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[Page 443]

Manners & Customs of the S. Sea Islands

sleep upon & the finest for cloths with the last they take much pains especialy with that sort which is made of the Bark of the Tree calld by them Poorou Hibiscus tiliaceus of which I have seen matting almost as fine as coarse cloth but the most beautifull sort calld by them Vanne which is white & extreemly glossy & shining is made of the leaves of a sort of Pandanus calld by them Wharra of which we had not an opportunity of seing either flowers or fruit The rest of their Möeäs as they call them which serve to set down or sleep upon are made of a variety of sorts of Rushes grass &c. These they are extreemly nimble in making & indeed every thing which is platted baskets of a thousand different patterns some very neat &c. as for occasional Baskets or Paniers made of a Cocoa nut leaf or the little Bonnets which they wear to shade the eyes from the sun of the same material every one knows how to make them at once as soon as the sun was pretty high the women who had been with us since morning sent generaly out for cocoa nut leaves of which they made such bonnets in a few minutes, which they threw away as soon as the sun became again low in the afternoon these however serve merely for a shade coverings to their heads they

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