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tot; neither are their heads free from vermin, though we observed that they were furnished with combs, both of bone and wood: thefe combs are sometimes worn ftuck upright in the hair as an ornament, a fashion which at present prevails among the ladies of England. The men generally wear their beards short, and their hair tied upon the crown of the head in a bunch, in which they stick the feathers of various birds, in different manners, according to their fancies; sometimes one is placed on each side of the temples, pointing forwards, which we thought made a very difagreeable appearance. The women wear their hair fometimes cropped fhort, and sometimes flowing over their shoul

ders.

The bodies of both fexes are marked with the black stains called Amoco, by the fame method that is used at Otaheite, and called Tattowing; but the men are more marked, and the women lefs. The women in general ftain no part of their bodies but the lips, though sometimes they are marked with fmall black patches on other parts: the men, on the contrary, seem to add fomething every year to the ornaments of the laft, so that some of them, who appeared to be of an advanced age, were almost covered from head to foot. Befides the Amoco, they have marks impreffed by a method unknown to us, of a very extraordinary kind: they are furrows

of

of about a line deep, and a line broad, such as appear upon the bark of a tree which has been cut through, after a year's growth: the edges of these furrows are afterwards indented by the fame method, and being perfectly black, they make a moft frightful appearance. The faces of the old men are almoft covered with these marks; those who are very young, black only their lips like the women; when they are fomewhat older, they have generally a black patch upon one cheek, and over one eye, and fo pro ceed gradually, that they may grow old and honourable together: but though we could not but be difgufted with the horrid deformity which these stains and furrows produced in the "human face divine," we could not but admire the dexterity and art with which they were impreffed. The marks upon the face in general are spirals, which are drawn with great nicety, and even elegance, thofe on one fide exactly correfponding with thofe on the other: the marks on the body fomewhat resemble the foliage in old chafed ornaments, and the convolutions of fillagree work; but in these they have fuch a luxuriance of fancy, that of an hundred, which at first fight appeared to be exactly the fame, no two were, upon a clofe examination, found to be alike. We obferved, that the quantity and form of thefe marks were different in different parts of the coaft, and that as the principal feat

of

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March.

1770. March.

of them at Otaheite was the breech, in New Zealand it was fometimes the only part which was free, and in general was less distinguished than any other.

The skins of thefe people, however, are not. only dyed, but painted; for, as I have before obferved, they fmear their bodies with red oker, some rubbing it on dry, and fome applying it in large patches mixed with oil, which is always wet, and which the leaft touch will rub off, fo that the tranfgreffions of fuch of our people as were guilty of ravishing a kifs from these blooming beauties, were moft legibly written upon their faces.

The dress of a New Zealander is certainly, to a ftranger at first fight, the most uncouth that can be imagined. It is made of the leaves of the flag, which has been described among the vegetable productions of this country: these leaves are split into three or four flips, and the flips, when they are dry, interwoven with each other into a kind of ftuff between netting and cloth, with all the ends, which are eight or nine inches long, hanging out on the upper fide, like the fhag or thrumb matts, which we fometimes fee lying in a paffage. Of this cloth, if cloth it may be called, two pieces ferve for a complete drefs; one of them is tied over their fhoulders with a ftring, and reaches as low as the knees; to the end of this ftring is faftened a

bodkin of bone, which is easily paffed through any two parts of this upper garment, fo as to tack them together; the other piece is wrapped round the waist, and reaches nearly to the ground: the lower garment, however, is worn by the men only upon particular occafions; but they wear a belt, to which a string is fastened, for a very fingular ufe. The inhabitants of the South Sea islands flit up the prepuce fo as to prevent it from covering the glans of the penis, but these people, on the contrary, bring the prepuce over the glans, and to prevent it from being drawn back by the contraction of the part, they tie the string which hangs from their girdle, round the end of it. The glans indeed seemed to be the only part of their body which they were folicitous to conceal, for they frequently threw off all their dress but the belt and string, with the most careless indifference, but fhewed manifeft figns of confufion, when, to gratify our curiofity, they were requested to untie the ftring, and never confented but with the utmost reluctance and shame. When they have only their upper garment on, and fit upon their hams, they bear fome refemblance to a thatched houfe; but this covering, though it is ugly, is well adapted to the use of those who frequently fleep in the open air, without any other shelter from the rain.

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But

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But befides this coarse fhag or thatch, they have two forts of cloth, which have an even furface, and are very ingeniously made, in the fame manner with that manufactured by the inhabitants of South America, fome of which we procured at Rio de Janeiro. One fort is as coarse as our coarfest canvas, and fomewhat refembles it in the manner of laying the threads, but it is ten times as ftrong: the other is formed by many threads lying very close one way, and a few croffing them the other, fo as to bind them together; but these are about half an inch afunder, fomewhat like the round pieces of cane matting which are fometimes placed under the difhes upon a table. This is frequently striped, and always had a pretty appearance, for it is composed of the fibres of the fame plant, which are prepared fo as to fhine like filk. It is made in a kind of frame of the fize of the cloth, generally about five feet long, and four broad, acrofs which the long threads, which lie clofe together, or warp, are ftrained, and the crofs threads, or woof, are worked in by hand, which must be a very tedious operation.

To both these kinds of cloth they work borders of different colours, in ftitches, fomewhat like carpeting, or rather like those used in the famplars which girls work at fchool. These borders are of various patterns, and wrought with a neatness, and even an elegance, which,

con