lk.

They beat it first with the coarsest side of this mallet, keeping time
like our smiths; it spreads very fast under the strokes, chiefly however
in the breadth, and the grooves in the mallet mark it with the
appearance of threads; it is successively beaten with the other sides,
last with the finest, and is then fit for use. Sometimes, however, it is
made still thinner, by beating it with the finest side of the mallet,
after it has been several times doubled: It is then called _Hoboo_, and
is almost as thin as a muslin; It becomes very white by being bleached
in the air, but is made still whiter and softer by being washed and
beaten again after it has been worn.

Of this cloth there are several sorts, of different degrees of fineness,
in proportion as it is more or less beaten without being doubled: The
other cloth also differs in proportion as it is beaten; but they differ
from each other in consequence of the different materials of which they
are made. The bark of the bread-fruit is not taken till the trees are
considerably longer and thicker than those of the fig; the process
afterwards is the same.

When cloth is to be washed after it has been worn, it is taken down to
the brook, and left to soak, being kept fast to the bottom, as at first,
by a stone; it is then gently wrung or squeezed; and sometimes several
pieces of it are laid one upon another, and beaten together with the
coarsest side of the mallet, and they are then equal in thickness to
broad-cloth, and much more soft and agreeable to the touch, after they
have been a little while in use, though when they come immediately from
the mallet, they feel as if they had been starched. This cloth sometimes
breaks in the beating, but is easily repaired by pasting on a patch with
a gluten that is prepared from the root of the _Pea_, which is done so
nicely that it cannot be discovered. The women also employ themselves in
removing blemishes of every kind, as our ladies do in needle-work or
knotting; sometimes when their work is intended to be very fine, they
will paste an entire covering of hoboo over the whole. The principal
excellencies of this cloth are its coolness and softness; and its
imperfections, its being pervious to water like paper, and almost as
easily torn.[18]

[Footnote 18: The missionary account tells us, that the noble Women are
the principal cloth-makers. Among these people, it seems, that it is far
from being thought disgraceful, for the hig