All the human race, which we have seen here, appear to live chiefly on what the sea affords, and consequently we find the sea-coast more fully inhabited than the interior, or that part of the country which we have had an opportunity of visiting more remote from the sea.  The men fish with a spear, or fish-gig, in the use of which, it is apparent they are very dextrous.  The fish-gig is in length something more than the war lance, but they can, according to the depth of water, increase its length, by a variety of joints; some have one, some two, three, or four prongs, pointed and barbed with a fish, or other animal’s bone.  We have sometimes, in fine weather, seen a man lying across a canoe, with his face in the water, and his fish-gig immersed, ready for darting:  in this manner he lies motionless, and by his face being a little under the surface, he can see the fish distinctly; but were his eyes above, the tremulous motion of the surface, occasioned by every light air of wind, would prevent his sight:  in this manner they strike at the fish with so much certainty, that they seldom miss their aim.

The women are chiefly employed in the canoes, with lines and hooks; the lines appear to be manufactured from the bark of various trees which we found here, of a tough stringy nature, and which, after being beaten between two stones for some time, becomes very much like, and of the same colour as a quantity of oakum, made from old rope:  this they spin and twist into two strands:  in fact, I never saw a line with more than two.  Their hooks are commonly made from the inside, or mother of pearl, of different shells; the talons of birds, such as those of hawks, they sometimes make this use of; but the former are considered as best.

In this necessary employment of fishing, we frequently saw a woman with two or three children in a miserable boat, the highest part of which was not six inches above the surface of the water, washing almost in the edge of a surf, which would frighten an old seaman to come near, in a good and manageable vessel.  The youngest child, if very small, lies across the mother’s lap, from whence, although she is fully employed in fishing, it cannot fall; for the boat being very shallow, she sits in the bottom, with her knees up to her breast, and between her knees and body, the child lies perfectly secure.  The men also dive for shell-fish, which they take off from the rocks under water; we frequently saw them leap from a rock into the surf or broken water, and remain a surprizing time under:  when they rise to the surface, whatever they have gathered they throw on shore, where a person attends to receive it, and has a fire ready kindled for cooking.

They have no other method of dressing their food, than that of broiling.  Boiling water they have no conception of, as appeared very lately; for when one of our boats was hauling the seine, one of the sailors had put a pot on the fire ready to dress some fish, and when the water was boiling, some fish were put in; but several natives, who were near, and who wished to have more fish than had been given them, seeing the fish put into the pot, and no person watching them, a native put his hand into the boiling water to take the fish out, and was of course scalded, and exceedingly astonished.