various trees which we found here, of a tough stringy nature, and
which, after being beaten between two stones for some time,
becomes very much like, and of the same colour as a quantity of
oakum, made from old rope: this they spin and twist into two
strands: in fact, I never saw a line with more than two. Their
hooks are commonly made from the inside, or mother of pearl, of
different shells; the talons of birds, such as those of hawks,
they sometimes make this use of; but the former are considered as
best.

In this necessary employment of fishing, we frequently saw a
woman with two or three children in a miserable boat, the highest
part of which was not six inches above the surface of the water,
washing almost in the edge of a surf, which would frighten an old
seaman to come near, in a good and manageable vessel. The
youngest child, if very small, lies across the mother's lap, from
whence, although she is fully employed in fishing, it cannot
fall; for the boat being very shallow, she sits in the bottom,
with her knees up to her breast, and between her knees and body,
the child lies perfectly secure. The men also dive for
shell-fish, which they take off from the rocks under water; we
frequently saw them leap from a rock into the surf or broken
water, and remain a surprizing time under: when they rise to the
surface, whatever they have gathered they throw on shore, where a
person attends to receive it, and has a fire ready kindled for
cooking.

They have no other method of dressing their food, than that of
broiling. Boiling water they have no conception of, as appeared
very lately; for when one of our boats was hauling the seine, one