They are likewise very dexterous in making wicker-work: their baskets are of a thousand different patterns, many of them exceeding neat.

They have candles made of a kind of oily nut, which they stick one over another upon a skewer thrust through the middle of them: the upper one being lighted, burns down to the second, at the same time consuming that part of the skewer which goes through it: the second taking fire, burns in the same manner down to the third, and so of the rest. These candles give a tolerable light; and some of them will burn a considerable time.

They make ropes and lines of the bark of the poerou, from the thickness of an inch, to the size of a small pack-thread: with these they make fishing-nets. Of the fibres of the cocoa-nuts they make thread, for fastening together the several parts of their canoes; and of the bark of a kind of nettle, which grows in the mountains, they make the best fishing-lines in the world; with these they hold the strongest and most active fish, as bonetas and albacores, that would snap our strongest silk lines in a minute, though they are twice as thick. They also make a kind of seine of a coarse grass, the blades of which are like flags; these they twist and tie together in a loose manner, till the net, which is about as wide as a large sack, is from sixty to eighty fathoms long: this they haul in shoal smooth water, and its own weight keeps it so close to the ground, that scarcely a single fish can escape. Indeed in every way of taking fish they are very ingenious. They make harpoons of cane, and point them with hard wood, which, in their hands, strike fish more effectually than those which are headed with iron can do in ours,

They have boats of various kinds, from five feet in length to seventy-two; but all of them are extremely narrow; and therefore, whenever they carry sail, they fasten a log of wood to the end of two poles that lie across the vessel, and project from six to ten feet beyond its side, somewhat like what is used by the flying proas of the Ladrone Islands: to this outrigger the shrouds are fastened, and it is essentially necessary in trimming the boat, to prevent its oversetting, when the wind blows fresh. In many of these vessels the head and stern are raised considerably above the body, in a semicircular form; particularly in the stern, which, in the largest boats, is sometimes seventeen or eighteen feet high, though the boat itself is scarcely three. Some of the boats have one mast, and some two, with ornaments of feathers fastened to the top. The sails are all made of matting, and the oars or paddles have a long handle and a flat blade, not unlike a baker's peel.

What is most extraordinary, they have no other tools for felling trees, building these vessels, hewing stone, carving and polishing timber, than an adze of stone, a chissel or gouge of bone, a rasp of coral, and the skin of a fish called a sting-ray, with coral sand as a file or polisher.

Their language is soft and melodious, it abounds with vowels, and is easily pronounced. They divide the year into thirteen moons, and every day into twelve parts, each of two hours, of which six belong to the day and six to the night; and can nearly guess the time of the day by the height of the sun while it is above the horizon.

The people believe in one supreme deity, but at the same time acknowledge a variety of subordinate deities. They offer up their prayers without the use

of idols; and believe the existence of the soul in a separate state, where there are two situations of different degrees of happiness.

Marriage appears to be here nothing more than an agreement between the man and the woman, and in which the priest has no concern.

The manner in which these people treat their dead has been already related; the habit of the principal mourner, and the practice of women striking a shark's tooth into their forehead to express their grief.

Among these people a subordination is established that nearly resembles that early state of every nation in Europe under the feudal system. Their several orders are, earee rahie, which answers to king; éaree, baron; manahouni, vassal; and toutow, villain. The earee rahie, or king of each peninsula, is treated with great respect by all ranks, but does not appear to be invested with so much power as the earees exercise in their own districts. These last are lords of one or more of the districts into which each of the peninsulas is divided; of these districts there may be about a hundred in the whole island; and they parcel out their land to the manahounies, who cultivate each his part. The toutows, the lowest class, do all the work, cultivate the land, catch fish, fetch wood and water, and, under the direction of the mistress of the family, dress the victuals. Each of the earees keeps a court, and has a great number of attendants.

The acquiescence which the lower class of people, or toutows, yield to the controul of their chiefs, is well worthy of remark. They are not suffered to taste any animal food, although they are employed in the feeding of it; the little labour that is required

is exacted from them; and they sometimes endure patiently severe blows: and all this passive spirit is preserved, without any power appearing to be lodged in the earee rahie, or earees, to enforce it. The chief ruler does not appear to have any military force whereby to keep the body of his subjects in awe, or to suppress a rising spirit of rebellion if it appeared. He is attended by no guard; the earees who are about his person do not go armed: so that the distinctions of rank maintained in this island, may be supposed to be acquiesced in by the body of the people, merely from that placid temper and milkiness of soul, which pervades the whole community. But the admirable policy of this government is shown, in prohibiting all intermarriages between the children of chiefs and the common people; by which means, every mark of an aspiring spirit among the lower ranks is effectually extinguished: and here there is no such thing as that absolute want, which occasions the miseries and desperation of the lower class in some civilized states.

Their weapons are slings, which they use with great dexterity, and clubs of about six or seven feet long, made of a hard heavy wood. Thus armed, they are said to fight with great obstinacy. The number of inhabitants on the whole island amounts to 204,000, including women and children.

When the Endeavour was about to leave the island, Clement Webb and Samuel Gibson, two marines, both young men, deserted in the night from the ship, and concealed themselves in the mountains inland, being so much delighted with the country, as to be desirous of becoming natu ralized Otaheitans, having strongly attached themselves to two girls. It cost Mr. Cook much trouble,

VOL. X.

and the loss of a day in sailing, to recover these men, which, however, was effected. Gibson had made a greater proficiency in the language than any seaman on board, which greatly recommended him to the natives.

Among the Indians who associated most with the gentlemen of the ship was Tupia, whom we have already mentioned as the principal officer to Oberea. He was also the chief tahowa, or priest of the island, and of course well skilled in the religion of his country, to which he added a knowledge of navigation, and an acquaintance with the number and situation of the neighbouring islands. When the ship was about to depart, he begged to accompany the gentlemen on their voyage, which request was readily complied with, as by means of a person so intelligent and accomplished, much useful information concerning the customs and manners of these people might be obtained; he therefore went on board, attended by a boy about thirteen years of age, his servant, named Tayeto. When the ship weighed anchor, the Indians on board took their leaves, and wept with a decent and silent sorrow, in which there was something extremely striking and tender. The people in the canoes, on the contrary, seemed to vie with each other in the loudness of their lamentations, in which there was, perhaps, more affectation than real concern. Tupia sustained himself in this scene with a firmness and resolution truly admirable. He wept indeed, but the effort that he made to conceal his tears, concurred with them to do him honour. He sent his last present to Potomai, a favourite mistress of one of the chiefs, and then went with Mr. Banks to the mast-head, waving to the canoes as long as they continued in