eir faces, at so small an
expence of time and trouble, that, when the sun was again low in the
evening, they used to throw them away. These bonnets, however, did not
cover the head, but consisted only of a band that went round it, and a
shade that projected from the forehead.

Of the bark of the poerou they make ropes and lines, from the thickness
of an inch to the size of a small packthread: With these they make nets
for fishing. Of the fibres of the cocoa-nut they make thread for
fastening together the several parts of their canoes and belts, either
round or flat, twisted or plaited; and of the bark of the _erowa_, a
kind of nettle which grows in the mountains, and is therefore rather
scarce, they make the best fishing lines in the world; with these they
hold the strongest and most active fish, such as bonetas and albicores,
which would snap our strongest silk lines in a minute, though they are
twice as thick.

They make also a kind of seine, of a coarse broad 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.

In every expedient, indeed, for taking fish, they are exceedingly
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, setting aside the advantage of ours
being fastened to a line, so that the fish is secured if the hook takes
place, though it does not mortally wound him.

Of fish-hooks they have two sorts, admirably adapted in their
construction as well to the purpose they are to answer, as to the
materials of which they are made. One of these, which they call _witlee
witlee_, is used for towing. The shank is made of mother-of-pearl, the
most glossy that can be got; the inside, which is naturally the
brightest, is put behind. To these hooks a tuft of white dog's or hog's
hair is fixed, so as somewhat to resemble the tail of a fish; these
implements, therefore, are both hook and bait, and are used with a rod
of bamboo, and line of _erowa_. The fisher, to secure his success,
watches the flight of the birds which constantly attend the bonetas
when they swim in shoals, by which he directs his canoe, and when he has
the advanta