1777 THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 441 



As the clothing, so are the ornaments, worn by 

 those of both sexes, the same. The most common 

 of these are necklaces made of the fruit of the 

 panda?ius, and various sweet-smelling flowers, which 

 go under the general name of kahulla* Others are 

 composed of small shells, the wing and leg-bones of 

 birds, shark's teeth, and other things ; all which 

 hang loose upon the breast. In the same manner, 

 they often wear a mother-of-pearl shell neatly 

 polished, or a ring of the same substance carved 

 on the upper part of the arm ; rings of tortoise- 

 shell on the fingers ; and a number of these joined 

 together as bracelets on the wrists. 



The lobes of the ears (though, most frequently, 

 only one,) are perforated with two holes, in which 

 they wear cylindrical bits of ivory, about three 

 inches long, introduced at one hole, and brought 

 out of the other ; or bits of reed of the same size, 

 filled with a yellow pigment. This seems to be a 

 fine powder of turmeric, with which the women rub 

 themselves all over, in the same manner as our ladies 

 use their dry rouge upon the cheeks. 



Nothing appears to give them greater pleasure 

 than personal cleanliness ; to produce which, they 

 frequently bathe in the ponds, which seem to serve 

 no other purpose. * Though the water in most of 

 them stinks intolerably, they prefer them to the 

 sea ; and they are so sensible that salt water hurts 

 their skin, that when necessity obliges them to bathe 

 in the sea, they commonly have some cocoa-nut 

 shells filled with fresh water, poured over them to 

 wash it off. They are immoderately fond of cocoa- 

 nut oil for the same reason ; a great quantity of 

 which they not only pour upon their head and 



* So at the Caroline Islands. " lis sont accoutumtSs a se bai- 

 gner trois fois le jour, le matin, a midi, et sur le soir." 



Lettres Edijiantes et Curieuses, torn. xv. p. 3 14-, 



