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ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.

of the nut, and have rather the appearance ofwicker-work: the latter are sometimes variouslystained and ornamented with beads or shellsworked in. The larger and coarser baskets aregenerally made by men, to hold axes and othertools in: also the baskets used to hold victuals,made of the leaves of the cocoa-nut tree, aregenerally made by men.

Bcctvlit, mats for thatching houses, are eithermade by men or women, but more frequentlyby the former.

Most of these mats, baskets, &c. are madeby women of some rank as an amusing as wellas profitable occupation, exchanging them af-terwards for other things : (See p. 95 of thisvolume). Making of combs, the teeth of whichconsist of the mid-rib of the cocoa-nut leaf, isalso an employment of women of rank. Makingthread is an occupation of females of the lowerorder: it is performed by twisting the separateparts of the thread, in the act of rolling themwith the palm of the hand along the thigh,and by a return of the hand, twisting them to-gether the contrary way. The material of thethread is the prepared bark of the olonga.Needles are generally made by carpenters outof human thighbones, which are procured fromtheir enemies slain in battle : the only use theyhave for them is to make sails.