.

The slings have nothing singular about them; and in no respect differ from our common slings, except that the stone is lodged on a piece of matting instead of leather.

SECTION VIII.

General Account of the Sandwich Islands, continued.-Government.-People divided into three Classes.-Power of Erreetaboo.-Genealogy of the Kings of Owhyhee and Mowee.-Power of the Chiefs.-State of the inferior Class. -Punishment of Crimes.-Religion.-Society of Priests.-The Orono.-Their Idols.-Songs chanted by the Chiefs, before they drink Ava.-Human Sacrifices.-Custom of knocking out the fore Teeth.-Notions with regard to a future State-Marriages.-Remarkable Instance of Jealousy.-Funeral Rites.

THE people of these islands are manifestly divided into three classes. The first are the Erees, or chiefs, of each district, one of which is superior to the rest, and is called at Owhyhee Eree-taboo, and Eree-moee. By the first of these words they express his absolute authority; and by the latter, that all are obliged to prostrate themselves (or put themselves to sleep, as the word signifies) in his presence. The second class are those who appear to enjoy a right of property without authority. The third are the towtows, or servants, who have neither rank nor property.

It is not possible to give any thing like a systematical

account