Transcription

[Page 233]

-iously supported it & never would own that it was wrong, it is reasonable to suppose that men with whom this custom is found seldom if ever give Quarters to those they overcome in battle, & if so they must fight desperately to the very last [written in margin:They preserve the Heads of their Enemies] a strong Proof of this supposition we had from the People of Queen Charlottes sound who told us but a few days before we Arrived, that they had kill'd & Eat a whole boat's crew surely a single boat's crew or at least a part of them when they found themselves beset & overpowered by numbers would Surrender'd themselves prisoners was such a thing Practised among them; the heads of these unfortunate People they preserved as Trophies 4 or 5 of them they brot off to shew to us one of which Mr. Banks bought or rather forced them to sell, for they parted with it with the utmost reluctancy & afterwards would not so much as let us see one more for any thing we could offer them.

[Written in margin: Their Food] In the Article of Food these People have no great Variety, Fern roots, Dogs Fish & wild fowl is their Chief diet, for Cocos, Yams & Sweet Potatoes is not Cultivated every where, they dress their Victuals in the same Manner as the people in the So Seas Islands, that is dogs & Large fish they bake in a hole in the ground and small fish, birds, & Shell fish etc. they broil on the fire. Fern roots they likewise heat over the fire then beat them out flat upon a stone with a wooden Mallet, after this they are fit for Eating in the doing of which they suck out the Moist & Glutinous part and Spit out the Fibrous parts, these ferns are much like if not the same as the Mountain ferns in England, they catch fish with Seans Hooks & lines but more commonly with hooped netts very ingeniously made [written in margin: Manner of Catching Fish] in the middle of these they tie the bait such as Sea Ears, fish Gutts etc. then sink the Nett to the bottom with a stone after it lays there a little time they haul it Gently up & hardly ever without fish & very often a large quantity all their netts are made of the broad Grass plant before mentioned generally with no other preparation than by Splitting the blade of the plant into threads, these fish hooks are made of Crooked pieces of Wood, bones & Shells. 

[Written in margin: Canoes] The people shew great ingenuity & good workmanship in the building & framing their boats or Canoes, they are long & Narrow & shaped very much like a New England Whale boat, those large Canoes are I believe built wholy for war and will carry from 40 to 80 or 100 Men with their Arms etc. I shall give the Dimensions of one which I measured that lay ashore at Tolago Length 68½ feet breadth 5 feet & Depths 3½ the bottom sharp inclining to a wedge & was made of 3 pieces hollow'd out to about 2 Inches or an Inch & a half thick & well fastned together with strong plating each side consisted of one Plank only

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