In preparing the cloth they display a very considerable degree of
ingenuity. Red and yellow are the two colours most in use for dyeing
their cloth; the red is stated to be exceedingly brilliant and
beautiful, approaching nearest to our full scarlet; it is produced by
the mixture of the juices of two vegetables, neither of which separately
has the least tendency to that hue: one is the _Cordia Sebestina_, the
other a species of _Ficus_; of the former the leaves, of the latter the
fruits yield the juices. The yellow dye is extracted from the bark of
the root of the _Morinda citrifolia_, by scraping and infusing it in
water.

Their matting is exceedingly beautiful, particularly that which is made
from the bark of the _Hibiscus tiliaceus_, and of a species of
_Pandanus_. Others are made of rushes and grass with amazing facility
and dispatch. In the same manner their basket and wicker work are most
ingeniously made; the former in patterns of a thousand different kinds.
Their nets and fishing-lines are strong and neatly made, so are their
fish-hooks of pearl-shell; and their clubs are admirable specimens of
wood-carving.

A people so lively, sprightly, and good-humoured as the Otaheitans are,
must necessarily have their amusements. They are fond of music, such as
is derived from a rude flute and a drum; of dancing, wrestling, shooting
with the bow, and throwing the lance. They exhibit frequent trials of
skill and strength in wrestling; and Cook says it is scarcely possible
for those who are acquainted with the athletic sports of very remote
antiquity, not to remark a rude resemblance of them in a wrestling-match
(which he describes) among the natives of a little island in the midst
of the Pacific Ocean.