Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 1 (Stockdale).djvu/310

286 mains of a fire, which had been kindled by the natives who frequent that coast.

The continual rains at Carteret harbour, have rendered some species of spiders very industrious. They construct excellent places of shelter, in the middle of their webs, consisting of a snug fabric, in the shape of a cornet of paper, four-fifths of an inch in height, and one-fifth of an inch broad in the base, with its top elevated and a little inclined towards the south-east, in order that the prevailing winds may have the less force on this little habitation. The rain glides off this kind of cone, without being able to enter it, or to press it down, being stretched on all sides by threads fastened to the neighbouring branches. The spider, being perfectly sheltered in this habitation, never leaves it, but to seize the insects which fall into her toils.

Another sort of spider which is a less productive spinster than the former, protects herself from the rain under a piece of a leaf bent into a form almost conical, which she places in the centre of her web. Every precaution is taken to give solidity to her habitation, the point of which is opposed to the south-east wind, in order that it may be the less affected by its impulse.

Nature hath done every thing for other species of spiders, which are covered with very hard skins,