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The other kind of hook is also made of mother of pearl, or some other hard shell: they cannot make them bearded like our hooks; but to effect the same purpose, they make the point turn inwards. These are made of all sizes, and used to catch various kinds of fish, with great success. The manner of making them is very simple, and every fisherman is his own artificer: the shell is first cut into square pieces, by the edge of another shell, and wrought into a form corresponding with the outline of the hook by pieces of coral, which are sufficiently rough to perform the office of a file; a hole is then bored in the middle, the drill being no other than the first stone they pick up that has a sharp corner: this they fix into the end of a piece of bamboo, and turn it between the hands like a chocolate mill; when the shell is perforated, and the hole sufficiently wide, a small file of coral is introduced, by the application of which the hook is in a short time completed, few costing the artificer more time than a quarter of an hour.
Of their masonry, carving, and architecture, the Reader has already formed some idea from the account that has been given of the Morais, or repositories of the dead: the other most important article of building and carving is their boats; and perhaps, to fabricate one of their principal vessels with their tools, is as great a work, as to build a British man of war with ours.
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© Derived from Vols. II-III of the London 1773 edition: National Library of Australia call no. FERG 7243, page 219, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/hv23/220.html