k on the
outside; to do this they place the under side upon a flat smooth board,
and with the shell which our dealers call Tyger's tongue, _Tellina
gargadia_, scrape it very carefully, dipping it continually in the water
till nothing remains but the fine fibres of the inner coat. Being thus
prepared in the afternoon, they are spread out upon plantain leaves in
the evening; and in this part of the work there appears to be some
difficulty, as the mistress of the family always superintends the doing
of it: They are placed in lengths of about eleven or twelve yards, one
by the side of another, till they are about a foot broad, and two or
three layers are also laid one upon the other: Care is taken that the
cloth shall be in all parts of an equal thickness, so that if the bark
happens to be thinner in any particular part of one layer than the rest,
a piece that is somewhat thicker is picked out to be laid over it in the
next. In this state it remains till the morning, when great part of the
water which it contained when it was laid out, is either drained off or
evaporated, and the several fibres adhere together, so as that the whole
may be raised from the ground in one piece.

[Footnote 17: The reader will find additional information on this
subject, and on several others here treated, in some of the subsequent
accounts; from which, however, it seemed unadvisable to make quotations
at present. It is scarcely necessary to add, that the curious art of
dyeing, which the Otaheitans seem to practise with no small ingenuity,
has been much vestigated on philosophical principles since the date of
this publication. Modern chemistry has a right to boast of her
acquisitions in so very important a point of domestic science; but it
would be invidious and improper to specify them in this place.--E.]

It is then taken away, and laid upon the smooth side of a long piece of
wood, prepared for the purpose, and beaten, by the women servants, with
instruments about a foot long and three inches thick, made of a hard
wood which they call _Etoa_. The shape of this instrument is not unlike
a square razor strop, only that the handle is longer, and each of its
four sides or faces is marked, lengthways, with small grooves, or
furrows, of different degrees of fineness; those on one side being of a
width and depth sufficient to receive a small packthread, and the others
finer in a regular gradation, so that the last are not more than equal
to sewing si