former voyagers.

The business of painting belongs entirely to the women, 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 tortoise-shell. 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 generally 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.