They Are Not As Strong As Lines Of Equal Size
Formed Of Hemp.
The fish-hooks are chopped with a stone out of a particular
shell, and afterwards rubbed until they become smooth.
They are
very much curved, and not barbed. Considering the quickness with which
they are finished, the excellence of the work, if it be inspected,
is admirable. In all these manufactures the sole of the foot is used
both by men and women as a work-board. They chop a piece of wood,
or aught else upon it, even with an iron tool, without hurting themselves.
It is indeed nearly as hard as the hoof of an ox.
Their method of procuring fire is this. They take a reed and shave one side
of the surface flat. In this they make a small incision to reach the pith,
and introducing a stick, purposely blunted at the end, into it, turn it round
between the hands (as chocolate is milled) as swiftly as possible,
until flame be produced. As this operation is not only laborious,
but the effect tedious, they frequently relieve each other at the exercise.
And to avoid being often reduced to the necessity of putting it in practice,
they always, if possible, carry a lighted stick with them, whether
in their canoes or moving from place to place on land.
Their treatment of wounds must not be omitted. A doctor is, with them,
a person of importance and esteem, but his province seems rather to charm away
occult diseases than to act the surgeon's part, which, as a subordinate
science, is exercised indiscriminately.
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