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New Zealand (continued)

afterward than beat them out flat over a stone with a wooden Mallet after this they are fit for eating in the doing of which they suck out the moist and glutinous part and spit out the fibrous parts    these firns are much alike if not the same as the Mountain ferns in England — They catch fish with Saines, hooks and lines, but more commonly with hooped netts very ingeniously ^made in the middle of these they tie the bait such as sea ears, fish gutts &Ca than sink the nett to the bottom with a stone     after it lays there a little time they haul it gently up and har^dly ever without fish and very often a large quantity - All their netts are made of the broad grass plant before mentiond generaly with no other preparation than by spliting the blade of the plant into threeds - there fishing hooks are made of crooked peices of wood, bones and shells —

The People shew ^great ingenuity and good workmanship in the building and framing their Boats or Canoes    the[y] are long and narrow and shaped very much like a nNew England Whale boat    their large Canoes are I beleive built wholy for war and will carry from 40 to 80 or 100 men with their arms &Ca I shall give the demensions of one which I measured that lay a shore at Tolaga. Length 68½ feet; breadth 5 feet and depth 3½ feet.   the bottom sharp inclining to a wedge and was made of three

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© Transcribed from National Library of Australia Manuscript 1 page 213, 2004
Published by South Seas
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/cook_remarks-061