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sleep upon, and 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 and extreemly glossy and 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 and 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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Voyaging Accounts |  |
© Derived from State Library of NSW Transcription of Banks's Journal page (vol.1) 383, February 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-banks_remarks-138.html