Having given a plate, containing principally the figures of the New-Zealand household and warlike Instruments, it may be proper here to give a description of them. [See pl. XXVI]
4. | A Fish-hook, made of two pieces of bone tied together; the line is fastened both at top and bottom: and, to the latter part, they tie some small feathers. The length of this hook is 4 ⅜ inches. |
5. | A Fish-hook, made of wood, pointed with bone; about two inches and a half long. |
6. | A large Fish-hook, made of wood, and pointed with bone, having the end, to which the line is fastened, curiously carved; eight inches and a half long. |
7. | A Fish-hook, made of human bone; one inch and a quarter long. |
8. | A Fish-hook, made of wood, pointed with shell; five inches ⅝ in length. |
9. | A Fish-hook, made of wood, and pointed with a substance that looked like one part of the beak of a small bird; two inches and a half long. |
10. | A Fish-hook, made of wood, and pointed with bone; three inches and a half long. |
11. | A Fish-hook, made of bone; one inch and a quarter long. |
12. | An Ornament made of bone, probably of some deceased relation, and worn in the ear; one inch and three quarters long. |
13. and 14. | are treated of in the accounts of Terra del Fuego and New-Holland. |
15. | A piece of Wood, part of the head of a canoe, singularly carved; nine inches and a quarter in length. |
16. | A favourite Ornament, which resembles a human face, made of wood, coloured red, and is much like some of the Roman masks. The eyes are made page 130of the fine coloured ear-shell mentioned No. 1, laid into the wood. This was six inches long; but they have different sizes. Some of the smaller ones have handles carved very ingeniously; these they frequently held up when they approached the ship: perhaps it may be the figure of some idol which they worship. |
17, 18, and 19, | are Figures of Patta-pattoos, or War-bludgeons. They have holes in the handles of them, through which a string is passed and tied round the wrist when they make use of them. Numbers 17 and 19, are made of wood; the former is about fourteen inches long, and the latter twelve. Number 18 is about fourteen inches in length, made of a hard black stone, a kind of basaltes, and similar to the stone of which the Otaheiteans paste-beaters and hatchets are made. |
20. | Is a kind of Battle-axe, used either as a lance or as a patta-pattoo. The length of these is from five to six feet. The middle part of them is very ingeniously carved. |
21. | An Ivory Needle, made of the tooth of some large marine animal, with which they fasten on their cloaks. This is about six inches ⅜ in length; but they have of various sizes; and some of them are made of the circular edge of the ear-shell mentioned in No. 1. |
22. | An Instrument made of the bone of some large animal, probably of a grampus, which is used sometimes as a paddle, and at others as a patta-pattoo, and is about five feet long. |
23. | A Wedge or Chisel, made of the green stone, or Poonammoo, as they call it, and sometimes of the Basaltes. These wedges they sometimes tie to a wooden handle, and then use them as hatchets and hoes. They are of various sizes, from one to eight inches in length. |
24. | A Whistle, made of wood, having the out-side curiously carved. Besides the mouth-hole they have several for the fingers to play upon. These, which are page 131worn about the neck, are three inches and a half in length, and yield a shrill found. |
25. | A Trumpet, nineteen inches and a half in length, made of a hard brown wood, which they split, and carefully hollow out each side so as to fit neatly again, leaving an edge on each side; and joining them together, they are bound tight with withes made of cane: it is broadest in the middle, which is rather flat, and gradually tapers to the ends that are open. In the middle of it there is a large hole which represents the mouth of a figure somewhat like a human one, having hands and feet, the parts of which are carved round the instrument: the head is not unlike the mask, No. 16. Another such like mask is also carved near one end of the trumpet. They produce a harsh shrill found. |
26. | Is spoken of in the account of the people of Terra del Fuego. |
27. | A singular kind of hand-scoop, or water-bailer, made of one piece of wood: the handle of it proceeds from the edge and hangs over the middle, and both it and the edge are very ingeniously carved. It is about eleven inches long, eight inches wide, and near six inches deep under the handle. |
28. | The head of a spear, made of bone, about six inches in length. |