Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/78

54: FIJI AND THE FIJIANS. house ; and as they are not very durable, the demand is brisk. I saw one large pot capable of holding a hogshead, and having four apertures, to facilitate its being filled or emptied. Ordinary cooking vessels contain from five to ten gallons, and their shape seems to have been suggested by the nest of a sort of black bee common in the islands. In the manufacture of their pottery, the Fijians employ red and blue clays tempered with sand : their apparatus consists merely of a ring-like cushion, four flat mallets, [taia,) and a round flat stone ; and yet the pots are often made with as true an outline as if they had been turned with a w^heel. Lines and figures are traced on the vessels while yet moist ; and after drying a few days, a number of them are placed together, and covered over with very light fuel, such as reeds, nut leaves, grass, etc. : this is set on fire, and by the time it is burnt out, the pots are baked. While yet hot, such as are to be glazed are rubbed over FIJIAX POTTERY. with the resin of a species of pine. They are now fit for the market. Women have the making of pottery entirely in their o^ai hands, and the art, moreover, seems to be confined to the women of sailors and fishermen. On Vanua Levu, good salt, but of a sandy colour, is procured by evaporation, and preserved near the fire in baskets made for the pur- pose. In the same locality small quantities of sugar are boiled. Fish is cured by smoking, after which, in some parts, it becomes an article of exchange. Many natives find employment in canoe-building. It seems that fi^rmerly none but persons of a certain tribe were permitted to do this work ; but now many others are attempting it successfully, and the im-