We Saw No Dogs, And Believe They Have
None, As They Were Exceedingly Desirous Of Those We Had On Board.
My friend
Attago was complimented with a dog and a bitch, the one from New Zealand,
the other from Ulietea.
The name of a dog with them is kooree or
gooree, the same as at New Zealand, which shews that they are not
wholly strangers to them. We saw no rats in these isles, nor any other wild
quadrupeds, except small lizards. The land birds are pigeons, turtle-doves,
parrots, parroquets, owls, bald couts with a blue plumage, a variety of
small birds, and large bats in abundance. The produce of the sea we know
but little of; it is reasonable to suppose, that the same sorts of fish are
found here as at the other isles.[4] Their fishing instruments are the
same; that is, hooks made of mother-of-pearl, gigs with two, three, or more
prongs, and nets made of a very fine thread, with the meshes wrought
exactly like ours. But nothing can be a more demonstrative evidence of
their ingenuity than the construction and make of their canoes, which, in
point of neatness and workmanship, exceed every thing of this kind we saw
in this sea. They are built of several pieces sewed together with bandage,
in so neat a manner, that on the outside it is difficult to see the joints.
All the fastenings are on the inside, and pass through kants or ridges,
which are wrought on the edges and ends of the several boards which compose
the vessel, for that purpose.
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