Of this cloth there are several sorts, of different degrees of fineness, in proportion as it is more or less beaten without being doubled:  The other cloth also differs in proportion as it is beaten; but they differ from each other in consequence of the different materials of which they are made.  The bark of the bread-fruit is not taken till the trees are considerably longer and thicker than those of the fig; the process afterwards is the same.

When cloth is to be washed after it has been worn, it is taken down to the brook, and left to soak, being kept fast to the bottom, as at first, by a stone; it is then gently wrung or squeezed; and sometimes several pieces of it are laid one upon another, and beaten together with the coarsest side of the mallet, and they are then equal in thickness to broad-cloth, and much more soft and agreeable to the touch, after they have been a little while in use, though when they come immediately from the mallet, they feel as if they had been starched.  This cloth sometimes breaks in the beating, but is easily repaired by pasting on a patch with a gluten that is prepared from the root of the Pea, which is done so nicely that it cannot be discovered.  The women also employ themselves in removing blemishes of every kind, as our ladies do in needle-work or knotting; sometimes when their work is intended to be very fine, they will paste an entire covering of hoboo over the whole.  The principal excellencies of this cloth are its coolness and softness; and its imperfections, its being pervious to water like paper, and almost as easily torn.[18]

[Footnote 18:  The missionary account tells us, that the noble Women are the principal cloth-makers.  Among these people, it seems, that it is far from being thought disgraceful, for the higher orders to engage in domestic concerns and useful manufactures, “nor is it the least disparagement for a chief to be found in the midst of his workmen labouring with his own hands; but it would be reckoned a great disgrace not to shew superior skill.”  Like the patriarchs of old, and the heroes of Homer, these chiefs assist in the preparation of victuals for the entertainment of their guests.—­E.]

The colours with which they dye this cloth are principally red and yellow.  The red is exceedingly beautiful, and I may venture to say a brighter and more delicate colour than any we have in Europe; that which approaches nearest is our full scarlet, and the best imitation which Mr Banks’s natural history painter could produce, was by a mixture of vermilion and carmine.  The yellow is also a bright colour, but we have many as good.

The red colour is produced by the mixture of the juices of two vegetables, neither of which separately has the least tendency to that hue.  One is a species of fig called here Matte, and the other the Cordia Sebestina, or Etou; of the fig the fruit is used, and of the Cordia the leaves.