beaten out with grooved
mallets. The cloth was dyed a variety of colours, and patterns at once
intricate and elegant were stamped on it and stained in different tints.
The mats were woven or braided by hand without the use of any frame or
instrument. The materials were rushes or palm-leaves; the mats made of
palm-leaves were much the more durable and therefore the more valuable.
The coarser and plainer were spread on the floor to sleep on; the finer
were of white colour with red stripes, rhombuses, and other figures
interwoven on one side. Among the most curious specimens of native
carving were the wooden bowls in which the chiefs drank kava. They were
perfectly round, beautifully polished, and supported on three or four
small human figures in various attitudes. These figures were accurately
proportioned and neatly finished; even the anatomy of the muscles
strained to support the weight were well expressed. The fishing-hooks
made by the men, especially the large hooks made to catch shark, are
described by Captain Cook as really astonishing for their strength and
neatness; he found them on trial much superior to his own.[12]

[12] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 218 _sq._, vii. 133-135; L. de
Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. 611 _sq._;
A. Campbell, _Voyage round the World_, pp. 192-195; W. Ellis,
_op. cit._ iv. 109-113; C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the
Sandwich Islands_, pp. 114-116; J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 66
_sq._

The mechanical skill of these people was all the more remarkable because
of the extreme rudeness and simplicity of the tools with which they
worked. Their chief implement was an adze made of a black or
clay-coloured volcanic stone and polished by constant friction with
pumice-stone in water. They had also small instruments made each of a
single shark's tooth, some of which were fixed to the forepart of a
dog's jawbone and others to a thin wooden handle of the same shape.
These served as knives, and pieces of coral were used as files. Captain
Cook found the natives in possession of two iron tools, one of them a
piece of iron hoop, and the other an edge-tool, perhaps the point of a
broadsword. These they could only have procured from a European vessel
or from a wreck drifted on their coast. No mines of any kind are known
to exist in the islands.[13]

[13] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 220-224; A. Campbell, _op. cit._ p.
198; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 322; O. von Ko