A general account of the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow: including historical and scientific notices of the various objects of art, literature, natural history, anatomical preparations, antiquities, &c., in that celebrated collection / by J. Laskey.

Date:: 1813

Credit: A general account of the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow: including historical and scientific notices of the various objects of art, literature, natural history, anatomical preparations, antiquities, &c., in that celebrated collection / by J. Laskey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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$Saloon, from Otaheite. It is used by the natives for suspending their meat, smalt ' baskets, or fishing tackle on. Left Apart- No. IC, Two Reed Pipes from New Zealand, used by the natii'es in ment. their musical entertainments. The great analogy between these pipes, and ——— the syrinx, or Pan's Pipe of the Ancients, as well as some other singular ar- Miscell. tides used by these natives, has given rise to many speculative theories respecting their origin. CaseNo. 1. a variety of Si'ear Heads, Fish Hooks, Fishino Lines, from the various Islands in the Southern Ocean. Vide the respective names attached to each article. Case No. 2. Glass Case, No. 2. contabs principally the admirable and curious article* collected during the voyages of Captains Cook,King, &c. in the South Seas, among which we shall first notice the Flaxen Mantles from Nootka, or King George's Sound, and New Zealand, some of which are ornamented with a deep fringe. These kind of garments pass under the left arm and tie over the right shoulder, by which means both arms are left at freedom These different mantles are made by people to whom the use of the loom is totally unknown, and who live at a vast distance from each other; notwithstanding which, there is so great a similitude in the workmanship, that, on comparing them together, and considering how improbable it is that the latter should ever have been peopled by the former, it naturally excites the idea, that in- vention is not peculiar to any nation or clime. These flaxen garments with which they cover themselves, must necessarily engage their first attention and care, they are made of the bark of a pine tree, teaten into an hempen state; it is not spun, but after being properly prepared, is spread upon a stick, which is fastened across to two others that stand up- right. It is disposed in such a manner, that the manufacturer who Mts on her hams at this simple machine, knots it across with small plaited threads, at the distance of half an inch from each other; though by this method it be not so close or firm as cloth that is woven, the bunches between the knots make it sufficiently impervious to the air, by filling the interstices; and it has the additional advantage of being softer and more pliable. Also a great number of specimens of Plain Cloth from Otaheite and other of the Friendly Isles, with Paintfd or Stained Cloth from tne Sandwich, Nev/ Zealand, and M.-trquesas Isles. The Cloth is made of the in- side bark of the Touta, or Cloth Tree of the Natives, the Morus Papyrifera, Paper Mulberry Tree of Botanists It is neither spun nor wove, but matted together somewhat in the manner our hats are made, by being beat for some time with an instrument of wood or bone, grooved on each side of different widths a'lld depths, the coarsest being adapted for the first process of beating, and so (ci to the finest.—Specimens of this i strun-icnt n\ay be seen in the Hi'.ll of the Elephant.— That which is intended to be painted is of a thick and stronger texture than that vvliiL-h is to remain plain, they paint them of a va- riety of patterns with a compreliensive regularity of design that bespeaks in- finite taste and fancy. The exactness with which some of these intricate patterns are continued, is surprising, when we consider that tliey have no stamps, and that tlie whole is done by tiie eye, with pieces of bamboo cane dipped in some colouring mixture made of the juices of vegetables or berries. They rest their hand on another piece of cane in the same manner as our painters. 1 he busi- ness of painting belongs entirely to the women, and is calK d Hipparrec; and it is remarkable, that they always gave the same name to our writing, fre- quently taking the pen out of the hand of the sailors, to shew them that they knew the use of it as well as they did, but that our pens were not so good as theirs. T hey looked upon a sheet of written pa])er, as a piece of painted cloth, and it was not withi ut tlie grcatist difficulty tliat they could be made to understand that our figures had a meaning by which we could comninni- cate our ideas or.cto anoihir, wiihoi^t speaking. from the five following articles which apptrtain to the very curious an€$